Small drop in cred. util % does nothing to Fico.

[YoungInvestor]

This may be a no-brainer for most but I thought any drop would help, so here's what I did:

I always PIF and total credit lines are around $27,500.

Last month - $973 balance on Citi  (3.5%)

This month - $87 (0.3%)

No change in Fico.

There is also a $5500 student loan that does not effect this because I do not start paying until Oct of 09.

[glamchick]

student loans are in a different category they are considered installement loans

Credit cards are revolving credit.

I paid all my credit cards down to 5% util and it didnt make a difference until the following month. 

[chartley3]

Once the new balances report you should see a jump in score. I had one update and scores jumped between 19-25 points depending on the CRA.

[llecs]

If that is your only CC, and if your overall utilization is under 10%, then changing a few percentage points within that 10% will not likely have any impact at all. If over 10%, then you'll probably see a change. I have found that for every 1% my overall utilization drops, I get a gain of 1 point, so as long as those changes are above the 10%.

If this is your only CC, then adding a store charge card may net you a positive increase (mix of credit types - 10% of your score).

[haulingthescoreup]

Score changes for util result from changing from one % range to another. So, under 10%, under 30%, under 50%, etc. There might be ranges for under 5% and under 20%. It's hard to tell for sure, because most of us have so many things happening on our reports that it's difficult to isolate individual causes of score change.

So there likely wouldn't be a change for moving from 3.5% to under 1%, but it IS fun to torture the CCC's this way!

And as the others said, installment loan util is calculated separately from revolving. Most of us here obsess about revolving util, as it carries more weight in scoring.

[Anonymous]

     I'm wondering how my CS will change once all my AU's drop (per new fico scoring).  I will only have my 2 CC's and a few 10 yr + bank notes that have been paid for a very long time.  Vicki

[Anonymous]

How long have you had the CC's?  If you have had them 5-7 years and you have a spotless payment history I would expect 750+

[haulingthescoreup]

I'm leaning heavily on DH's Discover card for my overall history. If and when FICO 08 actually impacts my life in some way, I'll decide then whether it's worth going joint on it instead. I'm not holding my breath, though. And even if we had more than one AU card, I would only think about going joint on the very oldest, even if losing others would hurt my average age. Joint accounts have a lot of quiet little time bombs involved...

[Anonymous]

     My hubby and I are not joint on anything, but once stuff is paid off we then put it in my name also.  Thats how I keep my score so high, by having no inquiries.  Vicki

[Anonymous]

     My hubby and I are not joint on anything, but once stuff is paid off we then put it in my name also.  Thats how I keep my score so high, by having no inquiries.  Vicki