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Hi everyone,
I recently enrolled in AmEx CreditSecure. They are showing my total available credit and utilization % much higher than it should be. I started to go thru everything last nite and realized that they are including a home equity line in this equation (which is around 90% utilized). On this account, I've been paying just a litle more than the minimm and have been focusing on credit card debt. Is FICO seeing and scoring me similar, or do they make that distinction between a credit card and equity line?
What is the credit limit on your LOC ? Sometimes FICO does consider these types of loans to be revolving, sometimes I believe they can be classified as installment ~ it may depend on the CL.
Credit Limit is $20,500.
The other frustrating thing with respect to the utilzation is the fact that the banks keep lowering the credit limits. I had a score in the high 700's before and because of a short sale and the problems associated with that, I'm down to the lower 600's now. I keep chugging away at the credit cards, but in turn, they keep lowering the credit limit to just above my balance. It's really keeping my utilization very high.
@heckofagator wrote:Credit Limit is $20,500.
The other frustrating thing with respect to the utilzation is the fact that the banks keep lowering the credit limits. I had a score in the high $700's before and because of a short sale and the problems associated with that, I'm down to the lower 600's now. I keep chugging away at the credit cards, but in turn, they keep lowering the credit limit to just above my balance. It's really keeping my utilization very high.
Yea, it's probably reporting as revolving ~ if you check your credit reports you can see exactly how it is classified.
Unfortunately when creditors see something on your reports like a foreclosure or short sale they can get very nervous and start chopping your credit limits like you are experiencing.
What is your credit card utilization right now ( excluding this home equity LOC ) ?
I guess this is just going to take some time to clear up. I was at about 20% util before this all started. Now I'm about at 70% without the credit line. One of my credit limits fell from $35k down to $18,500 (and the balance on there now is about 17k) so that's really hurting me keeping it maxed out like that.
HELOC's with CL over 50K will not be counted in your util calculation for FICO score purposes even even if they are marked as revolving. Someone can confirm. I believe this also means that Credit cards with over 50K CL will not count either.