0-9% utilization of revolving accounts

[CreditBob]

The question that I have for anyone is the 0-9% utilization a combination of all accounts combined in one? Or would you have to do that for each account?

[Anonymous]

Ideally - Each account under 10%
Total bal/total CL 1-9%

If you have several CC's I recommend not having a balance on more than 1/2 of total TL's.

[smallfry]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Ideally - Each account under 10%
Total bal/total CL 1-9%

If you have several CC's I recommend not having a balance on more than 1/2 of total TL's.

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Under normal circumstances I agree. If you have say 10 open tradelines like one car loan a couple store charge accounts like Sears and Walmart and 7 credit cards then 50% is OK. Now if you have twenty or 30 open tradelines you are asking for FICO scoring trouble. Best not to exceed 4 accounts reporting balances each month.

[fused]

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@smallfry wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
Ideally - Each account under 10%
Total bal/total CL 1-9%

If you have several CC's I recommend not having a balance on more than 1/2 of total TL's.

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Under normal circumstances I agree. If you have say 10 open tradelines like one car loan a couple store charge accounts like Sears and Walmart and 7 credit cards then 50% is OK. Now if you have twenty or 30 open tradelines you are asking for FICO scoring trouble. Best not to exceed 4 accounts reporting balances each month.

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Not this again! I really disagree with this! This might apply to some credit files but not all credit files. Personally since I stopped playing the PIF game, I keep very small balances reporting on 6 CCs, my scores went up a bit, they have never went down for having 6 CCs reporting balances.

[smallfry]

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@fused111 wrote:

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@smallfry wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
Ideally - Each account under 10%
Total bal/total CL 1-9%

If you have several CC's I recommend not having a balance on more than 1/2 of total TL's.

---

Under normal circumstances I agree. If you have say 10 open tradelines like one car loan a couple store charge accounts like Sears and Walmart and 7 credit cards then 50% is OK. Now if you have twenty or 30 open tradelines you are asking for FICO scoring trouble. Best not to exceed 4 accounts reporting balances each month.

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Not this again! I really disagree with this! This might apply to some credit files but not all credit files. Personally since I stopped playing the PIF game, I keep very small balances reporting on 6 CCs, my scores went up a bit, they have never went down for having 6 CCs reporting balances.

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9% on six cards or closer to 1%? Mind sharing your three negatives on the FICO summary page of your EQ or TU reports?

[fused]

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smallfry wrote:

9% on six cards or closer to 1%? Mind sharing your three negatives on the FICO summary page of your EQ or TU reports?

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Util on each CC is 3-4%. I have no negatives on my TU summary page, my score is 792. EQ the only negative is a new account I opened in June with CITI, score 755.

[smallfry]

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@fused111 wrote:

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@smallfry wrote:

9% on six cards or closer to 1%? Mind sharing your three negatives on the FICO summary page of your EQ or TU reports?

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Util on each CC is 3-4%. I have no negatives on my TU summary page, my score is 792. EQ the only negative is a new account I opened in June with CITI, score 755.

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Nice scores. You hear a lot of conflicting info here and there. Some swear their scores are highest when they let no accounts report a balance some like you allow a few to report. Granted 4% is not a lot but its a far cry from 0% utilization. Congrats on those scores. Well done.

[MidnightVoice]

I managed to have 4 of 5 cards report a zero balance, and a total util of less than 0.2% and my scores did not suffer

[Anonymous]

The only piece of hard evidence that I've seen regarding all this is found here: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/creditscoring/present/sld008.htm According to this, you can get the best score by having 1 or 2 trades reporting a balance. 3-5 trades still scores better than 0. I do not really know how mortgages and installment loans figure in this, but I'm going to assume they're included. So, if you have a mortgage and a car loan, it's best not to have any cards reporting, but up to three is still OK. And I've brought this up before, I've never had any indication that utilization is scored over individual cards. So unless anyone shows otherwise, I am going to deal with my balance by paying the highest interest card first. Since I have a mortgage and a car loan, it is in my best interest to reduce the number of cards. (Currently 5 with a balance, next month will be 3), and that will be as good as I'm going to get for the next year.

[Tuscani]

using your cards and keeping a 1-9% util is ideal.. from my reports:

What’s helping your FICO score

The positive factors listed here reflect areas of your credit behavior that are helping your FICO score. You should continue the good practices listed here. These factors are listed in order of their impact to your score – the first has the greatest positive impact and the last has the least.

1. You have no missed payments on your credit accounts.

   Number of your accounts with a missed payment 0 accounts
   About 93% of FICO High Achievers [?] have no missed payments at all. But of those who do, the missed payment happened nearly 4 years ago, on average.

   You helped your FICO score by paying your bills on time. Staying current with your bills will continue to help your score.

2. You've limited the use of your available credit.

   Ratio of your revolving balances to your credit limits 1%
   For FICO High Achievers [?], this ratio is 7%, on average.

   Your FICO score evaluates your total revolving account [?] balances in relation to your total credit limits on those accounts. Your FICO score was helped because you've kept this ratio of balances to credit limits low.

3. You've shown recent use of credit cards.

   Your FICO score evaluates your mix of credit cards [?], installment loans and mortgages. People who demonstrate responsible use of different types of credit are generally less risky to lenders. You helped your FICO score by showing recent use of a credit card.

Message Edited by Tuscani on 09-13-2007 11:38 AM