guesstimate as to how utilization is hurting me?

[Anonymous]

Hi there,

Currently 590 TU with 1 4 year old paid collection and 1 2 yr unpaid.   3 paid CO's paid in 1/2007.    A fair amount of 30's but nothing in the last 16 months.  I know these are all hurting me and are a result of my  own stupidity a few years ago.  If I could go back in time I'd obviously not be so careless but I can't change that now.

I believe I can pick up points because of my current revolving utilization:

balance 1300/1500 limit

balance 800/500 limit

balance 600/500 limit

balance 190/200 limit

As you can see 2 are over max and the other two are high but the bright spot is that the overall dollar amount is not that much so I can probably kill them relatively easily.    Given the negs, does anyone think I'd receive significant score bumpage from brining this total down to >9% or are the negatives going to keep holding me down.   I've tried and tried and tried to get the CA's to delete but they are stubborn.   Any guesses on how many points I might gain based on similar experiences?   Thanks....

[Anonymous]

sorry, meant LESS than 9%....

[rom828]

Getting your utilization in order would be HUGE for you!

Three  years ago or so  when I had PR and 2 COs on record, utilization was 77% and my EQ FICO score was 622.   Four months later paid the utilization down to 27% and score went to 692!!

Fast forward to now and the only baddie I have left is the PR (due to drop 3-11), but utilization is back up (to around 33%...had been at 19%) so score is what you see.  Bucketing comes into play also, but I know I really have to get the utilization down to see score improvement, not to mention better fiscal health!

Simulator shows paying down utilization over next 3 mos could put be well over 700, so that's my goal.

I've really found that low utilization is KEY.   Having baddies and low utilization can result in a better score than no baddies and high utilization.

My focus is definitely on getting my cards paid off, which will give me peace of mind,  and my low utilization will give me a better FICO score!

Please post back with score change after you pay cards down!

[RobertEG]

% util is second in impact behind credit history in your scoring, so improvements will definately result in score improvement.

And it is the one FICO scoring factor for which you can show immediate improvement.

In my opinion, the real impact of high utilization on credit scoring is as much a potential of impact on future credit score as it is a matter of current score.

Being over the limit or near the limit has high potential for CL reductions, or even account closings.

Even more reason to get your % utils under control.

[Anonymous]

so it's very interesting that Ithe 1200 dollar balance increased by 90 dollars on EQ and I received an alert that I lost 7 points.  I must have crossed some threshold.   I'm hoping that I might gain 50 points or so when I get these down to less than 9% but I'm not sure if that's realistic.   Sure would be nice if this wasn't such a mystery.

[vanillabean]

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@Anonymous wrote:

so it's very interesting that Ithe 1200 dollar balance increased by 90 dollars on EQ and I received an alert that I lost 7 points.  I must have crossed some threshold.   I'm hoping that I might gain 50 points or so when I get these down to less than 9% but I'm not sure if that's realistic.   Sure would be nice if this wasn't such a mystery.

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My guess is it's easily realistic. Why not closer to 75 points?

Your card utils are 87% 160% 120% 95% , with an overall util of 108%.

If the balance for the first is $10 and for the others $0, then this.

1% 0% 0% 0%, with an overall util of 1%.

Even $120 on the first card and $40 on the second looks good.

8% 8% 0% 0%, with an overall util of 6%.

Try it, and let us know.

The above assumes all cards have their credit limits reported.

[rom828]

+1

And super important to get those overlimit ones to at least below the limit; you're surely getting dinged for that.

My understanding is that there is (or seems to be...I think I got this from haulingtsu) a point break at the 'nines'....in other words, 9%, 19% 49% 79% etc....

Even if you can't get them all paid down at once, start with the over limits, then try to get the balances  paid down to at least  $2400 (89%) or $2100 (79%) and I think you'd see a good increase. 

Then keep paying down and you'll have a really nice score!  And more importantly, you'll be getting out of debt, which is the real goal, right?!?!

[Anonymous]

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@rom828 wrote:

+1

And super important to get those overlimit ones to at least below the limit; you're surely getting dinged for that.

My understanding is that there is (or seems to be...I think I got this from haulingtsu) a point break at the 'nines'....in other words, 9%, 19% 49% 79% etc....

Even if you can't get them all paid down at once, start with the over limits, then try to get the balances  paid down to at least  $2400 (89%) or $2100 (79%) and I think you'd see a good increase. 

Then keep paying down and you'll have a really nice score!  And more importantly, you'll be getting out of debt, which is the real goal, right?!?!

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+1

Pay down the debt, especially the over the limit stuff. Over time, you'll see a decent increase in your score.