@tim2 wrote:What is the ideal utilization percentage?
And is it calculated as a whole or individual accounts? So can you have one card maxed out but if all other cards have a zero balance you will still be good?
To add what user23482 stated, when myFICO was still on Beacon 5.0 I lost on the order of 14 points for having a single card maxxed out on my FICO score. Might have been slightly less than that (as my aggregate utilization was higher than 10% but less than 30% both times, good but not theoretically optimal), but tested it twice with exactly the same results. This was with my mixed file which hsa some derogatories littering it: for someone with a clean sheet, the penalty would likely be harsher.
If you need to max a tradeline temporarily it's not a real problem outside of the temporary drop in score; however, I wouldn't make a habit of it nor would I leave it in that state for any longer than necessary.
@Revelate wrote:
@tim2 wrote:What is the ideal utilization percentage?
And is it calculated as a whole or individual accounts? So can you have one card maxed out but if all other cards have a zero balance you will still be good?
To add what user23482 stated, when myFICO was still on Beacon 5.0 I lost on the order of 14 points for having a single card maxxed out on my FICO score. Might have been slightly less than that (as my aggregate utilization was higher than 10% but less than 30% both times, good but not theoretically optimal), but tested it twice with exactly the same results. This was with my mixed file which hsa some derogatories littering it: for someone with a clean sheet, the penalty would likely be harsher.
If you need to max a tradeline temporarily it's not a real problem outside of the temporary drop in score; however, I wouldn't make a habit of it nor would I leave it in that state for any longer than necessary.
During your tests what % did you consider maxed out on a single card?
@avggoal700 wrote:
@Revelate wrote:
@tim2 wrote:What is the ideal utilization percentage?
And is it calculated as a whole or individual accounts? So can you have one card maxed out but if all other cards have a zero balance you will still be good?
To add what user23482 stated, when myFICO was still on Beacon 5.0 I lost on the order of 14 points for having a single card maxxed out on my FICO score. Might have been slightly less than that (as my aggregate utilization was higher than 10% but less than 30% both times, good but not theoretically optimal), but tested it twice with exactly the same results. This was with my mixed file which hsa some derogatories littering it: for someone with a clean sheet, the penalty would likely be harsher.
If you need to max a tradeline temporarily it's not a real problem outside of the temporary drop in score; however, I wouldn't make a habit of it nor would I leave it in that state for any longer than necessary.
During your tests what % did you consider maxed out on a single card?
I hit 99.87% and 99.93% respectively.
If I weren't breaking in two new cards I'd be strongly tempted to take a convenience check on my rarely used BOFA tradeline and try the tests again at varying different percentages during their 6 months no interest period because I'm sort of curious what the cutoff point is now after a bunch of confusion on the forums regarding it.
@Revelate wrote:
@avggoal700 wrote:
@Revelate wrote:
@tim2 wrote:What is the ideal utilization percentage?
And is it calculated as a whole or individual accounts? So can you have one card maxed out but if all other cards have a zero balance you will still be good?
To add what user23482 stated, when myFICO was still on Beacon 5.0 I lost on the order of 14 points for having a single card maxxed out on my FICO score. Might have been slightly less than that (as my aggregate utilization was higher than 10% but less than 30% both times, good but not theoretically optimal), but tested it twice with exactly the same results. This was with my mixed file which hsa some derogatories littering it: for someone with a clean sheet, the penalty would likely be harsher.
If you need to max a tradeline temporarily it's not a real problem outside of the temporary drop in score; however, I wouldn't make a habit of it nor would I leave it in that state for any longer than necessary.
During your tests what % did you consider maxed out on a single card?
I hit 99.87% and 99.93% respectively.
If I weren't breaking in two new cards I'd be strongly tempted to take a convenience check on my rarely used BOFA tradeline and try the tests again at varying different percentages during their 6 months no interest period because I'm sort of curious what the cutoff point is now after a bunch of confusion on the forums regarding it.
Interesting. I have a card at 92.22% and another at 87% with the rest at 0%, I wonder how much that is affecting my score.
@avggoal700 wrote:
@Revelate wrote:
@avggoal700 wrote:
@Revelate wrote:
@tim2 wrote:What is the ideal utilization percentage?
And is it calculated as a whole or individual accounts? So can you have one card maxed out but if all other cards have a zero balance you will still be good?
To add what user23482 stated, when myFICO was still on Beacon 5.0 I lost on the order of 14 points for having a single card maxxed out on my FICO score. Might have been slightly less than that (as my aggregate utilization was higher than 10% but less than 30% both times, good but not theoretically optimal), but tested it twice with exactly the same results. This was with my mixed file which hsa some derogatories littering it: for someone with a clean sheet, the penalty would likely be harsher.
If you need to max a tradeline temporarily it's not a real problem outside of the temporary drop in score; however, I wouldn't make a habit of it nor would I leave it in that state for any longer than necessary.
During your tests what % did you consider maxed out on a single card?
I hit 99.87% and 99.93% respectively.
If I weren't breaking in two new cards I'd be strongly tempted to take a convenience check on my rarely used BOFA tradeline and try the tests again at varying different percentages during their 6 months no interest period because I'm sort of curious what the cutoff point is now after a bunch of confusion on the forums regarding it.
Interesting. I have a card at 92.22% and another at 87% with the rest at 0%, I wonder how much that is affecting my score.
Probably non-trivially: if that's a Wally TU in your sheet, and you intend to pay off the cards anyway, maybe try moving one down each month by 10% and see where you get bumps? 
.
Hard to isolate the test, my ideal time would be around May next year if I were to try it, AAoA should've ticked over to 3 years, all my inquiries will be gone, and no tradeline anniversaries coming up... bout the best test environment I could create myself.