topic Re: Lost points in General Credit Topics

Lost points

Bajan1 — Sat, 10 Jun 2023 03:55:09 GMT

Can a credit card report the same balance monthly? I have 3 cards trying to learn AZEO

Re: Lost points

Horseshoez — Sat, 10 Jun 2023 03:57:45 GMT

@Bajan1 wrote:
Can a credit card report the same balance monthly? I have 3 cards trying to learn AZEO

I'm not sure what you're asking; can you please elaborate?

Re: Lost points

Bajan1 — Sat, 10 Jun 2023 04:17:18 GMT

I would like to know how Azeo works, I try leaving the exact balance I did on my card last month and I lost 12 points. Should i switch reporting cards monthly

Re: Lost points

Bajan1 — Sat, 10 Jun 2023 04:48:48 GMT

I would like to know how Azeo works, I try leaving the exact balance I did on my card last month and I lost 12 points. Should i switch reporting cards monthly

Re: Lost points

Linnaea — Sat, 10 Jun 2023 06:28:23 GMT

AZEO is all zero except one. Meaning find out when your statement date is and have all your cards report zero balances except one and that one try to keep utilizing below 10% .. if cannot be sure it's less than 30%. Anyone chime in on a good percentage to report under.

@Bajan1 wrote:
I would like to know how Azeo works, I try leaving the exact balance I did on my card last month and I lost 12 points. Should i switch reporting cards monthly

Re: Lost points

805orbust — Sat, 10 Jun 2023 10:13:44 GMT

So as a concept, AZEO is simple. Like @Linnaea said, all accounts at zero except one, and that o e should be under 10% utilization. As for the "how" well that is where the art and personal preference comes in. I have only done it a couple of times. Personally? Simplicity is best. I clear out everything a month or 2 before, and only use one card. However, when I run thru my excel sheet every Friday paying cards, I'm always paying about 2 weeks before the due date so keeping ahead of the reporting date is another strategy. Technically there's no need to "rotate" the cards that report, as it seems to be adding more, unnecessary complexity. To each his own however, find what works best for you.

Do you have a big app coming up? Most of the time I recommend AZEO only when anticipating a big app like a mortgage, car, business loan or similar. Most of the time if I'm under 15% utilization I'm above 780 and I've seen that above 745 or so approvals are easy, almost guaranteed, and the terms are top tier. So I stopped worrying about it. Definitely understand the desire tho. Best of Luck on your journey.

Re: Lost points

805orbust — Sat, 10 Jun 2023 10:17:21 GMT

Oh... side note, there can be events that happen where score is affected before they show up on reports, could be something slipped by unbeknownst to you. It's usually visible within a coupla days. Reporting times and dates can vary even at the same bank.

Re: Lost points

SouthJamaica — Sat, 10 Jun 2023 11:04:18 GMT

@Bajan1 wrote:
I would like to know how Azeo works, I try leaving the exact balance I did on my card last month and I lost 12 points. Should i switch reporting cards monthly

Welcome to the forum.

It doesn't matter if the balance reported in a given month is the same as, or different than, the balance reported on that card the previous month. Neither does it matter if you switch reporting cards or not.

AZEO means "all zero but one". It refers to the concept of letting one revolving account report a balance while the others report zero balances.

Its primary purpose is to ensure that one is not losing even a single point for revolving utilization, across all FICO scoring models.

For most folks, at most times, it's not important. What is important is having low utilization, both in the aggregate and in individual accounts.

Re: Lost points

Bajan1 — Sat, 10 Jun 2023 11:18:50 GMT

Thank you for the advice it just seems 1 month I take a step forward and the next I take a step back it frustrating. I have 4 accounts on my profile

Mortgage

Capital 1 quicksilver $400

Capital 1 secured $200

NFCU secured $500

In April I let $12 report on the Quicksilver and zero out the other 2 and I gained 30 points, in May i use the card and paid it down to $12 again this time I lost 12 points. This month I'm planning to zero that card out and leave a balance to report on the NFCU card. Should I be switching cards monthly and leaving a balance? Any advice on how to approach this is appreciated

Re: Lost points

SouthJamaica — Sat, 10 Jun 2023 11:59:04 GMT

@Bajan1 wrote:
Thank you for the advice it just seems 1 month I take a step forward and the next I take a step back it frustrating. I have 4 accounts on my profile
Mortgage
Capital 1 quicksilver $400
Capital 1 secured $200
NFCU secured $500
In April I let $12 report on the Quicksilver and zero out the other 2 and I gained 30 points, in May i use the card and paid it down to $12 again this time I lost 12 points. This month I'm planning to zero that card out and leave a balance to report on the NFCU card. Should I be switching cards monthly and leaving a balance? Any advice on how to approach this is appreciated

Where and how are you getting your information as to scores and reported balances? I'm sure you're just misreading the data, due to time lags and incorrect attribution of cause and effect. If you tell us exactly where and how you're getting your information, we can tell you where you're going wrong in your analysis.

As I told you above, switching cards, and changing or maintaining balance amounts, are both totally irrelevant, and have not affected your scores at all.

Re: Lost points

Bajan1 — Sat, 10 Jun 2023 12:08:34 GMT

The myFICO app, my fico8 numbers stayed the same but my fico9 bank card numbers dropped by 12 points. It said accounts with balances

Re: Lost points

Rogue46 — Sat, 10 Jun 2023 13:51:25 GMT

It sounds like you possibly paid one of the other cards off AFTER the statement cut which would give the "balances" remark.

Re: Lost points

Thomas_Thumb — Sat, 10 Jun 2023 15:35:02 GMT

As a general rule, Fico bankcard scores react more strongly to # of cards with balances than their classic score counterparts. Also EQ and TU typically react more strongly than EX.

If you are looking at monthly free scores, it is important to check the date each score was pulled. That may differ significantly from a statement date.

If you play AZEO; timing is everything. If you end up with 0 cards reporting balances that can cost 15 to 25 points due to the "no recent revolving activity penalty". Much better to allow 2 cards report small balances than 0.

Given your situation, I would report low balances on 1 or 2 cards with low meaning under 9% of the card's credit limit. Find out statement close dates for each card.

For cards that you don't want showing balances, stop using them 7 to 10 days before statement close date and then pay current balance 2 or 3 days before statement close so a zero balance reports. A couple days after statement closes the card can be used again or idled for a few months. Caution: best not to idle a card more than 4 to 5 months as some card issuers may start closing accounts after 6 months of non use.

I would select a couple cards as daily drivers. It is fine to accumulate charges up to 50% or even 80% of the card's CL as long as balances are paid down a couple days prior to statement close dates. Pay each balance down to under 9% UT. Some people paydown to a set amount - say $5 or $10 but, that is personal choice and matters not score wise. Then pay statement balance before due date to avoid interest charges.

Re: Lost points

SouthJamaica — Sat, 10 Jun 2023 16:11:27 GMT

@Bajan1 wrote:
The myFICO app, my fico8 numbers stayed the same but my fico9 bank card numbers dropped by 12 points. It said accounts with balances

In order to correctly draw the conclusions you are trying to draw, from MyFICO.com data, you would need to know

-the date the score changed, and

-the reported balances in your report as of that date

You can't possibly know either of those components from MyFICO.com without pulling a new 3-bureau report.

The only other way you can make those kinds of judgments accurately is in certain of your Experian scores if you were subscribing to the experian.com services, which provide daily updates.

My advice is to stop fretting over things that aren't real. If it's important to you that your revolving utilization be optimal, you should just let one of your 3 cards report a balance of 28% or less, let your aggregate reported balances be 9% or less, and let 2 of your 3 cards report a zero balance. If you are achieving that, your scores will not go down, unless something unrelated happens.