Utilization milestones?

[Anonymous]

So am in the process of aggressively paying down on what was a maxed out account, but am wondering if there is a more effective way to go about it. Here's where I am at:
3000/7000 Chase (the one that was maxed a couple mouths ago)
0/1000 Chase Slate
3104/3100 Citi
3400/10000 BOA
4600/7600 Kay
0/3500 Synchrony
6500/11500 Credit union cc (closed per my permission)


My original goal was to pay off Chase Freedom entirely just because it would feel better I guess since this debt has been there since like 2011. But how can I go about it where I am paying off things to maximize my score?? I have a couple bonuses come up and I was thinking of turning my attention to Citi. I know below 30% is best, so does any where from 0 to 30% have about same impact on scores? What othe r milestones are there? Like below 50%, etc?

[Anonymous]

Are you willing to pay off all of your CC debt?  If you do, you'll save yourself a ton of interest.  And with all of your CC debt paid off, you can then move forward with having most of your cards reporting $0 and paying the others in full each month, which will maximize your scores,

If you do that, the question about where all the various breakpoints are (for individual and total utilization) becomes irrelevant.

I'd make sure that you are always make more than double the payment on every card, get all cards < 49%,, and then pay them off however you like.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:
So am in the process of aggressively paying down on what was a maxed out account, but am wondering if there is a more effective way to go about it. Here's where I am at:
3000/7000 Chase (the one that was maxed a couple mouths ago)
0/1000 Chase Slate
3104/3100 Citi
3400/10000 BOA
4600/7600 Kay
0/3500 Synchrony
6500/11500 Credit union cc (closed per my permission)


My original goal was to pay off Chase Freedom entirely just because it would feel better I guess since this debt has been there since like 2011. But how can I go about it where I am paying off things to maximize my score?? I have a couple bonuses come up and I was thinking of turning my attention to Citi. I know below 30% is best, so does any where from 0 to 30% have about same impact on scores? What othe r milestones are there? Like below 50%, etc?

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Overall utilization 9% or less is optimal. I find that my FICO 8 score moves around when overall utilization is in the neighborhood of 2 to 9%.

Individual card utilation of 29% or less is optimal.

[HeavenOhio]

Note that you want to hit numbers like 8.9%, 28.9%, and 48.9%. 9.0000001%, 29.0000001%, and 49.0000001% would round up to 10%, 30%, and 50%. You woudn't get the scoring advantages for crossing those thresholds.

You're going to get the biggest scoring advantage by paying off the closed card. Its balance counts toward your overall usage, but you're not getting credit for its limit.

Aside from that, getting everything below 49% puts you on safer ground with your lenders and may result in a scoring bump. Getting everythng below 29% is considered responsible borrowing, and scoring will acknowledge crossing that threshold. And below 9% is optimal.

I'd probably attack your balances like this:

1. Get everything to 48.9% or below, then continue to make more than double the minimum payments on every card.

2. Use any extra money to pay off the closed card.

3. Once the closed card is paid off, aim for 28.9%, then 8.9%, then zero.

Ultimately, once your interest obligiations are taken care of, you'll want one major card reporting a small balance between $5 and 8.9% of its limit with the rest of your cards reporting zero. All cards reporting zero simultaneously will ding you.