Utilization and CL increase question

[Anonymous]

I paid off my Chase card with balance transfers from BOA and HSBC. 

 My balances on these  two cards are now:

BOA - $2,342.00             CL - $3,200    (about 75% util)

HSBC - $2,935.00          CL - $3,500    (about 85% util)

Chase, after paying them off, has now raised my CL from $8,500 to $9,500.  I also received an increase of $2,400 on my Citi Diamond Preferred Card. 

Will my high utilization affect my fico scores drastically?  Will the credit line increases help offset the negativity somewhat?    HSBC has already reported to the credit bureaus for July.   My BOA statement will generate around the 2nd of the month and I have time to pay them down if need be.   I have $500.00 that I can lower that balance with.

What do you recommend?  

[Anonymous]

You calculate utilization by adding total credit lines together and comparing it to total amount owed. If you have a higher credit limit (and haven't charged any new debt), I would imagine your utilization has decreased and that should not affect your score.

[Anonymous]

What are your total debts compared to Total Available Credit......when you run your reports the % utilized showed is the total percentage.......

If your debt amounts stayed the same, but your available Credit went up you could possibly see some points........

Individual Utilizaiton and Overall are both considered when creating scores, but I do believe the total utilized is way more important than individual.

[Anonymous]

Assuming that the Citi doesn't have a balance, I'd put that $$ toward the HSBC b/c it has higher util. (someone with greater wisdom can correct me if I'm wrong...)

Obviously paying down anything will lower overall util, and while individual util might not be as important, it can't hurt to get it down...

[Anonymous]

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siang wrote:

You calculate utilization by adding total credit lines together and comparing it to total amount owed. If you have a higher credit limit (and haven't charged any new debt), I would imagine your utilization has decreased and that should not affect your score.

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My credit limit is higher by $3,900.00 after receiving these credit line increases.  Also, I have no balance on Chase now and $9500.00 is available to use for utilization purposes. 

My overall debt percentage was 45.30% before I paid off Chase (the first of the cards I am attacking).   Now my overall debt percentage is 44%.    I know I have a ways to go to get to 9%, but I am not worried about that now.  I have to take baby steps to get there and not continue to charge. 

My main concern is to keep good offers coming by way while I am working on getting rid of these credit cards.  I don't want a drastic drop in score while eliminating debt.  

Thanks for all the help.

[Anonymous]

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1111mel wrote:

What are your total debts compared to Total Available Credit......when you run your reports the % utilized showed is the total percentage.......

If your debt amounts stayed the same, but your available Credit went up you could possibly see some points........

Individual Utilizaiton and Overall are both considered when creating scores, but I do believe the total utilized is way more important than individual.

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My individual utilization is what concerns me.      My overall is below 50% so that isn't too bad.  Not great, but not as high as my individual usage on these two cards.  

[Anonymous]

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Skidude514 wrote:
Assuming that the Citi doesn't have a balance, I'd put that $$ toward the HSBC b/c it has higher util. (someone with greater wisdom can correct me if I'm wrong...)

Obviously paying down anything will lower overall util, and while individual util might not be as important, it can't hurt to get it down...

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I have balances!  Chase is the first of the gang to be wiped out. 

I was thinking about spreading the wealth between both cards, but your idea sounds better.  HSBC is the next one I was going to tackle.

Good idea thanks.

[Anonymous]

Np, glad to help! :-)