UTI down by 7% no change in Fico

[Anonymous]

My overall uti changed from 90 to 83 on reported accounts this far. Really it's gone down more but those accounts haven't reported for this month yet. But with the decrease, my FICO staying the same number. Am I doing something wrong or does it only get affected when gets below 50%?

[Anonymous]

I know it definitely CAN change before 50% but It doesn't always. I think it depends on the situation. For example, my overall utilization was at a very high 86% last month. I paid all but one card in full this month. My utilization will be 20% by Jan 3rd. My Walmart CC balance went down yesterday from $215 to $0 BUT the card is only a $250 limit making it like 90% util. That balance changed my score on experian and Equifax up 10 points! 10 points for one dinky little payment out of $10000. But I think it's because of the card being maxed. Still at 85% overall utilization. Weird. Transunion didn't change at all.

[redbeard]

Utilization isn't as simple as it sounds.

Also, as you somewhat thought, it is banded, so there are ranges that you need to achieve.  If you were just under 90% previously and are still above 80% now, I wouldn't expect much of a change.

If you still have any individual cards above 90%, there may not be a change.  Getting all cards individually under 90% will usually cause a change though.

So yeah, 7% decrease in utilization may not cause a score change... or it could....  

[Anonymous]

I feel your pain. Mine dropped 12% from 51% to 39%, thought I'd get at least a few points. Nada By January should have it under 30%, so hoping that will give me a bump.

[Thomas_Thumb]

It is hard to know the breakpoints for overall util;ization - and impact may vary by profile (scorecard). Nonetheless, maintaining AG UT under 30% is a general rule for "sound" credit management and under 9% for best score potential.

Note: aggregate utilization and individual card utilization are both looked at - but independently. So if a card is above 90% (maxed out) and you don't pay it down (0% interest promotion - so you leave it at 90%) but you pay down other cards so AG UT drops from 80% to 28% you absolutely will see a score increase even though maxed out card is untouched.

[NRB525]

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@Anonymous wrote:
My overall uti changed from 90 to 83 on reported accounts this far. Really it's gone down more but those accounts haven't reported for this month yet. But with the decrease, my FICO staying the same number. Am I doing something wrong or does it only get affected when gets below 50%?

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What are the limits on each card, which lender, and how much outstanding on the last statement for each? If they are low limit cards, your strategy should not be to try to boost FICO, but to show good charging and payment history, especially at high utilization on low limit cards.

Does your BK drop off in May 2016? Is that the last baddie on your file?