Does largest past balance matter?

[Anonymous]

I have two credit cards that i always pay down and only report under 10% every month. But my question is does is matter score wise what the largest past balance is...

example if i charge 1000 on 1500 card but its paid down and reports 50 a month?

Im trying to raise my score some more and feeling kinda stuck of ways to do it. Since ive had the two CC its always reports under 10% so i didnt know if i would get more points if i only charge 20 a month then pay it or if it mattered?

thanks

[Lel]

For the purposes of FICO scoring, your largest past balance doesn't matter, unless there is no credit limit being reported.  If there is no credit limit being reported, then the highest past balance will be used as a surrogate for your credit limit.  There's an exception to this, but it only applies if you have a card with no preset spending limit.  I won't mention more than that for now so that it doesn't unnecessarily muddle the issue.

If your credit limit is being reported, then you don't need to worry about the past balance, and it doesn't have any effect on your score.  The FICO score is an instantaneous assessment of your current credit profile.  The currently reported balances and credit limits are what matters in your score.

[Anonymous]

If you're trying to do some fine tuning, you may see a FICO score bump if you let one card report a balance under 9.0%, and all other revolving accounts report 0%. 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for explaining. yes both cards report the credit limit. Im just alittle stumped of anything else I can do to boost the score. I still have two baddies that are in dispute so other than that im stuck.

would keeping the cc balances below 5 % or zero get me any more points or do you think im getting all the points in that catagory i can?

[Anonymous]

oh thanks beammeup, I will try that! Im building a house so i know they will have to rerun my credit again before closing (LO said the preapproval only last so many days) so Im trying to boost the score some more so when I have another hard inquiry I wont fall below 620.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for explaining. yes both cards report the credit limit. Im just alittle stumped of anything else I can do to boost the score. I still have two baddies that are in dispute so other than that im stuck.

would keeping the cc balances below 5 % or zero get me any more points or do you think im getting all the points in that catagory i can?

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Yep - we were simultaneously posting - check out my post right above yours.  You can probably pump a few additional points with tweaking reporting to one account reporting less than 9% and the other accounts reporting at zero.  It'll all depend on what's on your CR, of course. 

FICO scores on utilization, as well as number of accounts with a balance.

How many accounts do you have in total on your CR & how many report a balance?

[Anonymous]

double jinks

I love simultaneous posting

[Anonymous]

I have 8 total accounts. 4 with balances- 1 auto, 1 credit card with 6% util., the second cc has 4% utl., then im an authorized user on another cc with 11% utl. all cc paid as agreed never late.

the rest of accounts are closed and paid off. One with a 30 day late (ive goodwilled wells fargo to death and they wont remove it, it was the last pmt for pay off they got late errr) student loan paid off after collection (so i know that hurts because on equifax they report the same student loan 4 times, good news its old and paid off). And two collections that are currently in dispute (one is off of eq but waiting to be removed off other two CB hopefully)

any ideas to help boost will be appreciated.

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have 8 total accounts. 4 with balances- 1 auto, 1 credit card with 6% util., the second cc has 4% utl., then im an authorized user on another cc with 11% utl. all cc paid as agreed never late.

the rest of accounts are closed and paid off. One with a 30 day late (ive goodwilled wells fargo to death and they wont remove it, it was the last pmt for pay off they got late errr) student loan paid off after collection (so i know that hurts because on equifax they report the same student loan 4 times, good news its old and paid off). And two collections that are currently in dispute (one is off of eq but waiting to be removed off other two CB hopefully)

any ideas to help boost will be appreciated.

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Well, one problem is that all your open accounts are reporting balances, even if they're lowish. Since you probably don't have any control over how the AU card reports, I'd plan on paying off the first two cards before their statements post (or before the last business day of the month if they're HSBC/ Orchard bank cards) and have them report $0.

But the most important thing that you can do is look at your FICO score reports and learn how to analyze them. Forget the speedometer and bars on the first screen, and the positive factors on the second screen. What are the negative factors, in order, on screen 2 of your reports? These are the factors, listed in order, that are keeping your scores where they are.

[Anonymous]

Do you mean the balance bar thing? I get my reports from here so i wanted to make sure i was on the right tab. It lists the collections as the worst then delinquency. Ive got the two collections in disputes so theres not much else I can do with that. But I will pay off the two cc and let them post zero every month!