topic Re: AZEO Method in Understanding FICO® Scoring

AZEO Method

Anonymous — Sun, 02 Jun 2019 16:50:28 GMT

Heres the deal, I'm currently gardening out my current credit lines over the course of the next 2 years (right around the time my final INQ falls off all of my reports, The 2 Cap1 cards I have will be used monthly for a couple bucks here and there and paid directly back off after the transaction posts. However I'm wanting to funnel ALL of my normal spending through the Discover card for the 1 year cashback match offer.

The discover card gets paid every week after my paycheck hits as it was .

Would I benefit from AZEO?

Re: AZEO Method

FireMedic1 — Sun, 02 Jun 2019 18:19:16 GMT

Yes it will help with scores. But to have the FICO bonus as I call it. Do you have any installment loans? If not. Self lender would help or a CU credit building loan. Some will say you dont have to stay at AZEO. But you dont have to be paying each week. Just pay the balance on the 2 Cap1 cards before statement cut date. Then let your Disco report 2-4% on statement date and then PIF. Do put 1 purchase on each Cap1 card each month and PIF before statement date to stay AZEO. Just a big bite would do. LOL!!!!!!!!

I have been AZEO since BK DC and it didnt hurt me in any way.

Re: AZEO Method

Revelate — Sun, 02 Jun 2019 19:04:15 GMT

AZEO is an instant-in-time optimization, so you don't have to zealously manage your revolving balances except when you have an application coming up or you're trying to test something (if that's your thing).

I'd run my financial life through the Discover card if that makes sense, as long as you're keeping within your means and can cut the check for the balances anyway it's really not a problem where the balances wind up month to month.

Then once it's time to apply for something, simply pretty the reported balances up.

Re: AZEO Method

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Jun 2019 13:25:47 GMT

Makes sense I been funneling everything through the discover for all that cash back goodness. I don't anticipate the 2 cap1 cards to grow seeing as they are just starter cards I was thinking of putting Hulu on one then funimation on the other that way they do see some activity

Re: AZEO Method

jwa77 — Mon, 03 Jun 2019 18:47:08 GMT

Does this mean that constanlty keeping AZEO is not recommended? I recently switched to this because my two oldest cards won't budge on their limit (WF and Cap1) but I was recently issued the vaunted CSP whose limit is now above 15k; which with regular spend, woudln't require me to constatnly pay down to stay below ~29%

Re: AZEO Method

calyx — Mon, 03 Jun 2019 21:06:43 GMT

@jwa77 wrote:
Does this mean that constanlty keeping AZEO is not recommended? I recently switched to this because my two oldest cards won't budge on their limit (WF and Cap1) but I was recently issued the vaunted CSP whose limit is now above 15k; which with regular spend, woudln't require me to constatnly pay down to stay below ~29%

I think some of us don't "recommend it" in the sense that micromanaging your profile could get tedious and counter productive. The most I am willing to do at this point is keep any of my cards below 30% utilization. Does AZEO "optimize" your score? Sure, but it's not going to grow any faster.

All of my cards are reporting balances and my total util is ~14% and I'm definitely not unhappy with my scores. I'm not going to kill myself micromanaging payments and postings to get a few extra points when I don't need to worry about applying for anything major. It's just not worth it to me. But you do whatever works for you.

Re: AZEO Method

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 20:20:55 GMT

I don't recall who started this AZEO hype in the first place but it's a bit insane to do if you're not planning on something like a car or house.

It's meant to optimize your scores for a large purchase. If you're re/building it's possible to be good for an app on a CC but, if you're gardening you'll get more of a pop by just letting things post each month and autopay the balance. I've been doing this for years now and have the limits and scores to prove it works. There's no need to be like the IRS and audit your balances every month. Set it and forget it but check & verify it each month especially if you move or change primary bank accounts.

ETA: so, back in 2017 ABCD2199 started discussing this method.

Re: AZEO Method

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 03:57:27 GMT

Fair points on all fronts, I think I'll just use the Cap1 cards for small purchases (1 per card each month, under $8 each.)

I dont intend on apping for anything for a while anyways. Thanks for all of the replys.

Re: AZEO Method

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 04:07:11 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I don't recall who started this AZEO hype in the first place but it's a bit insane to do if you're not planning on something like a car or house.

It's meant to optimize your scores for a large purchase. If you're re/building it's possible to be good for an app on a CC but, if you're gardening you'll get more of a pop by just letting things post each month and autopay the balance. I've been doing this for years now and have the limits and scores to prove it works. There's no need to be like the IRS and audit your balances every month. Set it and forget it but check & verify it each month especially if you move or change primary bank accounts.

I don't disagree with your post above, but don't think it applies to everyone in all situations. Is AZEO "meant" to optimize scores for a large purchase? Yes for some, but for others it is simply a practice to optimize scores for any reason. One major one, albeit intangible, is the mental satisfaction of seeing your score as high as possible. For some, especially those coming from a dark place/rebuild, that intangible is huge. I rocked AZEO for part of 2017 and the better part of 2018 until I saw "perfect" scores simply because it was emotionally/mentally satisfying for me to see my scores as high as possible.

As for getting more "pop" as you say by letting things post each month, I think that's arguable. There's no way to quantify that or know for sure if that's the case. I don't feel I missed out on anything significant by rolling with AZEO for a year or so even though I had no major applications approaching at the time. Coming from low 600's scores a couple of years earlier though, seeing my scores as high as possible during my rebuild helped keep me motivated to reach the top of the mountain and not give up hope.

Re: AZEO Method

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 04:16:57 GMT

Staying AZEO does not hurt anything. But it is a lot of work for nothing if you do not have a point or purpose for it.

Re: AZEO Method

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 17:23:09 GMT

It depends though on how much one uses their cards. If someone has a lot of cards and uses all of them frequently, yes AZEO can be some "work" to manage for sure. If someone has fewer cards and goes cycles where they don't use some of them or don't swipe them often, AZEO can often be accomplished with simple auto-pay settings and little to no work on the end of the user.

Re: AZEO Method

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 19:40:35 GMT

It can be simplified, just for most people it’s not worth the extra effort. I do if I’m testing or have a purpose, otherwise I try to keep the number down, but I don’t worry about being all the way down to one. but everyone has their own preferences whatever works for you works for you.

Re: AZEO Method

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 20:29:21 GMT

Yes that is true.

I will likely end back at AZEO today when my Discover card reports ($0). My Citi card is the only one that I tend to float a balance on since I generally pay the statement balance at the time the statement cuts (it's my daily driver) where my other cards I often have the current balances paid off a few days before statement cut, so many tend to report $0.

Re: AZEO Method

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 23:51:41 GMT

i can't find any reasoning or explanation for why this AZEO method is supposed to work, or the expected point-gain results for doing it. all i keep seeing is azeo azeo azeo, do azeo and scores go up! and if you search online, it doesn't exist! it's only on this forum that people are talking about it.

so please explain why would this be any different than just keeping your individual util low on all your cards + the overall util low? because i think the real reason behind people seeing any point gains with azeo, is because they were carrying balances on multiple cards and have now paid it all off.

Re: AZEO Method

Revelate — Wed, 05 Jun 2019 00:40:08 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
i can't find any reasoning or explanation for why this AZEO method is supposed to work, or the expected point-gain results for doing it. all i keep seeing is azeo azeo azeo, do azeo and scores go up! and if you search online, it doesn't exist! it's only on this forum that people are talking about it.

so please explain why would this be any different than just keeping your individual util low on all your cards + the overall util low? because i think the real reason behind people seeing any point gains with azeo, is because they were carrying balances on multiple cards and have now paid it all off.

Because there's two scoring metrics found on different flavors of FICO algorithms, some even apparently have both:

Accounts with Balances
Revolvers with Balances

That both look at your total number of open tradelines (accounts is revolvers + installment) and count the number of them with a balance... that's taken in a ratio, number with balance / number of open tradelines and spits out a metric which factors into your score.

It can matter a great deal on some scores, like for example with two recent mortgage scores that I've been tracking going from 7/18 to 3/18 resulted in 20 points on one and 27 points on another, and I think 14 on the third but I'd have to double-check that; in terms of impact, that moved my mortgage midddle score from a 740 to a 767, which incidently gets me into the highest tier for PMI if I'm not cutting a 20% downpayment. Also I have had minimal utilization for over 5 years, I just have too many revolvers and the ones I really use have outsized limits... basically it's nearly impossible for me to move my FICO score for utilization metrics except with this accounts/revolvers with balances one, even $5 on a given card will count as a balance.

The "Except One" part is simply that if every single one of your revolvers is $0, you take the all-zeros penalty, and that exists on literally every single FICO model and industry option released in the last 20 years if not more. That penalty is about -12 on my file but exact amount is profile dependent (prettier you are the more you lose generally).

When it counts (like a mortgage, or auto loan) do it, but if nobody is looking at your score it doesn't have any value.

As for being just here on this forum, well it is a convenient shorthand vs. writing out a whole bunch like this every time. Every community has some lingo to it, this is part of ours .

Re: AZEO Method

srloring13 — Sat, 08 Jun 2019 15:35:21 GMT

You dont have to make multiple payments throughout the month to keep your UT below 29%. The balance on the statement date is what matters unless the creditor does a mid cycle balance reporting. If the goal is to keep your reported balance below 29% UT make sure you pay the account down at least a few days before the statement date. Less work.