MyFICO EQ Score - Util - Very Good to Great

[MidnightVoice]

The shift point for this seems to be below 5% is usually great and above (but less than 10) is very good (more or less).

Now we always talk anou 1-9%.  I wonder if it 1-5 and 5-9 %?

[haulingthescoreup]

I'm thinking 1-4% and 5-9%, with rounding.

[smallfry]

In what area of the report are you seeing all of this? My utilization this month is 3% and the class is very good. First page of FICO EQ report?

[haulingthescoreup]

I see the good - very good - etc on screen 1 of EQ and TU (EX won't play.) I'm usually getting either scolded or praised for util on screen 2, so that's where I get that.

Figuring out whether you have pleased or displeased the FICO gods involves a lot of analyzing and guesswork of what the score reports offer!

You can also find your revolving util with Equifax's Credit Watch Gold (from their website.) Up to daily pulls of their full report, plus alerts, and a great layout and so forth.

[smallfry]

Hauling I no longer get CWG from EQ but since my total available credit is right around 100K it is really easy to figure out my utilization. It has remained between 1-3% since last July and I have only been graded very good never great. I thought the reports had added a new wrinkle today since my latest EQ FICO report from last nite didn't have any new info since last year's reports on that front. My scores are in a rut until July when most of my new accounts grow to one year old. I hope I get a score pop at that point. My scores have not changed at all in 3 months.

[haulingthescoreup]

Oops, sorry, forgot that I was replying to a pro! And you're the one who told me about CWG in the first place. (and thanks again!) This is what I get for trying to reply to 3 posts at once.

That's very weird indeed that you only get "very good" with your util. I hadn't noticed that, but I just now checked: I once accidentally had 0 accounts reporting balances on TU (thank you TU for not bothering to update!) I actually got a score boost from this, but even with 0% util, I had a "very good."

Those folks are hard to please!

[Anonymous]

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MidnightVoice wrote:

The shift point for this seems to be below 5% is usually great and above (but less than 10) is very good (more or less).

Now we always talk anou 1-9%.  I wonder if it 1-5 and 5-9 %?

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I'm glad you mentioned this.  I was going to start a thread about this subject. 

I noticed on an Equifax report, when my utilization was 6%, I received this remark--

Amount of debt Your total amount of outstanding debt.	Very Good

On a later report, when my utilization dropped to 5%, Equifax commented--

Amount of debt Your total amount of outstanding debt.	Great

However, my score didn't increase when I went from "Very Good" to "Great."

[smallfry]

Anyone who has received a "great" must have a car loan nearly paid off is my guess. Although my car loan is well past 50% paid this must be the reason I do not receive great in this category. Maybe the fact that I have a public record still on the report is holding this back? Maybe they need to see an active/open mortgage? Maybe they just don't like me? lol.

[haulingthescoreup]

smallfry, that might well be it. Even when I had 0% revolving util, I had a balance on a HELOC and a mortgage. So maybe this first page is also considering installment util.

Except that MV does have a HELOC. OK, so maybe not...

[cobra19]

< 3% for best results. IMO, that has always been the magic number.