topic Re: Cut high statements or report 0 UTI for CLI in Credit Cards

Cut high statements or report 0 UTI for CLI

mademan0890 — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 13:50:02 GMT

Working on getting a good CLI with my capital one CC. Which is better for the CLI, cutting high statements balances or paying it off to zero before the statement closes. I know the high statement won't be good for my credit score but I also know UTI doesn't have memory. Should I show C1 that I'm credit savvy and not report anything? Do they care about that? Any advice on CLI with C1 will be appreciated.

Re: Cut high statements or report 0 UTI for CLI

pizzadude — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 15:01:41 GMT

@mademan0890 wrote:
Working on getting a good CLI with my capital one CC. Which is better for the CLI, cutting high statements balances or paying it off to zero before the statement closes. I know the high statement won't be good for my credit score but I also know UTI doesn't have memory. Should I show C1 that I'm credit savvy and not report anything? Do they care about that? Any advice on CLI with C1 will be appreciated.

I don't know that either would be more helpful, and keep in mind that there are many other factors at play outside of how you are using the card.

Also since this is Cap1, you might be bucketed into a low / no-growth CC and even if you're doing everything right you might not be eligible for CLIs.

What is your CL on your card and how long has it been open ?

Re: Cut high statements or report 0 UTI for CLI

Patient957 — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 15:32:03 GMT

@mademan0890 wrote:
Working on getting a good CLI with my capital one CC. Which is better for the CLI, cutting high statements balances or paying it off to zero before the statement closes. I know the high statement won't be good for my credit score but I also know UTI doesn't have memory. Should I show C1 that I'm credit savvy and not report anything? Do they care about that? Any advice on CLI with C1 will be appreciated.

IMO, nobody really knows what makes C1 tick as far as CLIs go. Lots of people have tried to figure it out, many heads banged against the wall. Those who think they know, don't really know -- again, IMO.

Whatever you decide, good luck!

Re: Cut high statements or report 0 UTI for CLI

Gollum — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 16:29:42 GMT

@mademan0890 wrote:
Working on getting a good CLI with my capital one CC. Which is better for the CLI, cutting high statements balances or paying it off to zero before the statement closes. I know the high statement won't be good for my credit score but I also know UTI doesn't have memory. Should I show C1 that I'm credit savvy and not report anything? Do they care about that? Any advice on CLI with C1 will be appreciated.

Here's my experience so far (going from memory, so some details may not be quite correct): My Capital One card had a $10,500 credit limit until I voluntarily decreased it to $750 then spitefully let it stay at that limit ($750) for fourteen years or so and I have been trying to get its credit limit increased for the past two years. Here are my Capital One card credit limits for the past two years in six month increments : $750 -> $1500 -> $1800 -> $5000 -> $5750. My FICO 8 scores are currently 844 Experian and 831 TransUnion, I've kept my Capital One utilization below 25% (I've been fortunate to be able to pay all my unsecured debt balances in full every month for fourteen years or so), and I don't do AZEO (All Zero Except One) so if anything, I always have a balance on all my cards except one .

BTW, Simmons Bank gave me a credit limit increase ($7500 -> $10,500) recently without me asking.

Re: Cut high statements or report 0 UTI for CLI

Kforce — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 16:51:07 GMT

@Patient957 wrote:

IMO, nobody really knows what makes C1 tick as far as CLIs go.
Lots of people have tried to figure it out, many heads banged against the wall.
Those who think they know, don't really know -- again, IMO.

^^^^ This

Re: Cut high statements or report 0 UTI for CLI

SusanJA — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 23:12:53 GMT

I think 0% utilization is better than high utilization as far as CLI is concerned.

Re: Cut high statements or report 0 UTI for CLI

ElvisCaprice — Sat, 07 Feb 2026 06:38:53 GMT

I would just pay the statement balance when due or a couple days early. You do what's best for you financially, not what Captial One wants. And if that isn't good enough, just say no to Capital One. Works for me.

$Re: Cut high statements or report 0 UTI for CLI

mademan0890 — Sat, 07 Feb 2026 14:05:09 GMT

Right now its a $600 credit limit on my quicksilver card which i got by uprading from their platium card. I think I am bucketed but Im trying to break out of it. If it possible

Re: $Re: Cut high statements or report 0 UTI for CLI

Gollum — Sat, 07 Feb 2026 18:17:02 GMT

@mademan0890 wrote:
Right now its a $600 credit limit on my quicksilver card which i got by uprading from their platium card. I think I am bucketed but Im trying to break out of it. If it possible

I don't think a "bucketed" credit card can "break out" of its bucket. Here's a URL for a longish but good read about bucketed credit cards: https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/General-Credit-Topics/Credit-Card-Asset-Backed-Securities-ABS-and-why-some-subprime/td-p/5083619

My opinion is that if a particular Capital One credit card attains a credit limit of $3500, then that card is not what most people refer to as "bucketed:" The credit card may be in a bucket; it's just not the dreaded bucket. I don't think there's any way to tell about a particular Capital One credit card other than by its credit limit. If that card's credit limit seems stuck at $1500 or less, its credit limit may never increase, but "only time will tell."

Re: $Re: Cut high statements or report 0 UTI for CLI

Patient957 — Sat, 07 Feb 2026 23:17:48 GMT

@mademan0890 wrote:
Right now its a $600 credit limit on my quicksilver card which i got by uprading from their platium card. I think I am bucketed but Im trying to break out of it. If it possible

My advice on this is to just use the card normally, do not credit cycle it, request CLIs periodically. But most importantly, set your focus away from this card. Focus on building your credit profile in other places. If you break out of the bucket eventually, great. If not, who cares, you'll have bigger things cooking elsewhere. Whatever happens your toes are still tappin.

So many people get fixated on their bucketed C1 cards as if their happiness and self worth are tied up in the fate of a crappy bucketed credit card. Please don't be that guy. It's a terrible place to be.

Re: $Re: Cut high statements or report 0 UTI for CLI

smcj — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 16:44:49 GMT

C1 likes utilization. I have a truly ancient C1 card and have been through the wringer with them a couple of times to get CLIs in an "unbucketed" way (don't ask how, it's not repeatable).

Bothering to post this, though, because I shifted strategy from $0 balance to low reporting balance (I take advantage of its no-interest grace period on all purchases) and got no luck with CLIs. Then I shifted to mid-high on literally one cycle and paid it down immediately after that cycle. Next cycle up, I suddenly snagged my first pushbutton CLI in... I honestly don't remember. Not a big one, not even an amount that I can call financially relevant. But the fact that it budged at all astounded me.

I have no intent of shifting to reporting high utilization on this card to score CLIs. Other lenders handle better and even if I did shift it would be a decade before this card getting near what is more normal for me now. But it does reinforce reports I have seen elsewhere suggesting that C1 likes utilization -- even if it is utilization that is not great for your actual FICO score, and not great for how other lenders view your handling of the C1 account (based on how it reports to your CR). Not clear whether it is reported utilization or utilization period, but in one or both forms it seems to be a C1 "thing."

YMMV, and as others have indicated, strongly consider whether bothering with C1's games on this front is good for your finances first, prioritizing that above chasing their CLI satisfiers.

Re: Cut high statements or report 0 UTI for CLI

mademan0890 — Sat, 21 Feb 2026 12:14:33 GMT

Why would someone voluntarily decrease thier CL

Re: Cut high statements or report 0 UTI for CLI

Zoostation1 — Sat, 21 Feb 2026 14:39:19 GMT

I tend to subscribe to the let higher statement balances report, but still PIF philosophy. That being said there's other factors involved to.

Re: Cut high statements or report 0 UTI for CLI

ElvisCaprice — Sat, 21 Feb 2026 20:32:45 GMT

@mademan0890 wrote:
Why would someone voluntarily decrease thier CL

I do it all the time, especially on new issuance with a SL that's too high for my needs. There are several reasons as to why a CLD is to one's advantage, churn, long term use/age, individual issuer TCL ceiling, CC caps, come to mind.

Case in point, recently, in December, opened a US Bank Kroger CC, category 5% is 6k per year cap, realistically never more than $500 spend in a month, they gave me a SL of $18,500, I called them and CLD it down to 6k, immediately.

Re: Cut high statements or report 0 UTI for CLI

Credit_hawk — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 10:12:01 GMT

I'm very interested in your story about why you voluntarily reduced your Cap One limit from $10,000 to $750 and kept it there for over a decade. Please spill the tea if you don't mind sharing lol

@Gollum wrote:
@mademan0890 wrote:
Working on getting a good CLI with my capital one CC. Which is better for the CLI, cutting high statements balances or paying it off to zero before the statement closes. I know the high statement won't be good for my credit score but I also know UTI doesn't have memory. Should I show C1 that I'm credit savvy and not report anything? Do they care about that? Any advice on CLI with C1 will be appreciated.
Here's my experience so far (going from memory, so some details may not be quite correct): My Capital One card had a $10,500 credit limit until I voluntarily decreased it to $750 then spitefully let it stay at that limit ($750) for fourteen years or so and I have been trying to get its credit limit increased for the past two years. Here are my Capital One card credit limits for the past two years in six month increments : $750 -> $1500 -> $1800 -> $5000 -> $5750. My FICO 8 scores are currently 844 Experian and 831 TransUnion, I've kept my Capital One utilization below 25% (I've been fortunate to be able to pay all my unsecured debt balances in full every month for fourteen years or so), and I don't do AZEO (All Zero Except One) so if anything, I always have a balance on all my cards except one .
BTW, Simmons Bank gave me a credit limit increase ($7500 -> $10,500) recently without me asking.

Re: Cut high statements or report 0 UTI for CLI

Gollum — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 16:36:58 GMT

@Credit_hawk wrote:
I'm very interested in your story about why you voluntarily reduced your Cap One limit from $10,000 to $750 and kept it there for over a decade. Please spill the tea if you don't mind sharing lol

In 2008 or 2009 or so, I was, like many others, not employed to my fullest potential. I maxed out my Capital One credit card, Capital One notified me that they would be raising my credit card's interest rate significantly, I eventually paid the Capital One credit card balance off before the card's increased interest rate took effect, I punished Capital One by voluntarily decreasing my Capital One credit card limit and not using the card, and now I would like Capital One to product change my Quicksilver credit card to a Savor credit card but Capital One is (not yet) cooperating.