Best CC's for Recent Score Increase?

[kcos194]

Recently paid off all my credit card balances that had been reporting high utilization, all down to $0 and trying to utilize AZEO. This has caused a score increase, but because of the utilization being so high the past few months, I'm wondering if there is a sensitivity to a big score jump amongst lenders. To be clear, there were no late payments, nothing derogatory in this time period, just high utilization. Not sure what the memory on that is, if anything. 

Would a bank like, say, AmEx, be less likely to approve with a good score knowing that utilization in December and January was high but is <9% now?

Thanks! 

[JoeRockhead]

I don't know that they would know unless it was a lender you already have and they were looking at past month's data from standard review, etc... If you're new to Amex, you can use their apply with confidence prequalification... they'll tell you if you're approved without a hard pull... if you accept the offer, then they'll tell you your limit and get a hard pull.

[nytokyobred79]

I agree with what @JoeRockhead  mentioned above. Also, some lenders use a denial reason code such as "not enough experience with current credit limit" or some iteration of that. Often in those cases, they want to see some reported balances to determine whether or not you're using your allocated credit. I'm definitely not saying max out all cards and let that info report but I do know that some lenders want to see some history of your spend on the credit reports to see if you're utilizing existing credit. And of course, they want to see that you've paid down said balances too.Otherwise, they could deny you on the basis of having sufficient credit vs income, etc.  

But I'll let others chime in with better insight. 

[Yasselife]

@kcos194 I was in the position you described and my request for a CLI was approved. 

[kcos194]

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@Yasselife wrote:

@kcos194 I was in the position you described and my request for a CLI was approved. 

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Which card(s) approved you for CLI's after clearing out the utilization?

[Yasselife]

@kcos194 American Express 

[kcos194]

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@Yasselife wrote:

@kcos194 American Express 

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Ah ok, thats good to know. Thanks! 

[OmarGB9]

For now, with the current FICO 8/9 models, utilization has no memory, so to answer your question: no, they wouldn't know that your utilization was high last month/recently. 

I say "for now" because the new FICO 10/10-T models *DO* take into account historical data, which could completely change the way lending works, IF it ever takes off.

But yes Amex is nice in how they changed their process so you can now see if you'll be approved prior to taking the HP.