what proportion of balances would hurt fico score?

[Anonymous]

i have an orchard bank card.

only $300 cl.

it carries $195 (195/300=65%) balance last month and my fico score was hurt by it, it drops from 727 to 696.

this month i pay 10 bucks, so balance is $185 (185/300=61.67%) now. i get a fico score watch alert. it says "You have 1 negative factor(s) no longer hurting your score as much as before: The proportion of balances to credit limits on your revolving accounts is too high ."

my score reaches 727 again. i confused about it, only $10 shift fico score significantly.

Q. what proportion of balances would hurt my score? 61.67% vs 65%......

[Anonymous]

Never go over 50%.

IMHO-anything over 30% starts hurting your score.

You will get another bump in score at 30% and 20% and under 10% with a sweet spot at 1-9%.

I am trying to figure out with your nice score you are letting Orchard mess with your credit score like this?

Get an real card- you deserve it.

[smallfry]

You have a 727 and are gaming a $300 Orchard card? Hmm.

[fused]

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smallfry wrote:
You have a 727 and are gaming a $300 Orchard card? Hmm.

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Agreed! Scoes alone the OP should have an easy time with Amex, BoA, Chase, CITI and probably Discover.

[Anonymous]

thanks,

all you're right. i also have cards from citi, boa, etc. but they all have low cl, max is $2,500. high score (7xx of all 3 bureaus) and low cl.

this is a 2% cashback card. i opened it when my fico score was 630 four month ago. i always use it in walmart. 2% cashback is good for walmart, isn't it?

Message Edited by zoymin on 10-15-2007 06:09 PM

[smallfry]

I'd close that card yesterday. It won't hurt your scores at all. I hate seeing those lines on the report.

[Anonymous]

hi smallfry,

did you ask them to increase your cl? i found it's hard to request cli of hsbc/orchard bank. i even told them i will close my account. but they never minded it.

[smallfry]

I closed all HSBC products. No point hits at all on any bureau. The only junk I have left is a decent line with Barclays/Juniper and I have a feeling I may lose that once they see two new lines from Citi and Chase.