Optimal Gains from CC Bal Sweet Spot

dtjones052209 · ‎03-27-2014

Has anyone mastered their sweet spot for huge gains on their fico scores? Could you please share the method you took? How often did you have to work at it with new credit cards? Does it eventually reach a saturation point or does it create a cushion to allow for a higher balance to remain on the card.

This is what i am finding: My experience has been me playing with percentage's to see what is best and then holding there.

JLK93 · ‎03-27-2014

In my experience, the best score is achieved by having 1 card report a balance less than 1% and all the other cards report balances of 0. I think many other people have experienced similar results.

thom02099 · ‎03-27-2014

@dtjones052209 wrote:
Has anyone mastered their sweet spot for huge gains on their fico scores? Could you please share the method you took? How often did you have to work at it with new credit cards? Does it eventually reach a saturation point or does it create a cushion to allow for a higher balance to remain on the card.

This is what i am finding: My experience has been me playing with percentage's to see what is best and then holding there.

That "sweet spot" is going to vary from person to person; there's no blanket answer.

There's a lot of factors that go into finding that "sweet spot". One of them is your utilisation. How you use your cards and what you carry on a monthly basis will make a diference. Having recently dropped my util from ~13% down to ~5% is what did it for me. But I also have a LOT of credit, a LONG history, and absolutely no blemishes on my reports. These also contribute to finding that "sweet spot". Time is our ally, as our accounts age, they factor in positively for our scores...all other things being equal.

Your payment history is also very important. NEVER ever be late. EVER! On one of my reports somewhere, I recall seeing the number of months it's been for my on-time payment history and it's closing in on 500 payments. That will help to contribute to finding that "sweet spot".

Utilisation and Payment History have the highest impact on scores. Treat them right, they will treat you right.

user5387 · ‎03-27-2014

The big gains typically occur when utilization is lowered from a figure like 90% down to 5%.

If utilization is already low, say less than 10%, you may be able to wring out a few more points, but I've not heard of any further big gains at this stage.

takeshi74 · ‎03-28-2014

@dtjones052209 wrote:
Could you please share the method you took?

Posted in many threads:

Fot optimal scoring let 1 card report a balance at ~10%. You'll just have to try changing that % and monitoring to find your ideal as it can vary from person to person.

I just let whatever reports report. My typical spend and my limits tend to put me at about 10%.

@dtjones052209 wrote:
Does it eventually reach a saturation point or does it create a cushion to allow for a higher balance to remain on the card.

Not sure what you mean. Higher balance means high utilization. Generally speaking lower utilization is better as long as it doesn't hit 0.