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Is total balance a FICO scoring factor?

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HiLine
Blogger

Is total balance a FICO scoring factor?

It seems to be general consensus that utilization ratio is a factor, while total credit limit is not. What about total balance? Is there a difference in scores between someone who has $10k total balance on a total $100k limit and someone else who has $1k total balance on $10k total limit, everything else equal? 

Message 1 of 5
4 REPLIES 4
guiness56
Epic Contributor

Re: Is total balance a FICO scoring factor?

Total credit limit is not scored by FICO but it is a factor in determining your utilization.  Individual and overall.  So is total balance and individual balance.

 

On the one with a total of $100K limit their overall utilization would be 10% whereas the one with the 10K limit would also be 10% but on that card alone, if I am reading your question correctly.   You would need the total limits and balances to figure overall.

 

 

Message 2 of 5
HiLine
Blogger

Re: Is total balance a FICO scoring factor?

Yup I meant 10% total utilization in both cases.

Message 3 of 5
guiness56
Epic Contributor

Re: Is total balance a FICO scoring factor?

Message 4 of 5
bluescale
Regular Contributor

Re: Is total balance a FICO scoring factor?

They should be scored the same, but will look quite a bit different in manual review, and maybe in automated systems, since my guess is that income, credit usage, and history will look considerable different.  It's hard to imagine a 10x difference in CL without the other factors being different.

 

I understand this is an academic exercise.  It's just hard for me to believe that all else *could* be equal in the two profiles.

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