Predict score increase by dropping utilization 25% to...

[Anonymous]

So my overall utilization is at about 34% right now and has been slowly dropping a few % every month for the past year.  I'm growing tired of the slow drop (and slight score increase) so I think I'm going to bite the bullet and throw a large payment at the one card that's been the problem child.  There's a current balance of around $4k on the card and I'm prepared to throw $3k at it in the next 2 weeks before it reports again.  By bringing that balance down to $1k, utilization on that card will be at just over 10% by my overall utilization will be 8-9% which of course gets me to that golden overall number we want to see.

Now I know that everyones profile is different so lowering utilization like I'm planning can have different score impacts to different people.  To give some basic info on my file which is moderately thick I'd say, here goes:  19 total accounts in history, AAoA - 7.5 years.  Zero inquiries in the last 13 months, only 1 inquiry on reports.  96% on time payment history, so a handful of lates mostly in the 2012-2014 range... nothing 2015-2016.  Those lates are the only negative points on my report, no major derogs of any sort.  Two CC's reporting monthly as well as 3 installment loans (1 mortgage, 2 auto).  My current FICO 8 scores are TU 720, EX 733, EQ 773.  Not really sure why there's 53 points between my top and bottom bureau score, but it is what it is and that's a different discussion.

So anyway, dropping from 34% "fair" usage to "excellent" usage and skipping over the good range I would assume will have a nice positive impact on my scores, but I'm not sure how much I can realistically expect.  Based on the info I provided, can anyone provide an educated guess?  Perhaps others with a similar profile have done this and could share their results?  I appreciate the feedback everyone and thank you.

BTW:  I'm planning on applying for 3 CC's in the near future, and am basically waiting on this utilization drop and score increase before doing so.  I figure the score increase will increase my chances of approval for the 3 cards (Discover It, Amex, Lowes) and also help my SLs on the cards. 

[Anonymous]

I went up 60 plus points when I paid one of my card which brought my HU down to 1-5%. It was similar to you with one card left causing it to be 35% overall.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Testing-myFICO-and-CCT-Simulator-This-Mon...

[Anonymous]

Wow, 60 points - that's incredible.  Nice work wtih that!  I was thinking 20-30 would be about what I'd see.  If I see more than that it would be a huge win IMO.

Aside from your overall utilization percentage, was the rest of your profile at all similar to what mine looks like?

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Wow, 60 points - that's incredible.  Nice work wtih that!  I was thinking 20-30 would be about what I'd see.  If I see more than that it would be a huge win IMO.

Aside from your overall utilization percentage, was the rest of your profile at all similar to what mine looks like?

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Everyone's profile reacts differently. 

Recently I went from 6.5% overall with one card at 78% to .4% overall with the 78% card down to zero, & my scores went up from 3 points to 11 points.

[NRB525]

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Wow, 60 points - that's incredible.  Nice work wtih that!  I was thinking 20-30 would be about what I'd see.  If I see more than that it would be a huge win IMO.

Aside from your overall utilization percentage, was the rest of your profile at all similar to what mine looks like?

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Everyone's profile reacts differently. 

Recently I went from 6.5% overall with one card at 78% to .4% overall with the 78% card down to zero, & my scores went up from 3 points to 11 points.

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I agree, I'm thinking this is the range you can expect OP, 10 points call it. Since the utilization on the large card is already below 50%, there's some gain to be had, though your overall utilization is already pretty much under control.

Those baddies are going to be a ceiling on your score for a while yet, unfortunately. Eventually they'll go away and then you'll see the real pop.

[Anonymous]

Interesting.  3-60 points depending on the profile.  Talk about no consistency or ability to predict it!

I have a total of 16 late payments in the last 7 year window.  One thing I didn't notice though until yesterday was that only half of them are on my Equifax report; it only shows 8 where TU and EX show all 16.  The 8 that aren't shown on Equifax are all on the same account that I had from 2010-2013.  The account was reported, but shows no lates for some reason.  I would guess that's why my Equifax score is 40-50 points higher than my other two.  I would venture to guess if those 8 baddies result in 40-50 points, I can extrapolate that the full 16 are holding back those scores 80-100 points which would put all of my scores in the 800-830 range once all the baddies fall off.  Unfortunately that's a few years away, but I'll continue to chip away at them with GW letters as I've had mild success thus far.

I'll definitely report back here in a couple of weeks after I drop that utilization from 34% to 9% and report on what type of score increases are attained.  Even 10 points across the board would make me feel a little safer about my 3 upcoming CC applications.  I really don't want to get denied on any of them.

[Thomas_Thumb]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have a total of 16 late payments in the last 7 year window.  One thing I didn't notice though until yesterday was that only half of them are on my Equifax report; it only shows 8 where TU and EX show all 16.  The 8 that aren't shown on Equifax are all on the same account that I had from 2010-2013.  The account was reported, but shows no lates for some reason.  I would guess that's why my Equifax score is 40-50 points higher than my other two.  I would venture to guess if those 8 baddies result in 40-50 points, I can extrapolate that the full 16 are holding back those scores 80-100 points which would put all of my scores in the 800-830 range once all the baddies fall off.  Unfortunately that's a few years away, but I'll continue to chip away at them with GW letters as I've had mild success thus far.

I'll definitely report back here in a couple of weeks after I drop that utilization from 34% to 9% and report on what type of score increases are attained.  Even 10 points across the board would make me feel a little safer about my 3 upcoming CC applications.  I really don't want to get denied on any of them.

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 I anticipate dropping aggregate utilization from over 30% to under 9% should be worth 10 to 20 points depending on the CRA.

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@Anonymous wrote:

Now I know that everyones profile is different so lowering utilization like I'm planning can have different score impacts to different people.  To give some basic info on my file which is moderately thick I'd say, here goes:  19 total accounts in history, AAoA - 7.5 years.  Zero inquiries in the last 13 months, only 1 inquiry on reports.  96% on time payment history, so a handful of lates mostly in the 2012-2014 range... nothing 2015-2016.  Those lates are the only negative points on my report, no major derogs of any sort.  Two CC's reporting monthly as well as 3 installment loans (1 mortgage, 2 auto).  My current FICO 8 scores are TU 720, EX 733, EQ 773.  Not really sure why there's 53 points between my top and bottom bureau score, but it is what it is and that's a different discussion.

So anyway, dropping from 34% "fair" usage to "excellent" usage and skipping over the good range I would assume will have a nice positive impact on my scores, but I'm not sure how much I can realistically expect.  Based on the info I provided, can anyone provide an educated guess?  Perhaps others with a similar profile have done this and could share their results?  I appreciate the feedback everyone and thank you.

BTW:  I'm planning on applying for 3 CC's in the near future, and am basically waiting on this utilization drop and score increase before doing so.  I figure the score increase will increase my chances of approval for the 3 cards (Discover It, Amex, Lowes) and also help my SLs on the cards. 

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Frankly I am surprised you have a 773 on EQ with all those lates still on file. I pegged the "most mild" dirty scorecards as topping out at 760.

However, it does appear that Fico 08 allows some mild delinquency on some clean score cards. One possibility that has been discussed is 30 day lates and 60 day lates that are at least 3 years old. Are the lates showing on EQ 30 day only and/or 60 day that are over 3 years old? If so, perhaps your EQ report is assigned to a clean scorecard - with a higher ceiling of , say 799.

[go to to this link for some additional scorecard discussion]

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/SCORECARDS/m-p/4361047#M102264

Some added detail on lates broken down by CRA (age & severity) would be helpful

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply.  10-20 points across all 3 scores would certainly be nice to see. 

Some info on my Equifax lates.  There are only 7 on there, not 8.  One of my accounts that shows 3 lates on TU and EX only shows 2 on EQ which I didn't realize until just now. 

As for the 7 lates showing on my Equifax report, here's a little more on them:

2013:  May/June, 30/60.  To my understanding since they are in succession FICO 08 only counts the worst one, 60.

2014:  July/Aug, 30/60.  Same as above, I think only the 60 impacts the score.

2014:  Oct/Nov/Dec.  30/60/90.  Only the 90 should impact the score.

So basically what I think I have impacting my EX score would be two 60-day lates, one that's a hair under 3 years old and one that's 1.75 years old and a 90-day late that's 1.25 years old.  Each one of those instances was on a different account, so 3 total accounts impacted by my late payments.  Two are currently still open and obviously in good standing and the 3rd with the 90 day late on it was paid in full and closed the month after the 90... which, BTW, was complete BS as that 90 day was for an outstanding $2.93 that I didn't know was there.  To my knowledge I paid off the account in full (1 year early BTW) except somehow I shorted the final payment and I wasn't informed about it until months later after I received the 90 day late.  Been trying like heck with GW letters to get rid of that 90 as it's pretty ridiculous that it's over $2.93!