topic Re: Utilization Question???? in General Credit Topics

Utilization Question????

UpAndComing74 — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 18:33:21 GMT

Hello all!! I want to pick your brain for a moment. I currently have 5 credit cards and 1 Furniture store account thats counting as Revolving. Im at a 614 TU right now and I would love to be at 660 for a new auto at the end of the month. My cards are as follows:

1. Target--171--200 Limit 85%

2. Credit Union-3950-4000 limit 98%

3 Cap1-790-Credit Limit 750 105%

4 Cap 1-547 Credit Limit 500 109%

5 HSBC-1139 Credit limit 1100-103%

6 Tidewater 2280 2400 Credit Limit--95%

Ive paid the Target, Cap 1, Cap1 and HSBC to zero. They should report within the next two weeks. With those 4 cards brought to zero and the other two still maxexd out....will I recieve a score bump at all! Just looking for 46 TU points here!!

Thanks,

Re: Utilization Question????

UpNComing — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 19:03:09 GMT

Nice name

Re: Utilization Question????

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 19:06:23 GMT

6230/8950 = 70%

That'd still be your overall utilization, and that's still pretty high with two remaining balances.

How much further down can you bring that?

Re: Utilization Question????

castlefox — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 19:21:02 GMT

Yes paying down your delt will help your credit score.

70% is rather high, ideally they would like to see under 20% or even lower.

Re: Utilization Question????

UpAndComing74 — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 19:30:22 GMT

So its an overall utilization and not individual cards. I somehow thought reporting zeros on 4 of them would help. But in answer to your question..as of now I have about $1000 more to throw at them, but dont know if that would help. I dont need max rise at this point, I only need 46 points. Im just hoping Util from 105% to 70% does the trcik.

Re: Utilization Question????

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 19:34:57 GMT

Throwing down $1,000 would only get you to about 58%. The difference between 70 and 58 is probably not as noticeable as if you got it under 50%.

You might be better off saving that $1000 for the downpayment.

And yes, the utilization is based on overall utilization, although it "helps" to have those cards at 0 because it won't look as bad when you go for the loan process.

Re: Utilization Question????

UpAndComing74 — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 19:39:56 GMT

Yep, thats what I figured. Didnt want to throw it all at the cards just in case a down payment made it look better. Thanks! I was approved through my CU at 11% but 46 points will jump my tier and allow 6%.

Re: Utilization Question????

castlefox — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 19:41:35 GMT

I thought your FICO reflected you total utilization percentage as well as individual card utilization.

Re: Utilization Question????

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 19:42:04 GMT

11% is not bad.

Just wait and see what happens once the scores reflect the newest 0 balances.

You could always just pay 11% for 6 - 10 months and later try to refi at a better rate.

Re: Utilization Question????

MarineVietVet — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 19:42:24 GMT

@UpAndComing74 wrote:
So its an overall utilization and not individual cards. I somehow thought reporting zeros on 4 of them would help. But in answer to your question..as of now I have about $1000 more to throw at them, but dont know if that would help. I dont need max rise at this point, I only need 46 points. Im just hoping Util from 105% to 70% does the trcik.

It's both overall and individual utilization. Plus scoring looks at the number of total accounts reporting a balance at the same time.

So you'll be helped by:

* Less than half of your revolving accounts reporting balances

* Overall utilization lowered

* Individual utilizations lowered

But you'll still be hurt by:

* A very high overall utilization at 70%

* Two cards that are still maxed out

I think you will see an overall increase in your score but in my opinion you won't get 46 points from this. But the only way you'll know for sure is wait for everything to update.

Re: Utilization Question????

UpAndComing74 — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 20:05:40 GMT

Yep, They should update on the 10th, 13th, and 23rd. Ill update the thread and letcha know what happens.

Thanks again!

Re: Utilization Question????

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 20:44:01 GMT

Another thing to consider is that the dealership most likely will use an auto-adjusted FICO. Do you have any other installment loans on your report? What's their status? Do any of them have lates or repos, etc.

Re: Utilization Question????

UpAndComing74 — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 21:56:37 GMT

All my installment loans are Paid as Agreed. No repos. I have another car loan that i just paid off last month. No lates on that either. I wish they could pull and not affect my fico with the inquiry. That way I could see what the auto enhanced score would be.

Re: Utilization Question????

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 23:23:16 GMT

I don't have any details, but in theory those notes should only make your auto-enhanced higher than your normal FICO.

About a year ago, I had a ~680 FICO, with two auto loans on it (one closed ane one open). The closed had a couple of 30 and 60's on it, over six years old. Auto-enhanced was ~705 or so.

In other words, you might see a good bump because of your good auto accounts.

Re: Utilization Question????

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 23:24:12 GMT

By the way, THIS thread is a good way to see what's being approved right now.