% Balance to % of Credit Limit for Score Increases

[Anonymous]

If the B of A CL did not exist-

Here is what I would do-

	Bal	CL	utl%	New bal	New %
American Express Blue	4050	12600	32%	2200	17%
Bank of America  ' Card A'	8996	30000	30%	5000	17%
Wells Fargo	3058	17000	18%	3058	18%
Chase	4553	27300	17%	4553	17%
Discover	3317	20000	17%	3317	17%
FNANB	1403	10000	14%	0	0%
Citibank	2474	19060	13%	0	0%
Bank of America  "Card B'	0	26800	0%	0	0%
	27851	162760	17%	18128	11%
				9723

[Anonymous]

Chances are they ARE-

What Utilization does your myFICO report show?

You need to set up an LLC- so you are running this all though your personal credit-

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RealtorGal wrote:

This brings up another question. I have 4 HELOCs with limits and balances below $50,000.  I did not think that they counted HELOCs like they do credit cards.  I thought they counted like regular mortgages.  They are all maxed out because I just bought the houses recently doing 80% firsts and 10% second mortgages.  I paid $1,000 off of each loan so that they would never go over their limits.  Are they what is counting against me?  I can't possibly pay those down.

The worst thing is that two of the properties are in declining markets and they froze the credit lines.  Every time I make a payment, they reduce the credit line so I will never not be maxed out.

Thoughts?

Am I fighting an upstream battle?

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[Anonymous]

DOH-

Need to get that overall- UTL under 10% 

That is more important than the individual UTL-

Good thing you have that LOC- zero all of these out!!!!!!!!!!!

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Timothy wrote:

If the B of A CL did not exist-

Here is what I would do-

	Bal	CL	utl%	New bal	New %
American Express Blue	4050	12600	32%	2200	17%
Bank of America  ' Card A'	8996	30000	30%	5000	17%
Wells Fargo	3058	17000	18%	3058	18%
Chase	4553	27300	17%	4553	17%
Discover	3317	20000	17%	3317	17%
FNANB	1403	10000	14%	0	0%
Citibank	2474	19060	13%	0	0%
Bank of America  "Card B'	0	26800	0%	0	0%
	27851	162760	17%	18128	11%
				9723

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[Anonymous]

Timothy - This is exactly what I was looking for - thank you!  I just called B of A and they said that it takes 4-6 days for the transfer to go through so I am going to begin working on your above scenario now with what I had budgeted from my checking account.  Then I can pay the rest off when they B of A transfer hits.  I need the score to go up as quickly as possible as I am trying to close on my investment properties in about two weeks.

Any rhyme or reason as to when the companies report to the bureaus - weekly, monthly, etc.?

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR EVERYTHING.  YOU HAVE PROBABLY HELPED SAVE ME THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS TONIGHT!

[Anonymous]

Almost everyone reports the statement balance on the statement date- or close to it

My Amex used to report a month behind- but now reports STATEMENT balances at the end of the month-

I will email you the bill

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RealtorGal wrote:

Timothy - This is exactly what I was looking for - thank you!  I just called B of A and they said that it takes 4-6 days for the transfer to go through so I am going to begin working on your above scenario now with what I had budgeted from my checking account.  Then I can pay the rest off when they B of A transfer hits.  I need the score to go up as quickly as possible as I am trying to close on my investment properties in about two weeks.

Any rhyme or reason as to when the companies report to the bureaus - weekly, monthly, etc.?

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR EVERYTHING.  YOU HAVE PROBABLY HELPED SAVE ME THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS TONIGHT!

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Message Edited by Timothy on 05-28-2008 06:05 PM

[Anonymous]

Okay, I just made major payments to 5 of the accounts and will wait for the B of A advance to come through.  I have another question though.  A few years ago, I took out a 0% interest for 12 month line of credit with CitiFinancial for $20,000 for a top of the line hot tub (yeah, I know, I know...but I get A LOT of enjoyment out of it).  Anyway, I paid it off in 11 months and 29 days , however I left the account open with a zero balance figuring that it would probably help my credit score because of the high credit limit and the zero balance (APR is so high I would never use it again).  So I figured that it helps with my overall % use of my credit.

When the credit agencies list reasons that score might be lower, they mention that I have a consumer finance account.  I don't see why that should hurt my score.  I know a lot of people default on those, but I never have and, in fact, I don't even use the account.  It is four years old so it helps with the age of my account history.  I do have accounts that are open longer, however I hate to close it.

How much do you think that affects my score?  Should I close it despite the 20k of extra credit it gives me?

And how much do you think those maxed out HELOCS affect my score?

Thank You Much.

[Anonymous]

If it was a CFL- it would be installment not revolving-

So it must be some other account putting up the CFL flag-

It is impossible for me to even guess on the HELOC's-

Take a close look on the EQ report from myFICO to see your positive and negative factors-

I am curious how your revolving utilization is shown-  

RealtorGal wrote:

Okay, I just made major payments to 5 of the accounts and will wait for the B of A advance to come through.  I have another question though.  A few years ago, I took out a 0% interest for 12 month line of credit with CitiFinancial for $20,000 for a top of the line hot tub (yeah, I know, I know...but I get A LOT of enjoyment out of it).  Anyway, I paid it off in 11 months and 29 days , however I left the account open with a zero balance figuring that it would probably help my credit score because of the high credit limit and the zero balance (APR is so high I would never use it again).  So I figured that it helps with my overall % use of my credit.

When the credit agencies list reasons that score might be lower, they mention that I have a consumer finance account.  I don't see why that should hurt my score.  I know a lot of people default on those, but I never have and, in fact, I don't even use the account.  It is four years old so it helps with the age of my account history.  I do have accounts that are open longer, however I hate to close it.

How much do you think that affects my score?  Should I close it despite the 20k of extra credit it gives me?

And how much do you think those maxed out HELOCS affect my score?

Thank You Much.

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[haulingthescoreup]

Sounds to me like the hot tub financing was installment, not revolving, and RealtorGal just paid it off early. I had a CFL from Wells Fargo Financial that I paid off early, within eleven months, and it still shows open as well. RG, did you have a regular payment schedule, and you just paid a lot more than the monthly amounts?

Anyway, like Timothy said, check your reported util and let us know what it shows. On your FICO reports, it's probably going to appear on at least one of them on the second screen (Understanding Your FICO Score) as either a positive or negative. Also, if you have your full report directly from Equifax (the one that shows the soft inqs, etc.), you'll see it there.

[Anonymous]

The report is at my office, I'll have to check. Taking the day off today - will let you know how that CFL is reporting tomorrow. Thanks again for all of your help.

[RobertEG]

Realtorgal, regarding your question pertaining to HELOCs, I quote from the Credit Education posts  made by FairIsaac (tab, top of this page), and more speciifically in the FICO webinar of 11/23/07 :

"While HELOCs are typically shown as "revolving" accounts in your CR, the FICO scoring algorithm considers such debt in the same way as it looks at mortgage (installment) debt, meaning that being maxed out on a HELOC should not affect your score by muchl, if at all."

Message Edited by RobertEG on 05-29-2008 08:41 PM