topic Re: Utilization Sweet Spot in General Credit Topics

Utilization Sweet Spot

wfreeman3 — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 23:59:35 GMT

I just wanted to share the results of a little excercise I just went through. I used the Privacy Guard simulator to see "what if" I kept my utilization at different levels. I used 4 CC and 2 Revolv for the test. The best results were when I kept utilization at 1%. Has anyone else done any tests like this?

Re: Utilization Sweet Spot

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:03:57 GMT

haven't tried it...what kind of score jumps did it simulate?

Re: Utilization Sweet Spot

wfreeman3 — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:05:53 GMT

Best jump was 28 points from 620

Re: Utilization Sweet Spot

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:07:23 GMT

going from what utilizations gave u the 28? just curious

Re: Utilization Sweet Spot

wfreeman3 — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:09:05 GMT

2 are at 30%, the other 4 are at 0%

Re: Utilization Sweet Spot

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:12:22 GMT

well that's good news..i got one darn near maxed at 90%...i'll take it to 2% in a month...can you run that for me..

Re: Utilization Sweet Spot

pdxuser — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:35:02 GMT

Yay... with the secured card I plan to start out with, I'll be able to get a monthly super value meal . (I know, I can spend more and pay down to 1%.)

Speaking of spending more and paying down to 1%, the highest historical balance on a card is in a credit report, even if that high balance occured between statements and not at the close. Can your magic doohickey figure out what the best high historical utilization should be?

Re: Utilization Sweet Spot

fused — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:44:36 GMT

For me this is what seems to work.

7 revolving cards

1 charge card (AmEx)

1 open unsecured installment loan

- Keep balances on only 3 of the revolving cards between 1-9% util, the other 4 with $0 balances

- EX and EQ will not factor Amex charge cards in revolving util, but the dinosaur TU still does

- I never worry about the installment balance; it's about NEVER paying late

Re: Utilization Sweet Spot

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 13:38:13 GMT

Mortgage -

Installment loan- (over 50% paid off)

3 of my 11 CC's with a balance under 10% (I have Kay at 25% right now at 0%)

1 Amex Charge card

2 SL's (not helping)

my HELOC is ingored-

So-

Less than 50% of open TL's with a balance

Overall and INV Utl under 10%

My UTL is 4%

It was Junny, WAMU and Kay's turn this month-

Junny goes back to the sock drawer-

I need to give CAPONE some love- they really hate being paid off-

Having Kay at 25% costs me about 5-10 Points-

Message Edited by Timothy on 02-21-2008 06:38 AM

Re: Utilization Sweet Spot

rbrown973 — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 02:30:33 GMT

hey how are you??? I would like to try the Privacy Guard simulator but i don't know where to find it at... can you help lead me to it please...

Thanks

Re: Utilization Sweet Spot

wfreeman3 — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 04:11:31 GMT

They have a special right now. 2 months for $1. You just have to cancel it before the 2 months are up or they will change you the yearly fee. Gives you lots of time to play in the meantime.

http://www.privacyguard.com

Re: Utilization Sweet Spot

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 05:08:34 GMT

thanks...i just enrolled and learned something that could be very important if true...on myfico it has my credit limit listed for hsbc and my score was 50 points higher..on privacyguard it had N/A listed for my hsbc card and my score was down 50 points...for the other 2 CRA the credit limit was listed and scores reflected in line with my 90% utilization but, it appears I am penalized if the CCC does not report my limit. At least that's how privacyguard is calculating this....

Re: Utilization Sweet Spot

haulingthescoreup — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 12:19:10 GMT

for the util sweet spot with me, on:
1 mortgage
1 HELOC, confirmed as counting as installment, not revolving
1 student loan, since paid off
5 CC's (before last Saturday's spree)

Best results on TU FICO were with one CC reporting a balance, and it under 1%, thus overall util WAY under 1%, and total of 4 of 8 TL's reporting a balance. The other two were fine with two CC's with balances.

I think this might be linked to my score bucket, which is the old farts score bucket (my oldest account is 18 years on EQ and TU; 20 years on EX.) I think you can get away with more accounts reporting when your history is shorter. This is why I picked up some more cards. TU especially was too twitchy with extra cards with balances.

Re: Utilization Sweet Spot

marty56 — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 13:09:06 GMT

I have one CC out of 3 that is reporting a balance. It is showing at just over 50% util (for BT). I am waiting for the CR to be updated to show below 50% and it will be at 20% in 2months.