topic Re: Utilization % and rounding? Single account and aggregate? in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Utilization % and rounding? Single account and aggregate?

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Aug 2016 20:34:08 GMT

How does rounding work with respect to utilization % both on a single account and aggregate?

I always thought that the % always rounded down to the nearest whole number. For example, 9.84% utilization on a single account would be seen as 9% utilization. Is that correct, or would it round up to 10%?

When talking aggregate utilization, if you have whole number utilization on one account, say 2%, but your overall aggregate utilization is less than 1%, say .4%, is your entire utilization then seen as 0%?

I ask this because when I pulled my 3B scores today I noticed a drop across all bureaus, and the reason was because of "not using credit" - "your credit report shows no recent balances on your revolving accounts." One of my revolving accounts does have a balance though, $242 on a $9600 limit which is 2-3% utilization depending on if it rounds up or down. My aggregate utilization however is .4% when taking into account all lines of credit. Does this mean that in order to maximize my credit scores I need to report a monthly balance of roughly $600 on one account so that my aggregate utilization is at least 1% (whole number not rounded up)? That seems a bit ridiculous to me.

Is there something else obvious that I'm missing here?

Re: Utilization % and rounding? Single account and aggregate?

JagerBombs89 — Tue, 30 Aug 2016 23:55:32 GMT

Just looked at my last 3B report and I only had one account reporting a balance across 6 cards. The individual utilization 1.87% and aggregate utilization was 0.73% - MyFICO reports my utilization as 1%

Re: Utilization % and rounding? Single account and aggregate?

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Aug 2016 03:52:23 GMT

Interesting. I wonder if that means that it simply rounds up or down... .5+ = 1, .49 or less 0?

Re: Utilization % and rounding? Single account and aggregate?

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Aug 2016 04:07:24 GMT

Hello BBS. Is it possible that the one card that is showing a balance is a charge card, rather than a true credit card? Charge cards are often not counted in one's utilization -- thus if that card were a charge card your utilization would be 0.000%.

Likewise, same question about whether the card showing a balance is an AU account. If it is, it might not be being counted as part of your U and your U would be 0%.

When you say "One of my revolving accounts does have a balance though, $242 on a $9600 limit" have you confirmed that all three reports are showing it as showing $242?

Utilization is always supposed to be rounded up. That's what hundreds of people appear to have confirmed in the last few years, and it is the reason why a person can put all his cards at $0 with one card at $10 and still have a utilization of 1%. The only exceptions I have heard of are the two I mention above, and these two others:

* If a card is reporting a tiny balance (less than $3.01) then it can sometimes be treated as if it were $0.

* If an individual credit limit is huge, then the whole tradeline might be removed from the U calculation. Unsure how huge this would have to be. Over 30k for sure, possibly larger.

I'd be very interested if FICO starts rounding to the nearest percent -- should be very easy to get lots of confirmations on if true.

Re: Utilization % and rounding? Single account and aggregate?

Revelate — Wed, 31 Aug 2016 05:27:55 GMT

You can't trust any third party service; not even MF (FICO Consumer) when it comes to rounding potentially.

If you want to know, test it. Eventually I'll get off my ass (namely when the Freedom no longer has 5x for restaurants most likely) and find a breakpoint on individual tradeline utilization and then testing rounding for that; however, that might not hold for aggregate.

When I was playing with AAOA it seemed to round fractional months up and then down on the years bit, but it's hard to say.

Re: Utilization % and rounding? Single account and aggregate?

Thomas_Thumb — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 15:00:58 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
How does rounding work with respect to utilization % both on a single account and aggregate?

I always thought that the % always rounded down to the nearest whole number. For example, 9.84% utilization on a single account would be seen as 9% utilization. Is that correct, or would it round up to 10%?

When talking aggregate utilization, if you have whole number utilization on one account, say 2%, but your overall aggregate utilization is less than 1%, say .4%, is your entire utilization then seen as 0%?

I ask this because when I pulled my 3B scores today I noticed a drop across all bureaus, and the reason was because of "not using credit" - "your credit report shows no recent balances on your revolving accounts." One of my revolving accounts does have a balance though, $242 on a $9600 limit which is 2-3% utilization depending on if it rounds up or down. My aggregate utilization however is .4% when taking into account all lines of credit. Does this mean that in order to maximize my credit scores I need to report a monthly balance of roughly $600 on one account so that my aggregate utilization is at least 1% (whole number not rounded up)? That seems a bit ridiculous to me.

Is there something else obvious that I'm missing here?

I have looked at summary reports from EQ, TU, EX, CK, CS, MyFICO and others. Some aggregate utilization as a whole number while others display the percent in 0.1% increments. Some reports include AU accounts in the calculation while others do not.

Regardless of the display ... Fico 08 rounds up aggregate utilization for use in model scoring. Odds are the same approach would be used on an individual card basis. However, if charge is below some trivial amount (say $3), the balance is treated as zero.

As mentioned up thread, Fico 08 does not consider balances on AU cards when computing total balance nor AG UT% (earlier Fico models do). Charge cards are considered when computing total balance but the charge card balance(s) are not included in the numerator for AG UT% calculation.

Go to your account and look at the scoring details section in the score tab. [Note for the below I had one revolving credit card reporting a $33 balance and AMEX reporting $1997. I also had an AU card reporting a $576 balance. The AU card is not included in the below total balance. Although the charge card does show in the total balance it is not included in AG UT % calculation. I know this because when the card with a $33 balance updated to report $0, my total balance dropped to $1997 (AMEX card) and my utilization dropped to 0% from 1%. In both situations the AU card still showed the $576 balance.

I have conclusive data that verifies the below Ag UT l% which shows 1% is based solely on a single personal revolving credit card with a $33 balance.

This represented an AG UT of slightly over 0.03% which shows as 1% and was recognized as non zero in my 3B report. Utilization is rounded up to the next highest whole number for Fico presentation (1%) - not to the nearest whole number (0%).

Re: Utilization % and rounding? Single account and aggregate?

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Aug 2016 13:40:00 GMT

Interesting thread. Thanks.

Re: Utilization % and rounding? Single account and aggregate?

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Aug 2016 14:10:42 GMT

I think you guys may have nailed it with the AU idea. The account is a joint account; I co-signed on the card for someone else so it is on my report as "joint" even though it is listed as a revolving credit card. I suppose that has to be the reason. It does however on CCT and other monitoring services include that $242 balance as well as the $9600 credit limit into my total utilization, so I always figured it was factored into my scoring. Good to know that going forward I can ignore this account and will just leave a small balance on one of my other revolvers. I'm glad I figured this out now, as that $242 will be paid off and that card closed within the next few weeks and then I wouldn't have ever known.

Re: Utilization % and rounding? Single account and aggregate?

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Aug 2016 16:49:37 GMT

I thought it might have been an AU card or a charge card. Glad we were able to help, pal.

Re: Utilization % and rounding? Single account and aggregate?

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Sep 2016 12:19:39 GMT

I do find it interesting that monitoring services like CK, CCT, etc all include dollar amounts (both balances and limits) into their numbers, charts/graphs but FICO 08 scoring doesn't include them.

Re: Utilization % and rounding? Single account and aggregate?

Revelate — Thu, 01 Sep 2016 17:36:50 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I do find it interesting that monitoring services like CK, CCT, etc all include dollar amounts (both balances and limits) into their numbers, charts/graphs but FICO 08 scoring doesn't include them.

It's just data presentation, each service is going to create their UI independently.

t signed Re: Utilization % and rounding? Single account and aggregate?

JagerBombs89 — Tue, 18 Oct 2016 21:35:55 GMT

Finally got signed up for Credit Scorecard and this is how my EX FICO per Credit Scorecard is counting my utilization:

You've used $12.00 of your revolving credit and your revolving utilization is 1%.

However, here is my individual and aggregate utilization percentages, calculated by me:

Individual Utilization: 0.082%

Aggregate Utilization: 0.016%

My individual utilization is eight-hundreth of a percent and my aggregate is one-hundreth of a percent, but FICO is saying 1%

Re: t signed Re: Utilization % and rounding? Single account and aggregate?

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Oct 2016 01:58:42 GMT

Nice data point that shows that essentially anything greater than zero rounds up to 1%, with the only exception being whatever the minimum may be for that creditor such as Discover and $3.00, I believe; if you leave $2.99 to report they report zero. I'm sure other creditors have their minimums as well.

Re: Utilization % and rounding? Single account and aggregate?

Thomas_Thumb — Sun, 23 Oct 2016 20:54:39 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I think you guys may have nailed it with the AU idea. The account is a joint account; I co-signed on the card for someone else so it is on my report as "joint" even though it is listed as a revolving credit card. I suppose that has to be the reason. It does however on CCT and other monitoring services include that $242 balance as well as the $9600 credit limit into my total utilization, so I always figured it was factored into my scoring. Good to know that going forward I can ignore this account and will just leave a small balance on one of my other revolvers. I'm glad I figured this out now, as that $242 will be paid off and that card closed within the next few weeks and then I wouldn't have ever known.

BBS - Just to clarify

As far as I know joint accounts are always included in Fico analysis - it is only AU accounts that are conditional under Fico 08 but, joint accounts are rare so I can't conform based on available data. THe reason for unconditional inclusion is that you actually are responsible for debt on the account as a joint designee even if you don't use it.

https://www.creditsesame.com/blog/uncategorized/authorized-user-vs-joint-credit-card-better-way-to-build-credit/

Re: Utilization % and rounding? Single account and aggregate?

Anonymous — Wed, 26 Oct 2016 03:30:07 GMT

I'm not sure about that though, TT, as the data point I referenced above sort of nullifies that. If the only account of mine that had a current reported balance above 0 was in fact this joint account, yet I took the scoring points hit, it would mean to me that FICO doesn't include this joint account with respect to aggregate utilization.

Re: Utilization % and rounding? Single account and aggregate?

surferchris — Thu, 27 Oct 2016 06:26:44 GMT

Good thread - thanks everybody for the info.