Understanding FICO® Scoring

[YahComb]

I had an odd experience with zero utlization and score.

i had 2 cards reporting 223/5000 ad 394/3500 in january, an overall utilization of 2ish percent. With a very new account (under 3 months) and 10 inqs during 12 months, my score was at 677.

At the end of January, when the 394 balance reported zero, i had no accounts with a balance. and my score went up to 687. A few days later my score was back down to 679 with when my US Bank updated, reporting 254/6500, sub 1 percent overall balance.

Right now i have 2 accounts reporting a balance, 39/3000 and 285/6000. 1 percent overall. Currently i have 7 inqs in 12 months, and my youngest account is at 3 months, and im up to 697. Now i'm thinking i might let both of these cards go to zero to see if it has the same effect(i'm doubtful)

[dddewdrop]

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YahComb wrote:

I had an odd experience with zero utlization and score.

i had 2 cards reporting 223/5000 ad 394/3500 in january, an overall utilization of 2ish percent. With a very new account (under 3 months) and 10 inqs during 12 months, my score was at 677.

At the end of January, when the 394 balance reported zero, i had no accounts with a balance. and my score went up to 687. A few days later my score was back down to 679 with when my US Bank updated, reporting 254/6500, sub 1 percent overall balance.

Right now i have 2 accounts reporting a balance, 39/3000 and 285/6000. 1 percent overall. Currently i have 7 inqs in 12 months, and my youngest account is at 3 months, and im up to 697. Now i'm thinking i might let both of these cards go to zero to see if it has the same effect(i'm doubtful)

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      I don't think thats that strange. Others have reported similar experiences. I'm personally just trying to keep mine as close to zero as possible. Maybe if I really need to try to maximize my score at some point, I'll carry a small balance on one, but in the meantime, I might just keep them all at zero.

[YahComb]

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YahComb wrote:

I had an odd experience with zero utlization and score.

i had 2 cards reporting 223/5000 ad 394/3500 in january, an overall utilization of 2ish percent. With a very new account (under 3 months) and 10 inqs during 12 months, my score was at 677.

At the end of January, when the 394 balance reported zero, i had no accounts with a balance. and my score went up to 687. A few days later my score was back down to 679 with when my US Bank updated, reporting 254/6500, sub 1 percent overall balance.

Right now i have 2 accounts reporting a balance, 39/3000 and 285/6000. 1 percent overall. Currently i have 7 inqs in 12 months, and my youngest account is at 3 months, and im up to 697. Now i'm thinking i might let both of these cards go to zero to see if it has the same effect(i'm doubtful)

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So once again, i have all cards reporting zero balance. same exact bump, +8 points, 701 to 709. Discover should report tomorrow on my EQ, and thursday i guess itll go back down again when SW should alert me. Only letting .5% report on the discover-probably still counts as 1%, and overall utilization of 0.05%. the only card i was letting report before paying to zero was at 4.75% utilization.

[cashnocredit]

Sensitivity to accounts with balances is also dependant on what scorecard you are in. I have 3 CCs and an Amex Charge card. When my CC accounts were under 4 years my EQ FICO varied from around 740 with 2 reporting balances to 760 with all 4 reporting. When the oldest reached 4 years the range changed to between 690 and 755.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Extreme-Rebucketing-Effects-757-to-690-on...

[pakman92]

Althiugh we can't be sure a out the FICO algorithms, empirical evidence reported by members IOC this forum and others suggest the following.

1. One revolving account reporting balance is ideal. 0 is not the best.
2. 1-2% utilization is ideal. Less Han 10 is good. zero is not as god as 1-2 percent

[YahComb]

so from 0 cards reporting a balance, to one card reporting 17/3500. Lost 5 points 709 to 704.

[sarkell]

I should I'm.interested to what my score does I will have 4 accounts with balances out of 10 total plus cl increasing another 2500.