Understanding FICO® Scoring

[shane82388]

I signed up for Score Watch and got my Equifax score today. Its a 662 and I was wondering if that is factoring in the "balance" shown on my AMEX charge card which is obviously paid off monthly so really isnt a balance per se...? So like if was to pay off my balance before the statment cut this month would my score shoot up (a least a bit)? Or dont worry about it cuz it doesnt factor in...?

I know there is some sort of exception for charge cards....just wondering if this is factored into FICO scores or what the deal is with all that....its still a little hazy to me.

[llecs]

While FICO probably factors in the balance with regards to counting cards reporting a balance or even counting it into your overall balances, FICO does exclude your Amex charge from utilization purposes on your EQ FICO. On a clean report, I've gone from a rough $500 statement balance to $10k, with no score impact on my end.

Now the TU FICO version on here does include the balance and the "High Balance" into util calculations. This is on the TU98 version only. Future versions exclude that (e.g. TU04 used by most lenders or TU08 provided by Wal-Mart's free FICO service). EX excludes it too.