One of the reasons sited for lowering my FICO score is in the area of cc utilization. It shows I have $81 on one credit card out of $400 available credit. It shows I have $31,900 available on a different credit card with $0 balance. The weird thing is that I'm not connected to the second cc anymore - I was an authorized user on my then-husband's AMEX card but haven't been since 2009, but all three bureaus still count it as available credit line. So why am I being penalized for utilization? And why does it still show as available credit on the AMEX when I'm not on it anymore?? It still shows as 0% utilization on cc's even though there's $81. Do I spend more like $300 on that cc with the $400 limit to finally get recognition for utilization because I'm safe with the AMEX credit limit or will that, too, hurt my score?
Starting Score: 500