myFICO® Forums
Help
cancel
Turn on suggestions
Auto-suggest helps you quickly narrow down your search results by suggesting possible matches as you type.
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Utilization

tag
Get Access Now
Anonymous
Not applicable
‎10-13-2015 06:33 AM
‎10-13-2015 06:33 AM

Utilization

is utilization calculated by adding ALL avail credit or should each card be kept under a certain percentage. Or can I have one card close to max and one with a 0 bal

Message 1 of 4
0 Kudos
3 REPLIES 3
joeaseer
Regular Contributor
‎10-13-2015 06:52 AM
‎10-13-2015 06:52 AM

Re: Utilization

Putting all your debt on one card is better than spreading it everywhere. Make sure that one card is the best place to have your debt though. And it goes by total and individual utilization, total is more important though.

EQ Score: 784 | TU Score: 758 | EX Score: 760 | Goal Score: 800+
INQ = TU: 1 | EQ: 0 | EX: 4
Utilization: 0% usually or at most 1% - 3%.
Amex BCE (Approved: 11/2015): $24k ($6k SL) | Discover IT (Approved: 07/2015): $16k ($1k SL)
Citi DC WEMC (Approved: 07/2016): $14.5k ($4.6k SL) | Chase SR (Approved: 01/2017): $11k
Chase Freedom Unlimited (Approved: 07/2016): $7.5k | Chase Freedom (Approved: 12/2014): $5k ($500 SL)
Citi Simplicity (Aprroved: 07/2018): $4.5k | Total CL: $82.5k
Message 2 of 4
0 Kudos
Anonymous
Not applicable
‎10-13-2015 07:34 AM
‎10-13-2015 07:34 AM

Re: Utilization

@joeaseer wrote:

Putting all your debt on one card is better than spreading it everywhere. Make sure that one card is the best place to have your debt though. And it goes by total and individual utilization, total is more important though.

This is not necessarily true. Putting all debt on one card can max it out. Having debt spread across cards that may keep the percentages low on each one is much better. Better to have a few cards reporting less than 30% than 1 card maxed out.

Message 3 of 4
0 Kudos
Anonymous
Not applicable
‎10-13-2015 03:46 PM
‎10-13-2015 03:46 PM

Re: Utilization

@Anonymous wrote:

is utilization calculated by adding ALL avail credit or should each card be kept under a certain percentage. Or can I have one card close to max and one with a 0 bal

Both total and individual UTI is part of the calculation. ANY card being maxed (over 80%) is a huge red flag and a hit to scores.

Message 4 of 4
0 Kudos
† Advertiser Disclosure: The offers that appear on this site are from third party advertisers from whom FICO receives compensation.