topic Re: High Utilization DPs in Understanding FICO® Scoring

High Utilization DPs

JFox418 — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 15:10:47 GMT

Figured I'd share some DPs that might back up @SouthJamaica 's findings when he was comparing FICO 2 vs FICO 8 found here. I'm at the tier thresholds on a few accounts and wanted to track what the changes will be. My reports have no baddies or HPs and nothing closing soon so UTIL should be the only factor. I won't be able to update EQ and TU until early next month.

NOTE: You'll see some accounts update with different UTIL from the previous update but I'm not making updates unless scores change just to keep things a little cleaner.

FICO 2 vs FICO 8 High Utilization

11.05.21 - Aggregate - %56 - EX 767 / EQ 774 / TU 762

Account 1 - %73

Account 2 - %64

Account 3 - %57

Account 4 - %30

11.10.21 - Aggregate - %45 - EX 771 (+4)

Account 1 - %50

Account 2 - %50

Account 3 - %57

Account 4 - %30

11.15.21 - Aggregate - %45 - EX 771 (no change)

Account 1 - %50

Account 2 - %50

Account 3 - %57 (this should update this week to below %50)

Account 4 - %28 (down from %30)

11.18.21 - Aggregate - %43 - EX 780 (+9)

Account 1 - %50

Account 2 - %50

Account 3 - %47 (down from %57)

Account 4 - %28

12.12.21 - Aggregate - %37 - EX 808 (+28) / EQ 805 (+31) / TU 792 (+30)

Account 1 - %34 (down from %50 also had $3k CLI)

Account 2 - %45 (down from %50)

Account 3 - %47

Account 4 - %28

Account 5 - %17 (previously 0, oops, will be PIF before statement close)

12.19.21 - Aggregate - %31 - EX 780 (was 785 after my app spree hard pulls and 1 new account then dropped 5pts with one account going back over %50)

Cap1 - %34

Cap1 - %45

BBY Visa - %62 (Up front %47)

THD - %28

Kohls - %17

Verizon Visa - %0

01.12.22 - Aggregate - %12 - EX 795 (+15)

Cap1 - %0 ($42 balance but shows %0 usage, $13k CL)

Cap1 - %0

BBY Visa - %62 (this will be updating to about %15)

THD - %28

Kohls - %0

Verizon Visa - %4

01.14.22 - Aggregate - %17 - EX 780 (-15)

Cap1 - %0 ($42 balance)

Cap1 - %0

BBY Visa - %62 (this will be updating to about %15)

THD - %28

Kohls - %0

Verizon Visa - %4

Chase FF - %64 (%0 interest BT from BBY Visa)

01.16.22 - Aggregate - %30 - EX 753 (-27)

Cap1 - %0 ($42 balance)

Cap1 - %0

BBY Visa - %62 (this will be updating to about %15)

THD - %28

Kohls - %0

Verizon Visa - %4

Chase FF - %64 (%0 interest BT from BBY Visa)

FNBO - %83 (new account with both Cap1 BTs with %0 interest)

Re: High Utilization DPs

SouthJamaica — Wed, 10 Nov 2021 14:25:10 GMT

@JFox418 wrote:
Figured I'd share some DPs that might back up @SouthJamaica 's findings when he was comparing FICO 2 vs FICO 8 found here. I'm at the tier thresholds on a few accounts and wanted to track what the changes will be. My reports have no baddies or HPs and nothing closing soon so UTIL should be the only factor. I won't be able to update EQ and TU until early next month.

FICO 2 vs FICO 8 High Utilization

11.05.21 - Aggregate - %56 - EX 767 / EQ 774 / TU 762
Account 1 - %73
Account 2 - %64
Account 3 - %57
Account 4 - %30

11.10.21 - Aggregate - %45 - EX 771 (+4)
Account 1 - %50
Account 2 - %50
Account 3 - %57
Account 4 - %30

The key is to get under 50%

Re: High Utilization DPs

JFox418 — Wed, 10 Nov 2021 18:52:07 GMT

@SouthJamaica wrote:
@JFox418 wrote:
Figured I'd share some DPs that might back up @SouthJamaica 's findings when he was comparing FICO 2 vs FICO 8 found here. I'm at the tier thresholds on a few accounts and wanted to track what the changes will be. My reports have no baddies or HPs and nothing closing soon so UTIL should be the only factor. I won't be able to update EQ and TU until early next month.

FICO 2 vs FICO 8 High Utilization

11.05.21 - Aggregate - %56 - EX 767 / EQ 774 / TU 762
Account 1 - %73
Account 2 - %64
Account 3 - %57
Account 4 - %30

11.10.21 - Aggregate - %45 - EX 771 (+4)
Account 1 - %50
Account 2 - %50
Account 3 - %57
Account 4 - %30
The key is to get under 50%

Yeh I messed that one up this month. LOL I read your article AFTER I already made the payments. I figure it's a good starting point now to see where it goes from here.

Re: High Utilization DPs

JFox418 — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 13:34:47 GMT

11.15.21 - Aggregate - %45 - EX 771 (no change)

Account 1 - %50

Account 2 - %50

Account 3 - %57 (this should update this week to below %50)

Account 4 - %28 (down from %30)

Re: High Utilization DPs

JFox418 — Thu, 18 Nov 2021 13:35:42 GMT

Nice little surprise this morning as one of my balances updated. I'm really curious what's going to happen early next month when the two drop below %50. I'm not sure I'll have the funds to get one down to %28 but below %50 looks promising for a score bump.

11.18.21 - Aggregate - %43 - EX 780 (+9)

Account 1 - %50

Account 2 - %50

Account 3 - %47 (down from %57)

Account 4 - %28

Re: High Utilization DPs

JFox418 — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 16:28:41 GMT

Exciting update today!

12.12.21 - Aggregate - %37 - EX 808 (+28) / EQ 805 (+31) / TU 792 (+30)

Account 1 - %34 (down from %50 also had $3k CLI)

Account 2 - %45 (down from %50)

Account 3 - %47

Account 4 - %28

Account 5 - %17 (previously %0, oops, will be PIF before statement close)

Re: High Utilization DPs

SouthJamaica — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 18:39:42 GMT

@JFox418 wrote:
Exciting update today!

12.12.21 - Aggregate - %37 - EX 808 (+28) / EQ 805 (+31) / TU 792 (+30)
Account 1 - %34 (down from %50 also had $3k CLI)
Account 2 - %45 (down from %50)
Account 3 - %47
Account 4 - %28
Account 5 - %17 (previously %0, oops, will be PIF before statement close)

I told you. That 50% threshold is a big one.

Onward to below 30% where there will be some more improvement.

Try to break out EX 2 from EX 8, because my little discovery has altered the advice I've been giving folks on improving their mortgage scores.

Re: High Utilization DPs

JFox418 — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 18:55:41 GMT

@SouthJamaica EX 2 shows 787 but I'm not sure what it was before.

Re: High Utilization DPs

Anonymous — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 22:22:51 GMT

Are you at AZEO on all revolving TLs?

Re: High Utilization DPs

JFox418 — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 22:43:50 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Are you at AZEO on all revolving TLs?

No. Look at the latest update with todays date. All 5 accounts are reporting balances. I had some very high utilization on each account and have been paying them down through the tiers to see what happens as I progress. My file is clean besides balances. Like others have been saying, you see some score bumps when an account goes below %50, or below %30. Ideally under %10 is where I want to be but I have a ways to go still.

Re: High Utilization DPs

JFox418 — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 14:52:40 GMT

I have a feeling I'm in for a roller coaster of scores over the next week or two. I should have 3 new accounts being added to my profile and they're going to have pretty bad UTIL Good news is my two Cap1 cards are now $0 balance and my BBY Visa will go from %62 down to around %15 since I did BTs onto an FNBO and Freedom Flex card to get the %0 APR for a year. My Cap1 cards should update before the new accounts hit so I'm anticipating a quick spike in scores and then a rough drop when the new ones hit.

FNBO is going to update at around %83 UTIL and Freedom Flex will be around %80. It'll be nice saving interest and helping pay down balances quicker though!

Re: High Utilization DPs

JFox418 — Wed, 12 Jan 2022 13:40:55 GMT

01.12.22 - Aggregate - %12 - EX 795 (+15)

Cap1 - %0 ($42 balance but shows %0 usage, $13k CL)

Cap1 - %0

BBY Visa - %62 (this will be updating to about %15)

THD - %28

Kohls - %0

Verizon Visa - %4

Balance transfers kicked in on my two Cap1 cards and added some points. Kohls dropped to %0 and Verizon Visa posted %4 but there were no score changes when these updated. Can't wait for a year down the road from now when I can get most of my 28 points back that were dropped for the new HPs and new account. Have a feeling I'll be dropping 20-25 points in the next week when the new accounts and balances post.

Re: High Utilization DPs

JFox418 — Fri, 14 Jan 2022 14:46:36 GMT

01.12.22 - Aggregate - %17 - EX 780 (-15)

Cap1 - %0 ($42 balance)

Cap1 - %0

BBY Visa - %62 (this will be updating to about %15)

THD - %28

Kohls - %0

Verizon Visa - %4

Chase FF - %64 (%0 interest BT from BBY Visa)

Didn't expect Chase to report so quick. Chase Prime card will be posting in a few days I'd imagine. I had a notification of FNBO reporting to TU from my Experian subscription but I'm waiting a week or so to refresh my EQ and TU. Odd that FNBO didn't report to EX?

Re: High Utilization DPs

JFox418 — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 15:09:56 GMT

01.16.22 - Aggregate - %30 - EX 753 (-27)

Cap1 - %0 ($42 balance)

Cap1 - %0

BBY Visa - %62 (this will be updating to about %15)

THD - %28

Kohls - %0

Verizon Visa - %4

Chase FF - %64 (%0 interest BT from BBY Visa)

FNBO - %83 (new account with both Cap1 BTs with %0 interest)

Ouch that was a tough pill to swallow. Hopefully I get a few points back when the BBY Visa drops from %62 to %15 and then the new Amazon Visa should be posting any day now with 0% UTIL and $5k CL to help with aggregate UTIL. Now it's time to garden and keep chipping away at balances.

Re: High Utilization DPs

mgood — Sun, 23 Jan 2022 17:03:48 GMT

I just found this thread and have enjoyed reading it. I've watched my own scores bounce up and down with utilization.

When I started here, my FICO 8s were 680, 713, 701.

Paid down debt, the one negative I had fell off, and added some more accounts and they got up to 776, 787, 768.
Now I've run the debt back up a little and had a lot of inquiries and new accounts opened and I'm back down to 718, 736, 713.

Now paying stuff back down and waiting for it to report. Wondering how much my scores will improve over the next 2-3 months as I get back where I want to be.*

So following your journey tells me a little about where mine might take me.

Where I am on my latest reports is 9%, 5%, 12%, 49% (hey it's 0 APR), 0%, 35% (0 APR), 32% (0 APR), 0%, 0%, 7%.
Aggregate is 16%

*Where I want to be is AZE2, with those two at 9% or less and aggregate around 2%.

Re: High Utilization DPs

ridgebackpilot — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 01:21:59 GMT

Very interesting thread, @JFox418. Thanks for sharing your experience.

I'm curious, @SouthJamaica and others: For someone about to embark on the same effort to pay down credit card balances and monitor the affect on scores, would you advise using the Avalanche Method to pay down the cards with the highest interest rates first? Or is it aggregate utilization that matters more?

My current plan is to use some savings to pay down the highest interest rate cards to less than 30% util, and then work on the lower interest rate cards. I'll probably have to take out a personal loan to pay down the remaining cards so that my aggregate util is below 30 percent.

My hope is that doing this will raise my mortgage scores enough to qualify for a cash-out refinance to pay off the personal loan and my remaining credit card debt. I have high income and plenty of equity in my home, but need my mortgage scores higher to qualify for the best refi rates.

Any suggestions for modifications to this strategy? For example, if I want to raise my mortgage scores, would I be better off using savings to pay all my cards down to below 50 percent instead?

Re: High Utilization DPs

SouthJamaica — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 03:44:34 GMT

@ridgebackpilot wrote:
Very interesting thread, @JFox418. Thanks for sharing your experience.

I'm curious, @SouthJamaica and others: For someone about to embark on the same effort to pay down credit card balances and monitor the affect on scores, would you advise using the Avalanche Method to pay down the cards with the highest interest rates first? Or is it aggregate utilization that matters more?

My current plan is to use some savings to pay down the highest interest rate cards to less than 30% util, and then work on the lower interest rate cards. I'll probably have to take out a personal loan to pay down the remaining cards so that my aggregate util is below 30 percent.

My hope is that doing this will raise my mortgage scores enough to qualify for a cash-out refinance to pay off the personal loan and my remaining credit card debt. I have high income and plenty of equity in my home, but need my mortgage scores higher to qualify for the best refi rates.

Any suggestions for modifications to this strategy? For example, if I want to raise my mortgage scores, would I be better off using savings to pay all my cards down to below 50 percent instead?

If I were going to apply for a mortgage, and I had revolving accounts that were at higher than 50% utilization, I would definitely at a minimum get those accounts to 48% or less. I'm no expert on mortgages, but I'm guessing that you would have to do even better than that to get the "best refi rates".

Re: High Utilization DPs

JFox418 — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 19:45:07 GMT

@ridgebackpilot wrote:
Very interesting thread, @JFox418. Thanks for sharing your experience.

I'm curious, @SouthJamaica and others: For someone about to embark on the same effort to pay down credit card balances and monitor the affect on scores, would you advise using the Avalanche Method to pay down the cards with the highest interest rates first? Or is it aggregate utilization that matters more?

My current plan is to use some savings to pay down the highest interest rate cards to less than 30% util, and then work on the lower interest rate cards. I'll probably have to take out a personal loan to pay down the remaining cards so that my aggregate util is below 30 percent.

My hope is that doing this will raise my mortgage scores enough to qualify for a cash-out refinance to pay off the personal loan and my remaining credit card debt. I have high income and plenty of equity in my home, but need my mortgage scores higher to qualify for the best refi rates.

Any suggestions for modifications to this strategy? For example, if I want to raise my mortgage scores, would I be better off using savings to pay all my cards down to below 50 percent instead?

I don't really have a great answer except for what I've found and experienced recently. We bought a new house in 2019 and I had pretty high CC balances at that time. A couple over %50 I believe. Zero negatives, zero inquiries, clean file. I'd have to look at my scores that were pulled for that loan but I'm sure they weren't great. Maybe 620-650. I know DTI was important in the approval. I believe they wanted it to be %20 or less (through Third Federal) and we got a great rate for that time.

I think if you're looking for a fast score bump then you want to try and pay them all down below %49. Under %29 would be even better if possible. I wouldn't take out a new loan if you're wanting to refi. You'll have the new account plus hard pulls going into the refi app. I think with the CCs paid down you'd be in a good position for the cash out refi to pay off the balances without taking out any new loans beforehand.