@Anonymous wrote:
Hi all,
I went through a BK in 7/07 -- I've got my FICO score rebuilt up to about 700. Besides my auto loan and some student loans, I have 2 credit cards -- one from Orchard with an $800 limit that I hardly ever use and one from my bank with a $2,000 limit that I try to use for a few hundred dollars a month just so it's active.
I'm not sure when I should start asking for increased limits on these cards or trying to get new credit. I'm concerned that because I only have $2,800 in available credit -- even when I just put $300 on something, that's still a 10% ratio, so I'd like to get the limits up just so I can use a little without worrying about the ratio so much.
Since my BK isn't gonna fall off for awhile still, I feel like my score's about as good as it can get right now, and I'm just waiting it out...
Thanks!
Hi there.
You can use those cards as much as you want during the month but the important number is what is reported on the monthly statements because for most cards whatever the balance is on the statement is the figure used to calculate utilization. All you have to do is make sure the balance is less than 9% of credit limit several days before the statements post. Don't wait for the statement to post and then pay because you are just hurting yourself.
For example on your card with the $2,000 CL. If you have charges totally $1000 and wait until the statement comes out then your utilization for that month will be 50%. If you pay down that balance to say $100 before the statement posts then the utilization will be 5%. A very big difference. And of course pay in full any balance before the due date to avoid finance charges.
Another tactic to get a higher score is to only let one of yours cards report that <9% utilization every month and always make sure the other card reports a zero balance.
Does any of this make sense? I hope I explained it clearly enough.
From a BK years ago to:
EX - 9/09 pulled by lender 802, EQ - 10/10-813, TU - 10/10-774
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".
