topic Re: Credit Card utilization credit score question in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Credit Card utilization credit score question

Anonymous — Mon, 18 May 2009 20:28:43 GMT

Quick question. I took my cc utilization from 90% down to 47% but my score only went up 11 points. I was hoping for more of a increase. Is this a number that will gain more in the following month when it again reports as 47% or lower? I have read some that say it doesnt matter and some that say your points gain as your report shows you are keeping the balance lower. Also going from 47% down to the golden 30% roughly how much of a jump would that give me? I am desprately trying to find 20 points lol.

Re: Credit Card utilization credit score question

KMACK — Tue, 19 May 2009 02:17:03 GMT

When I went from 96% to 6%, my score's went up approx 45 points. Took about 3 months @ the lower utilization before things increased that much.

Im far from an expert on this, or far froming knowing the exact formula(if there is one). That was just my scenario.

Good luck.

Re: Credit Card utilization credit score question

haulingthescoreup — Tue, 19 May 2009 02:28:56 GMT

The scoring formula doesn't have any memory. Your scores are a snapshot of what's on your reports at that very moment. So you don't get any "momentum" points for keeping down your util.

Don't forget that util is based off of what's reported, not on any balances that you carry from month to month. If you're having balances reported that you then immediately pay, try paying them before their statements drop and see if you can get your util down even more.

47% is better than 90%, but it's still a good ways away from 9% or lower. Keep plugging at it!