Last month I attempted an experiment. I wanted to know how much of an affect letting my CC utilization go to all zeros. I EXPRESSLY DO NOT RECOMMEND ATTEMPTING THIS IF YOU 1) plan on making any purchases or applications within the next 1 to 2 months. 2) Do not know your exact due, statement, and reporting dates for the credit cards you will use (I have an Excel Spreadsheet to keep track of my data). Furthermore, this will NOT work if you have any of the factors change in your report (inquiries falling off or coming on, accounts aging to the next level, derogs on your account, utilization changing percentage brackets up or down, or a myriad of other factors we all know). Basically, you need a stable account that only fluctuates very little.
My reports are fairly stable only waiting for the associated aging to put me in the next higher bucket. I did this in one month so aging of accounts was not a factor. Nevertheless, I wanted to know how this action would affect ME. I used Cap 1 QS with a due date of 02/01/18, statement date of 02/04/18 and reporting date of 02/05/18. My recovery used Discovery with a due date of 02/19/18, a statement date of 02/24/18 and a reporting date of 02/24/18 also.
I paid off my EO card (Cap 1 QS card for $19 – card and total utilization <1%) to zero. Then I waited for my score to report and drop. Results: EQ down 16 points, TU down 14 points, EX down 19 points. On the 6th (the day I saw the scores via various alerts) I immediately charged my telephone/television/internet bill to my Discover card. I almost got hit here because I forgot about the “Bill Pending” portion on my Discover card when I made the charge. This is important in that if I did not have time for the bill to post, I would not see a bill and my Discover balance would have remained zero until the next 30-day cycle. This would have had the effect of allowing 1 month of aging to enter the picture and throw off my results.
Fortunately, I had the time and the bill posted prior to the statement date (which for Discover in my case is the same as the reporting date). Sure as snow in Alaska in winter, on 02/24/18 Discover reported my $233 balance to all 3 CRAs (card utilization 1.9% with total utilization still <1%). Scores up EQ 18, TU 16 and EX 15.
RESULTS
SO what did I show? These results are ONLY FOR ME and your mileage may vary.
- My scores go down more than I thought they would for AZ. I figured they would drop less than 10 points (more like 2 to 5). That was wrong for me.
- For accounts in the next lower AAoA bucket (my EQ & TU scores) a card utilization >1% brought my scores up higher than they went down. My original utilization was <1%.
- On the hand, for scores in the high AAoA bucket (EX for me) I cannot recoup all the loss for going down (-19 points) by fixing the problem (+15 points) even with the higher utilization on a card.
- Playing with FICO modelling is like swimming outside of a cage with great white sharks – crazy man! Crazy but fun. “Is this your idea of fun Mav?”
Y
@Anonymouswrote:Last month I attempted an experiment. I wanted to know how much of an affect letting my CC utilization go to all zeros. I EXPRESSLY DO NOT RECOMMEND ATTEMPTING THIS IF YOU 1) plan on making any purchases or applications within the next 1 to 2 months. 2) Do not know your exact due, statement, and reporting dates for the credit cards you will use (I have an Excel Spreadsheet to keep track of my data). Furthermore, this will NOT work if you have any of the factors change in your report (inquiries falling off or coming on, accounts aging to the next level, derogs on your account, utilization changing percentage brackets up or down, or a myriad of other factors we all know). Basically, you need a stable account that only fluctuates very little.
My reports are fairly stable only waiting for the associated aging to put me in the next higher bucket. I did this in one month so aging of accounts was not a factor. Nevertheless, I wanted to know how this action would affect ME. I used Cap 1 QS with a due date of 02/01/18, statement date of 02/04/18 and reporting date of 02/05/18. My recovery used Discovery with a due date of 02/19/18, a statement date of 02/24/18 and a reporting date of 02/24/18 also.
I paid off my EO card (Cap 1 QS card for $19 – card and total utilization <1%) to zero. Then I waited for my score to report and drop. Results: EQ down 16 points, TU down 14 points, EX down 19 points. On the 6th (the day I saw the scores via various alerts) I immediately charged my telephone/television/internet bill to my Discover card. I almost got hit here because I forgot about the “Bill Pending” portion on my Discover card when I made the charge. This is important in that if I did not have time for the bill to post, I would not see a bill and my Discover balance would have remained zero until the next 30-day cycle. This would have had the effect of allowing 1 month of aging to enter the picture and throw off my results.
Fortunately, I had the time and the bill posted prior to the statement date (which for Discover in my case is the same as the reporting date). Sure as snow in Alaska in winter, on 02/24/18 Discover reported my $233 balance to all 3 CRAs (card utilization 1.9% with total utilization still <1%). Scores up EQ 18, TU 16 and EX 15.
RESULTS
SO what did I show? These results are ONLY FOR ME and your mileage may vary.
- My scores go down more than I thought they would for AZ. I figured they would drop less than 10 points (more like 2 to 5). That was wrong for me.
- For accounts in the next lower AAoA bucket (my EQ & TU scores) a card utilization >1% brought my scores up higher than they went down. My original utilization was <1%.
- On the hand, for scores in the high AAoA bucket (EX for me) I cannot recoup all the loss for going down (-19 points) by fixing the problem (+15 points) even with the higher utilization on a card.
- Playing with FICO modelling is like swimming outside of a cage with great white sharks – crazy man! Crazy but fun. “Is this your idea of fun Mav?”
Y
This has been known for years on here. AZERO gains points over all zero. I guess if you needed to see for yourself you did lol.
said: "[AZEO] gains points over all zero[s]." I knew that, but what I wanted to know was how much it went down and then back up. You are absolutely correct in that since I "needed to see for [myself I] did..." Sometimes a hard head makes a soft rear end. I think I'll go soak a little now. 
@Anonymouswrote:said: "[AZEO] gains points over all zero[s]." I knew that, but what I wanted to know was how much it went down and then back up. You are absolutely correct in that since I "needed to see for [myself I] did..." Sometimes a hard head makes a soft rear end. I think I'll go soak a little now.
Lol. True that. I’m hard headed too.