amount you owe is too high

[Anonymous]

so for my credit report and ways to improve one said the amount you own is too high.  I have a few cards, maybe $40,000 credit line on all cards combined.  Mostly only use one card (other cards I'll periodically put a small charge on it time to time), but my main card I use $1000-$2000 every month and the credit limit on that card is $12,000.  I pay off the full "statement balance"amount every month so I don't have interest charges, but this still leaves about $1,000 in pending/new charges.

So basically at worst I'm using $2,000 of a $40,000 total limit, or $2,000 on a $12,000 limit on one card.  Is this considered too high?

[takeshi74]

Everything depends on one's credit profile.  "Too high" means too high for your credit profile.  There isn't a universal $X that defines "too high" for all credit profiles.  If your credit profile was stronger it could handle a bigger amount.  If you credit profile had more issues it would be able to handle less.

Are cards the only credit accounts that you have?  No installments?

[George2037]

I wanted to add that as Credit Profiles improve the lesser "Hits" to a credit profile start to show themselves.  Amount owed is too high could be an extremely low hit on your profile but since you might not have any bigger hits (High UTI, recent late payments, ecessive pulls, ect.), the 'Amount owed too high' reason will show up... not to say it is too high, it's just the only thing that's hurting you.  I hope that makes sense.

For instance as my Credit Improved, my 'Negative Indicators' changed from 'Recent Late Payments/Charge Offs' to 'Public Records' to 'Mortgage Balance too High' (I've purchased 2 houses in the last 3 years and I'm only assuming they are hitting me for have 2 mortgages?).  My scores are still only in the high 600 - low 700's and I do carry some CC balances but High UTI doesn't show up, just the one on the Mortage balance and my public record (still 2 years to go before the BK falls off).

[Anonymous]

yes, it's the only type of credit accouts I have.  Use to have a student loan but only lasted a year and paid it off a few months after graduation. 

I have a good score I guess ranges from 809 to 826 and the 3 things they mention are (1) lack of installments (not going to go out there and get a loan if I don't need one) (2) age of credit history (can't do anything here but wait) (3) amount you own is too high

Did open a AX card a week ago (couldn't say no to $250 sign up bonus and 3% back on groceries) got a $15K credit line...not sure what that's going to do to my credit score though... I'm sure the hard pull and age of credit history lowered the score, but the total credit line increased

[CreditDunce]

Once your score is good, the reason codes don't mean much.  You could gain a few points if you had lower utilization, but there is no need to worry about it.  Personally, I wouldn't try to pre-pay part of the bill before the statement cuts most months.  Only do it when you want to maximize your score at the time.  FICO does not have utilization memory.  It only considers your current reported utilization.

[Thomas_Thumb]

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@CreditDunce wrote:

Once your score is good, the reason codes don't mean much.  You could gain a few points if you had lower utilization, but there is no need to worry about it.  Personally, I wouldn't try to pre-pay part of the bill before the statement cuts most months.  Only do it when you want to maximize your score at the time.  FICO does not have utilization memory.  It only considers your current reported utilization.

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^ Agree with the above. Reason statements can be misleading. Only one card reporting a utilization over 10% can result in "the amount you owe is too high" even though aggregate utilization is low, say under 5%. Does a singlecard in the 10% to 30% range have a significant impact on your score? No - if your aggregate utilization is low.

Jasonfodor, your Fico 08 score may be limited to the 820 to 825 range without an open installment loan on file.  However, given your scores are over 800, no financial benefit from the pre-pay prior to statement cut date or getting a share secured loan.

You already qualify for the best rates.

[Anonymous]

my utilization is at 17% and also rated too high.  Thats a joke.  They can kiss my behind for all I care.  What the point of having credit if oyu cant use less than a fifth of it without being penalized?