topic Re: Credit Card usage from 2% to 1% in Credit Cards

Credit Card usage from 2% to 1%

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 22:05:54 GMT

I checked my credit today and noticed I had a 7 point drop. The only thing different was my credit card usage went from 2% to 1% after paying $200.00 on my one credit card balance. I have 7 credit cards but keep a balance on only one card. My credit aged another month and I was expecting a bump instead of a drop. All other items on my credit remained the same as the previous month. Does this make any sense? I am stumped.

Re: Credit Card usage from 2% to 1%

LS2982 — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 22:30:44 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I checked my credit today and noticed I had a 7 point drop. The only thing different was my credit card usage went from 2% to 1% after paying $200.00 on my one credit card balance. I have 7 credit cards but keep a balance on only one card. My credit aged another month and I was expecting a bump instead of a drop. All other items on my credit remained the same as the previous month. Does this make any sense? I am stumped.

Where did you pull your credit at?

Re: Credit Card usage from 2% to 1%

E150GT — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 23:30:45 GMT

I feel like that sometimes. I paid down over $500 in one month and my score hasnt changed since february. I am anxious to see if my score will have gone up or down or what now because I just paid off all cards except the amex is showing a balance. No alerts yet.

Re: Credit Card usage from 2% to 1%

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 23:59:50 GMT

I pulled it from Equifax Premier which I know is not FICO but it mirrors my FICO Equifax.

Re: Credit Card usage from 2% to 1%

youngandcreditwrthy — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 00:08:30 GMT

Allegedly 9% util is optimal

Re: Credit Card usage from 2% to 1%

SnackTrader — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 00:13:58 GMT

I don't agree that there is any individual number that will lead to the highest possible score for EVERYONE. My thought is that the number will be different from person to person based on what else is in their profile and the amount of credit they have available to them. I have discussed this hypothesis before, but the thought behind it is that FICO is very capable of "bucketing" people for score based on their credit profile. It seems to me that the bucketing could extend to utilization as well.

Of course I have no proof to backup any of that. But it sounds like the OP should play around with utilization percentages to find their best personal utilization, and in their case it may be 2% rather than 1%. At the end of the day, I still believe something between 1-9% is very reasonable.

Re: Credit Card usage from 2% to 1%

LS2982 — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 00:15:52 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I pulled it from Equifax Premier which I know is not FICO but it mirrors my FICO Equifax.

I wouldn't put any serious thought into that score. Its worthless and goes off of a different scale than FICO.

Re: Credit Card usage from 2% to 1%

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 00:21:32 GMT

I u pay the credit cards down to 1% utl you will lose up to 15 fico points

If you are at 2% utl ur GOLDEN so yes 2% is the name of the game

Re: Credit Card usage from 2% to 1%

Countingpennies — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 00:35:05 GMT

My util. was 2-3% (2 1/2 rounded up or down) last month (I have 2 cards.) This month 1%, my scores all dropped a few points also. I'm going to try 4% next month.

Re: Credit Card usage from 2% to 1%

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 00:36:35 GMT

4%utl is good but you will not get the max Fico score

Trust me u need 2%

Re: Credit Card usage from 2% to 1%

SnackTrader — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 00:38:07 GMT

Can I ask how you KNOW that 2% is the best? If you have some inside information, the rest of us would love to hear it!

Re: Credit Card usage from 2% to 1%

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 00:40:15 GMT

It seems 2% is the number and I thought my usage would round up but, they rounded down. Thanks for the input.

Re: Credit Card usage from 2% to 1%

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 00:45:32 GMT

I don't have any inside information. Everything was fine until I got down to 1% so, I will keep it at least 2% from now on. Might try 3 and 4% just to see. I am gardening right now so I have couple of months to play with.

Re: Credit Card usage from 2% to 1%

SnackTrader — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 01:06:27 GMT

Not referring to you.

Referring to Daniel, who was so sure that 2% was correct that he would allow a person to base their entire credit profile on that information.

I appreciate the reply though!

Re: Credit Card usage from 2% to 1%

Countingpennies — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 01:24:16 GMT

I think we all agree 1% is not the best target.

Re: Credit Card usage from 2% to 1%

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 01:33:44 GMT

Because I have try this for 12 years now and is always 2% for maximize score

Speaking from experience 100% sure about this plus you can try the fico simulator

Re: Credit Card usage from 2% to 1%

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 01:38:46 GMT

I think we have a consensus, don't mess around with 0 and 1%. I really appreciate all of you helping me out.

Re: Credit Card usage from 2% to 1%

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 01:43:48 GMT

You need to show some use on the cards preferable 2%

If you go below that you lose from 3 fico points to 10 fico it all depend on how many trades and other factors as well but the general idea is 9% and down but no less then 2% utl. The new idea is more trades more score but i have yet to prove that functionality so.....

Re: Credit Card usage from 2% to 1%

SnackTrader — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 01:44:41 GMT

Well I encourage everyone who NEEDS an extra 5-15 points out of their score to try to find their personal "magic number". Personally, I find pretty much everything under 10% reasonable for my score. But as I stated earlier I do not believe everyone has the exact same ideal utilization, and I don't think that advertising any single number as perfect is beneficial for the readers of this forum. Quite simply, without a heavy amount of evidence, I think saying 2% is the only answer is very misleading.

I will stick with the 1-9% frequently discussed based on the years of evidence from these forums.

Re: Credit Card usage from 2% to 1%

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 01:47:18 GMT

I agree, one size does not fit all. Thanks a lot.