Utilization changed, and it's wrong!

Anonymous · ‎04-01-2015

Hello, I've been reading the boards for a couple weeks, wasn't planning to post so soon, still learning, BUT, this morning I got a notice that my utilization changed on Experian, and when i took a look it said I'm using 97% now (the change was made after making a payment that was 3 times the amount on a card that I usually pay- ??).

I don't know where to check utilization on this site, but a few weeks ago on another site my utilization was at 68% and I have not used cards since then. After paying down a couple balances I figured it should be at 58% now, but Experian and MyFico are saying it is 97%. WHAT? The ONLY difference is that my 27 year mortgage that I have been paying does not report to Experian- I'm working on that today by making a call to the bank. But, even without the mortgage would it make a difference? How do I find out what's going on? Thanks!!

Anonymous · ‎04-01-2015

You can purchase ScoreWatch all 3 CRAs and see. They even have a special for your first month.

Anonymous · ‎04-01-2015

Thank you, but I don't really want to spend MORE money, I know it's wrong. Maybe I should just call the CRA that it appears on?

Gunnar419 · ‎04-01-2015

@Anonymous wrote:
Hello, I've been reading the boards for a couple weeks, wasn't planning to post so soon, still learning, BUT, this morning I got a notice that my utilization changed on Experian, and when i took a look it said I'm using 97% now (the change was made after making a payment that was 3 times the amount on a card that I usually pay- ??).

I don't know where to check utilization on this site, but a few weeks ago on another site my utilization was at 68% and I have not used cards since then. After paying down a couple balances I figured it should be at 58% now, but Experian and MyFico are saying it is 97%. WHAT? The ONLY difference is that my 27 year mortgage that I have been paying does not report to Experian- I'm working on that today by making a call to the bank. But, even without the mortgage would it make a difference? How do I find out what's going on? Thanks!!

Ouch! First thing, have you checked the utilization on the individual ccs to make sure there's nothing wrong there (e.g. fraudulent charges on your cards or a bank error)?'

If your individual accounts look okay, then you should pull a credit report (free once a year at annualcreditreport.com) to see the details that are being reported on every account. If you see something reporting incorrectly, you can either ask the lender to correct their reporting or dispute the error with the CRA.

Anonymous · ‎04-01-2015

Thanks! I got through to Experian; she said the card I paid on (which was maxed before the payment) reported my utilization on the 29th (before I made the payment), so it was actually just a coincidence and had nothing to do with the payment. I'd had an address error on that report for a while that I'd been trying to get changed so this was also productive in that I was able to get that corrected. So, apparently my overall utilization has not changed, it is just worded wrong in myFICO. Which is annoying. :-/

takeshi74 · ‎04-02-2015

@Anonymous wrote:
Hello, I've been reading the boards for a couple weeks, wasn't planning to post so soon, still learning, BUT, this morning I got a notice that my utilization changed on Experian, and when i took a look it said I'm using 97% now (the change was made after making a payment that was 3 times the amount on a card that I usually pay- ??).

Keep in mind that most cards report on statement date. If you're paying after statement date (i.e. you're paying by the due date but after you receive the statement) for such cards then the payment will not reduce the reported balance. You have to pay prior to the report date in order to reduce the reported blaance/utilization.

@Anonymous wrote:
I don't know where to check utilization on this site, but a few weeks ago on another site my utilization was at 68% and I have not used cards since then.

That doesn't really mean anything. Your cards could have reported higher balances at some point after even you stopped using your cards when you saw you were at 68%. Make sure you understand when each of your accounts reports and what your balances are on those report dates versus just relying on a monitoring service.

Balances do not immediately update on your reports. Most cards only report once a month on their usual report date. In some cases midcycle updates are possible.

Anonymous · ‎04-02-2015

Thanks. I realize all of what you're saying. Maybe I didn't explain it well. I got a notice from MyFico saying the sum ALL my retail accounts utilization is 97%. This is very clearly not true. One card WAS at 97%, before I made a payment which will bring it down to 80%. Even with the reported 97% on this one acct, my overall uriluzation is 68%. Somehow MyFico is making an error reporting to me.

StartingOver10 · ‎04-02-2015

@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks. I realize all of what you're saying. Maybe I didn't explain it well. I got a notice fromMyFico saying the sum ALL my retail accounts utilization is 97%. This is very clearly not true. One card WAS at 97%, before I made a payment which will bring it down to 80%. Even with the reported 97% on this one acct, my overalluriluzation is 68%. SomehowMyFico is making an error reporting to me.

Robinhood, the best way is for you to calculate your own utilization based on the reported balances and reported credit limits. In order for you to do this accurately, you need to get your report and manually calculate the balances. You can do as suggested above and go to www.annualcreditreport.com and get your annual free report from each of the CRAs.

Or you can go to creditkarma.com and see what balances are being reported by each tradeline and which date is the last reporting date. This is free. Ignore their scores because they are not FICO scores.

Remember - in your utilization calculations you would calculate per tradeline and the overall utilization too (all credit limits added together and all balances reported).

If you have an account that was closed with a balance it counts against your utilization as well.

Anonymous · ‎04-02-2015

Thanks. I do appreciate everyone taking the time to post. However, I have already done all of that. My utilization on Transunion as per CK is 65%. On Equifax 63%. I've been doing the math on all my accounts (not my forte), and reading daily for a couple of hours for about a month, learning all of this stuff and hoping to pay off enough debt, get my score up from the 647-667 range that it's in now (I need to pay off 2 very small old collections that are on my report- one medical, another from a car rental place) and get to a point where I can qualify for a good transfer balance card, or a loan.
I'm not new to credit, I've just been ignoring it for mot of my adult life. I have a fairly long history, including a 27 year old mortgage account that I owe around 9,000 on. I have 7 CC accounts in good standing, no lates, no closed accts, unpaid or anything like that. I do have 2 accts with high balances which I am working on bringing down, they both have ridiculous interest, BUT- my overall utilization is NOT 97%. I'm wondering why it is completely out of the question that there could be an error with myFICO?