Utilization 5% -> 9%... EQ FAKO drops 27 points

[SouthJamaica]

My Equifax Vantage 3.0 score on Credit Karma dropped 27 points when my utilization went from 5% to 9%. I expected a dip, but not such a sharp one.

[Anonymous]

I noticed my CK dropped 75+ pts when my uti was 12%.  It jumped back up the same amount when i paid it down to 2%.  Vantage 3.0 seems very uti sensitive.

[EW800]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I noticed my CK dropped 75+ pts when my uti was 12%.  It jumped back up the same amount when i paid it down to 2%.  Vantage 3.0 seems very uti sensitive.

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I agree with the belief that Vantage 3.0 is very Util sensitive.  As you can see below, my FICO 8 scores are pretty much in the 735 range, however despite the major dergos I had about 3-1/2 years or so ago, my Vantage 3.0 scores are about 810!  These scores pretty much skyrocketed a year and a half ago or so when I brought my Util down to pretty much nothing.  From where I am sitting, Vantage 3.0 seems to put a lot more weight on current Util than it does major baddies from a couple of years previous.  

[Revelate]

Util % doesn't apply as much to Vantage; it appears to calculate some if not all on absolute balance rather than percentage of limits.

i.e $7K/$10K may well be equivalent to $7K/$100K.

Need some more data if trying to figure out Vantage scoring .  On the flipside Vantage really really likes my mortgage, whereas FICO 8 hates it.  C'est la guerre.

[Anonymous]

Fico8 seems sensitive to util starting somewhere around 5% overall and 10% on a single card. Dropping my utilization on a single card from 14% to 4% gave me three points.

My score gained 6 points twhen my overall utilization dropped from about 9% to under 1%.

This was mostly from my spending moving from my BCE to my PRG, the PRG monthly spend is excluded and there is only a little spend on my other cards. The Amazon store card with only a $2500 limit is the one that was at 14% at one point.

[Anonymous]

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@Revelate wrote:

Util % doesn't apply as much to Vantage; it appears to calculate some if not all on absolute balance rather than percentage of limits.

i.e $7K/$10K may well be equivalent to $7K/$100K.

Need some more data if trying to figure out Vantage scoring .  On the flipside Vantage really really likes my mortgage, whereas FICO 8 hates it.  C'est la guerre.

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Total balances instead of a percentage of balances could be very well the case.  At 12% uti, i was around $8,000 deep with my credit cards.  My FICO scores were slightly climbing to the 730's, my FAKO tanked 75 pts to 650

[Anonymous]

My Vantage scores are always lower than my Fico scores for some reason. Right now: TU Fico is 816 and Vantage is 772. EQ Fico is 746 and Vantage is 723. Same info reporting in both.

[Revelate]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Fico8 seems sensitive to util starting somewhere around 5% overall and 10% on a single card. Dropping my utilization on a single card from 14% to 4% gave me three points.

My score gained 6 points twhen my overall utilization dropped from about 9% to under 1%.

This was mostly from my spending moving from my BCE to my PRG, the PRG monthly spend is excluded and there is only a little spend on my other cards. The Amazon store card with only a $2500 limit is the one that was at 14% at one point.

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I haven't seen anything regarding single card dropping me until I get north of 80% FWIW in my data.

I don't know where the 10% came from but I had yet another 21.8% utilization on single card report and no score change as a result.  Could be my dirty file but I'm a little skeptical of the long-standing 1 to 9% on a single tradeline; the single tradeline is correct, or at least optimal for all files, but I don't think there's anything intrinsic to that 9% number that's been in the conventional wisdom for so long, on the assumption that aggregate utilization isn't out of whack.

[Thomas_Thumb]

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@Revelate wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
Fico8 seems sensitive to util starting somewhere around 5% overall and 10% on a single card. Dropping my utilization on a single card from 14% to 4% gave me three points.

My score gained 6 points twhen my overall utilization dropped from about 9% to under 1%.

This was mostly from my spending moving from my BCE to my PRG, the PRG monthly spend is excluded and there is only a little spend on my other cards. The Amazon store card with only a $2500 limit is the one that was at 14% at one point.

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I haven't seen anything regarding single card dropping me until I get north of 80% FWIW in my data.

I don't know where the 10% came from but I had yet another 21.8% utilization on single card report and no score change as a result.  Could be my dirty file but I'm a little skeptical of the long-standing 1 to 9% on a single tradeline; the single tradeline is correct, or at least optimal for all files, but I don't think there's anything intrinsic to that 9% number that's been in the conventional wisdom for so long, on the assumption that aggregate utilization isn't out of whack.

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I agree with Revelate on the single card utilization. The score impact really comes from a change in aggregate utilization - not per card [unless you ae maxing out your card].. I generally recommend staying below 30% on individual cards - mainly because it ends up shifting aggregate UT%. If someone has a high aggregate CL and is reporting a balance on a low limit CC, then reporting a UT of even 50% on the card might not iimpact score.

Note: There has been some evidence presented [by Inverse] that there is an aggregate UT% threshold somewhere between 4% and 9% where a few points can be gained/lost. Under 6% appears to be a good rule of thumb based on his data and reason statements on CB reports that state: For high achievers the average ratio is less than 6%