Utilization Question

[BBforever]

My GF asked me a question that I really didn't know the answer to, so I'll ask you all (the experts):

She has about 5 credit cards:

Chase Slate - $20,000 CL (12% UTL)

Macy's - $5,000 (9% UTL)

Lowes - $3,000 (0% UTL)

Sears - $5,000 (0% UTL)

JCP - $5,000 (0% UTL)

The items that show 0% utilization are literally zero utilization, meaning she hasn't used those cards In about 1-2 years.

My question is, will/could this lack of activity on these cards hurt her FICO score? She normally just uses her Slate card and Macy card throughout the year. she keeps her Slate and Macy around 8-12% utilization throughout the year.

[user5387]

I'm not sure that unused CCs will update reliably with the CBs, and this might occasionally cause problems with utilization, due to stale information on your report.

I'd suggest making an occcasional purchase on any CC you care about.

[LearningMoreAboutCredit]

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@BBforever wrote:

My GF asked me a question that I really didn't know the answer to, so I'll ask you all (the experts):

She has about 5 credit cards:

Chase Slate - $20,000 CL (12% UTL)

Macy's - $5,000 (9% UTL)

Lowes - $3,000 (0% UTL)

Sears - $5,000 (0% UTL)

JCP - $5,000 (0% UTL)

The items that show 0% utilization are literally zero utilization, meaning she hasn't used those cards In about 1-2 years.

My question is, will/could this lack of activity on these cards hurt her FICO score? She normally just uses her Slate card and Macy card throughout the year. she keeps her Slate and Macy around 8-12% utilization throughout the year.

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CRA's now track inactivity on revolving credit.  Have GF put a small recurring charge on those cc's (e.g. Netflix subscription) and she'll be fine.  PIF of course.

[BBforever]

Another question about utilization:

I have 5 CC's with CL's as follows:

Cap1 - $600

Quicksilver One - $1,000

Walmart - $150

Express - $250

JCrew - $250

Total = $2,250

My question is, how exactly is utilization calculated? For instance, if next month say I only charge my QuickSilver for $202.00.....Ok now, that's 9% of my over total credit limit  of all accounts combined. But, $202.00 is 20% of my QuickSilver credit card. How do the CRA's calculate? Is it calculated against overall credit limit (collectively)?

[user5387]

The calculation takes into account (1) overall utilization, (2) utilization per card, and (3) percentage of cards with balances.

[BBforever]

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@user5387 wrote:

The calculation takes into account (1) overall utilization, (2) utilization per card, and (3) percentage of cards with balances.

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Ok, so the scenario I presented is that going to hurt my score?

[LearningMoreAboutCredit]

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@BBforever wrote:

Another question about utilization:

I have 5 CC's with CL's as follows:

Cap1 - $600

Quicksilver One - $1,000

Walmart - $150

Express - $250

JCrew - $250

Total = $2,250

My question is, how exactly is utilization calculated? For instance, if next month say I only charge my QuickSilver for $202.00.....Ok now, that's 9% of my over total credit limit  of all accounts combined. But, $202.00 is 20% of my QuickSilver credit card. How do the CRA's calculate? Is it calculated against overall credit limit (collectively)?

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Scoring is based on overall utilization.  Your calculations are solid.

[user5387]

Here is the best description that I know of:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/General-Credit-Topics/Figuring-out-my-utilization/m-p/785481#M147161

[BBforever]

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@user5387 wrote:

Here is the best description that I know of:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/General-Credit-Topics/Figuring-out-my-utilization/m-p/785481#M147161

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According to this post, it looks like it is based on overall CL and utilization whether all charged on one card or spread evenly across all. Correct? So long as UTL Is around 9%, we can maximize our scores. Am I on the right track? Or is it more complex than I'm understanding it to be?

[user5387]

The description talks about overall utilization, and about utilization per card, and about the number of cards with balances.

So what you do with individual cards affects utilization calculations, even if the overall utilization is low.

For example, if you need to carry a $450 balance, and have $500 and $5000 cards, put it on the second one, not the first.