SnackTrader wrote:Believe me, if you want an 800 score, all else being equal, you want utilization under 10%. I'm not saying you can't get there with higher utilization than that, but I am saying that putting your utilization under 10% will always get you a score increase. 20% or 40% is a good start, but you HAVE to get lower to get the best impact.
I understand that the question involves other utilization theories, but all of that is going to speculation and subject to individual experiences. The 1% - 9% theory is not subject to individual experiences (except in extreme situations of 400 and 500 credit scores, where utilization is the least of your worries). So that's where my advice ends.
I am a few years of even being able to worry about an 800 credit score! Maybe even 4 years and 11 months! I have read somewhere before that too low is not a good thing either, but I don't remember if that was about utilization or limits. I will say that there does not seem to be much difference in my score when it is 1% or 19%. Before I loaned my sister my card my utilization was almost always lower than 10%. Currently my portion of the debt is 1% and I know that my score is lower from her portion! Since I don't need or want new credit right now I am not too worried. I am in gardening mode anyway! People should understand that gardening is a very useful way to insure they get the best results. I want my AAOA and limits to grow to insure that when I can get that really good card that it comes with a good limit and low interest! (Low interest is important if I get a mortgage or buy a house outright and need to carry a balance for a time period. Also it will mean that with that good card if I later want to use a promotion such as 0% for up to 18 months that I will have no worries about interest!)
I wonder sometimes if the companies would see the value in a cardholder racking up a large purchase and paying it down in a gradual, but more than the minimum payment, way. Or in other words, using credit as credit.
An anecdote that I relayed in another thread but is relevant here:
My brother racked up 10k on his Amex when he was between jobs for a few months. He paid the amount off at maybe 4x the minimum payment each month until it was gone. This took him about 18 months. 8 months into it Amex let him know that they lowered his interest and raised his limit by 5k. He had never asked for these things.
Starting Score: TU 610 EQ FICO 635
bettercreditguy1 wrote:Experian shows your hightest unpaid balance monthly and the amount paid. So if you view the report it shows the statement amount reported and next month it shows the payment (one month behind) with the new outstanding balance reporting as well. So Yes, the Creditors see not only your history but your payment amounts as well.
Only EX does this and only if the creditor bothers to report the details. Some do, some don't. Further, EX has only been doing this since summer of 2010 so there is limited statistical data available to create a capacity type metric though I have no doubt this will at some point happen. In my case Citi started reporting min payment due but not total paid while Chase and WF reports both.
I have reestablished credit over the last couple years
SnackTrader wrote:
Believe me, if you want an 800 score, all else being equal, you want utilization under 10%. I'm not saying you can't get there with higher utilization than that, but I am saying that putting your utilization under 10% will always get you a score increase. 20% or 40% is a good start, but you HAVE to get lower to get the best impact.
I understand that the question involves other utilization theories, but all of that is going to speculation and subject to individual experiences. The 1% - 9% theory is not subject to individual experiences (except in extreme situations of 400 and 500 credit scores, where utilization is the least of your worries). So that's where my advice ends.
My present EQ FICO with a utilization of 10% is in the 800s. That's with a large balance on one card and a small on another. TU doesn't use the former for utilization, so you would expect a higher score because of it, but no. EX though is nicer.
WarJar101 wrote:How can you find out what's being reported by your lender/creditor to the Credit Bureaus?
Pulling the reports; however, admittedly, the reports are a bit sanitized and I've always assumed that things can and likely are being reported which aren't demonstrated on the CR that we see, or possibly that the lenders see either.
I think SnackTrader put it best recently: if there's something on the report you can see, assume that the lenders can as well.
Everything else starts devolving into either black or tinfoil-hat discussions I think 
.
Starting Score: EQ 561, TU 567, EX 599* (12/30/11, EX lender pull 12/29/11)Current Score: EQ 660, Wally TU 697, EX unknown (05/13/13)
Goal Score: 680 in all three (01/01/14)
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