Prior to getting on these forums, I read that I should keep my credit usage at or below 30%. I did that. (I kept a balance on there until my statement pulled then PIF), but since then have read here that I should keept it at 10% or less. I bought the quarterly fico monitoring here and this is one DING I got, which I am kind of upset about. Now I know to trust the myFico Forums only! 
You've made heavy use of your available revolving credit.
 For FICO High Achievers, this ratio is 7%, on average. |
Your FICO score evaluates your total revolving credit balances in relation to your total credit limits on those accounts. In your case, this ratio of balances to credit limits is too high.
Keep this in mind: This credit usage ratio is one of the most important factors to your FICO score, so you should work on paying down your balances. Your FICO score looks at the ratio of revolving debt, but not in which accounts the debt resides. Therefore, consolidating or moving your debt from one account to another will usually not help your FICO score since the same total amount is owed.
This is only my first statement, but hopefully when my statement pulls tomorrow and is reported my balance of 10% utilization shows and affects my score. Bah humbug!
Yep, mine is something like 1% of 1%. 
We used to have brisk debates here about whether 3% was better than 1%, and on and on. No final verdict reached on that, as far as I remember, but they're definitely better than 30%.
Best scoring results seem to be just one card reporting a balance, with that being exactly 9% or less of that card's balance. (FICO rounds up, so 9.0001% will report as 10%.)
Again, this is for scoring. Consumers who PIF before the due date, as OP did, pay no interest. The credit bureaus chose to report statement balances, so that can make it look like you're carrying debt when you're not.
check this out lol
I just paid off my cards to reflect only 7% usage hoping to get a score increase, but I get the feeling I won't be seeing much if any increase since FICO shows 29% as a positive for me. 
@Anonymous wrote:check this out lol
I just paid off my cards to reflect only 7% usage hoping to get a score increase, but I get the feeling I won't be seeing much if any increase since FICO shows 29% as a positive for me.
From what I've been told, it would be more accurate to regard the "positive factors" as "not as big of a problem as those listed as actual negatives."
@haulingthescoreup wrote:
From what I've been told, it would be more accurate to regard the "positive factors" as "not as big of a problem as those listed as actual negatives."
Agreed! Don't think a late payment is a "positive"... just less negative than others problems as time went by ;-)
What’s helping your FICO® score
The positive factors listed here reflect areas of your credit behavior that are helping your FICO® score. You should continue the good practices listed here. These factors are listed in order of their impact to your score – the first has the greatest positive impact and the last has the least.
Your most recent late payment happened
You've recently been paying your bills on time.
6 Years ago
Even when I was over 30% util it was a positive for me, lol you just cant win at FICO 
