topic Re: Utilization over 0% but less than 1% - FICO rounded to 0% in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Utilization over 0% but less than 1% - FICO rounded to 0%

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 17:20:03 GMT

Hello everyone.

Let me just start off by saying that I know there are a bunch of posts regarding what I mentioned above, but alot of the info that I am reading conflicts with what I'm experiencing.

I am trying to get my credit score as high as possible; as I am going to lease a new car within the next two weeks.

My cards and limits are as follows:

Amex-$13,000

Discover-$7,500

Chase-$2,000

Capital One-$750

My scores are:

Exp-746

Trans-751

Eq-748

I intentionally left a $5 balance on all of my cards (except the Capital One which I left at $0) when the statements cut, in order to show that I am using the cards, but to keep my utilization at a minimum and to have as much available credit as possible.

I just checked my updates on myFICO, and it's telling me that my balances went down to $5, BUT, it's ALSO telling me that my utilization is at 0%, contrary to what pretty much everyone is saying, which is that my utilization will be rounded up to 1%. Now I know that if I have balances on my accounts, it won't say that I have no balances on my revolving accounts, but according to myFICO, since utilization is at 0%, will that have any adverse affects??

Any insight on this?

Re: Utilization over 0% but less than 1% - FICO rounded to 0%

bdhu2001 — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 17:39:54 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hello everyone.

Let me just start off by saying that I know there are a bunch of posts regarding what I mentioned above, but alot of the info that I am reading conflicts with what I'm experiencing.

I am trying to get my credit score as high as possible; as I am going to lease a new car within the next two weeks.

My cards and limits are as follows:

Amex-$13,000
Discover-$7,500
Chase-$2,000
Capital One-$750

My scores are:
Exp-746
Trans-751
Eq-748

I intentionally left a $5 balance on all of my cards (except the Capital One which I left at $0) when the statements cut, in order to show that I am using the cards, but to keep my utilization at a minimum and to have as much available credit as possible.

I just checked my updates on myFICO, and it's telling me that my balances went down to $5, BUT, it's ALSO telling me that my utilization is at 0%, contrary to what pretty much everyone is saying, which is that my utilization will be rounded up to 1%. Now I know that if I have balances on my accounts, it won't say that I have no balances on my revolving accounts, but according to myFICO, since utilization is at 0%, will that have any adverse affects??

Any insight on this?

Don't leave a balance on all your cards. And leave one card at 10%. I think that your other limits are so high they aren't rounding up when there's only $5 on the card. I don't know if anything will happen to your score in two weeks, because the majority of cards only report your balance once per month. A few report more often, but that's not the norm.

You're mentioning a lease. Are those your auto-enhance scores and what score are you trying to get? You only need 740 for the best rate on a car.

Re: Utilization over 0% but less than 1% - FICO rounded to 0%

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 17:56:48 GMT

@bdhu2001 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Hello everyone.

Let me just start off by saying that I know there are a bunch of posts regarding what I mentioned above, but alot of the info that I am reading conflicts with what I'm experiencing.

I am trying to get my credit score as high as possible; as I am going to lease a new car within the next two weeks.

My cards and limits are as follows:

Amex-$13,000
Discover-$7,500
Chase-$2,000
Capital One-$750

My scores are:
Exp-746
Trans-751
Eq-748

I intentionally left a $5 balance on all of my cards (except the Capital One which I left at $0) when the statements cut, in order to show that I am using the cards, but to keep my utilization at a minimum and to have as much available credit as possible.

I just checked my updates on myFICO, and it's telling me that my balances went down to $5, BUT, it's ALSO telling me that my utilization is at 0%, contrary to what pretty much everyone is saying, which is that my utilization will be rounded up to 1%. Now I know that if I have balances on my accounts, it won't say that I have no balances on my revolving accounts, but according to myFICO, since utilization is at 0%, will that have any adverse affects??

Any insight on this?
Don't leave a balance on all your cards. And leave one card at 10%. I think that your other limits are so high they aren't rounding up when there's only $5 on the card. I don't know if anything will happen to your score in two weeks, because the majority of cards only report your balance once per month. A few report more often, but that's not the norm.

You're mentioning a lease. Are those your auto-enhance scores and what score are you trying to get? You only need 740 for the best rate on a car.

Those are my FICO 8 Scores. My auto-enhanced scores are lower, last time I checked about two months ago, they were at Ex-693, Eq-693 and Trans-715. I'm sure they are higher now because since then, my FICO 8 scores jumped up 30 points across the board. I'm not trying to reach a particular score, I'm simply trying to do everything I possibly can to make it as high as possible come time to fill out the credit application. Do you think the fact that I did this may have an adverse affect?

Also, on my last statement, my Chase CC had a balance of $0. This statement, it went up to $5 and my Equifax score went down 1 point. What do you think about this?

Re: Utilization over 0% but less than 1% - FICO rounded to 0%

manyquestions — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 18:23:06 GMT

I'd leave $5 to report on only one card. Let all other cards report at 0. That usually gives most people their highest score. Don't worry about that report that is showing rounding utilization to zero. The algorithim that is calculating your score is not actually rounding to zero.

Re: Utilization over 0% but less than 1% - FICO rounded to 0%

bdhu2001 — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 18:25:49 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@bdhu2001 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Hello everyone.

Let me just start off by saying that I know there are a bunch of posts regarding what I mentioned above, but alot of the info that I am reading conflicts with what I'm experiencing.

I am trying to get my credit score as high as possible; as I am going to lease a new car within the next two weeks.

My cards and limits are as follows:

Amex-$13,000
Discover-$7,500
Chase-$2,000
Capital One-$750

My scores are:
Exp-746
Trans-751
Eq-748

I intentionally left a $5 balance on all of my cards (except the Capital One which I left at $0) when the statements cut, in order to show that I am using the cards, but to keep my utilization at a minimum and to have as much available credit as possible.

I just checked my updates on myFICO, and it's telling me that my balances went down to $5, BUT, it's ALSO telling me that my utilization is at 0%, contrary to what pretty much everyone is saying, which is that my utilization will be rounded up to 1%. Now I know that if I have balances on my accounts, it won't say that I have no balances on my revolving accounts, but according to myFICO, since utilization is at 0%, will that have any adverse affects??

Any insight on this?
Don't leave a balance on all your cards. And leave one card at 10%. I think that your other limits are so high they aren't rounding up when there's only $5 on the card. I don't know if anything will happen to your score in two weeks, because the majority of cards only report your balance once per month. A few report more often, but that's not the norm.

You're mentioning a lease. Are those your auto-enhance scores and what score are you trying to get? You only need 740 for the best rate on a car.
Those are my FICO 8 Scores. My auto-enhanced scores are lower, last time I checked about two months ago, they were at Ex-693, Eq-693 and Trans-715. I'm sure they are higher now because since then, my FICO 8 scores jumped up 30 points across the board. I'm not trying to reach a particular score, I'm simply trying to do everything I possibly can to make it as high as possible come time to fill out the credit application. Do you think the fact that I did this may have an adverse affect?

Also, on my last statement, my Chase CC had a balance of $0. This statement, it went up to $5 and my Equifax score went down 1 point. What do you think about this?

Balances on multiple cards generally makes your score go down even if it's a small balance. You should have a balance on only one card. So if you previously had a balance on only one card and now have balances on multiple cards, I suspect that it will hurt your score. Utilization has no memory so when you correct it, your balance will go back up.

A few people tested utilization across cards and one card was the sweet spot for most of us. A few did better with two, but I'd go with the norm. Do you have to get the car in two weeks or can you wait for a cycle when everything reports $0 except one card. If you can't wait, pull your report & score but be prepared to walk away if you aren't finding what you want.

Re: Utilization over 0% but less than 1% - FICO rounded to 0%

Bankrupt2019 — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 18:26:44 GMT

You're on the right track. For highest score you only want one card showing a balance of less that 10% all others showing 0. you've got everything else working in your favor.

Re: Utilization over 0% but less than 1% - FICO rounded to 0%

masscredit — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 22:54:57 GMT

And if it was me, I'd let the card with the highest limit report a balance. You don't have to go to low. Maybe $100.00 On the AMEX. That would be 7% of that card's limit and it would round to 1 for total utilization.

I'm going to try letting $5-$10. report on one card sometime and the rest at zero to see what it does to my scores.