topic Utilization and Simulater??? in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Utilization and Simulater???

tea4two — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 00:16:49 GMT

When I go to my credit report here on myfico pulled yesterday, it tells me my utilization is 4%. I have one opened credit card with $1000 limit and the balance is exactly 4% ($40).

When I go to the simulator, it says "you currently have a combined Revolving/Open Account balance of $824.00." I have one charged off card that is still reporting a balance of $784. I realize that this is where they are getting the $828 from ($784 + $40 = $824), but why is it showing in my Revolving/Open Account balance on the simulator yet not being factored into utilization.

Of course I'm glad it's not being factored into utilization, just confused as to why it shows up this way on the simulator.

Thanks!

Re: Utilization and Simulater???

llecs — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 03:56:42 GMT

Is there a dispute comment showing within the CO?

Re: Utilization and Simulater???

tea4two — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 04:12:01 GMT

No, there is not a dispute comment. Thanks for your reply!

Re: Utilization and Simulater???

llecs — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 04:23:41 GMT

What is listed within the "Reported Date"?

Re: Utilization and Simulater???

tea4two — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 04:45:30 GMT

It says status as of May 2013. Is that what you mean?

It's a collection account. OC is reportinga $0 balance.

Re: Utilization and Simulater???

llecs — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 05:31:57 GMT

Yea, status too. So, we can rule out disputes and non-updating TLs. You mentioned it was a CA. You've got me. Is this a CA like Midland, LVNV, AFNI, etc? ETA...in other words, is it reporting in Accounts? This is EQ too, right?

Re: Utilization and Simulater???

tea4two — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 05:47:36 GMT

Account type: open account
Current status: 120 + days past due

Yes, it is in fact midland and it is reporting under accounts.

Also, in the "credit at a glance" page where it shows amount of revolving debt, this is not included in that amount.

Thanks again!

Re: Utilization and Simulater???

llecs — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 12:02:35 GMT

For whatever reason some CAs, primarily the ones listed above, report in Accounts vs. Collections and it seems to impact EQ only. I don't think the CAs are doing this on purpose rather it's something within EQ that allows them to report that way. FICO would still view and score it as a CA, as would lenders. Because your pos/neg scoring reasons show 4% util, then you know it isn't included into util and I wouldn't worry about it. However, I have seen a couple of posters in here concretely prove that their CA was factored into util (which it shouldn't be) via the pos/neg reasons where it sometimes shows util, so definitely keep an eye on it. I'm confident it wouldn't recode to be included in the future if not now.