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Credit Card usage from 2% to 1%

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Slab
Frequent Contributor

Credit Card usage from 2% to 1%

I checked my credit today and noticed I had a 7 point drop. The only thing different was my credit card usage went from 2% to 1% after paying $200.00 on my one credit card balance. I have 7 credit cards but keep a balance on only one card. My credit aged another month and I was expecting a bump instead of a drop. All other items on my credit remained the same as the previous month. Does this make any sense? I am stumped.

Equifax FICO 781, Transunion FICO 821, Experian FICO 807,

810 goal on all three by 3-1-2015
Message 1 of 28
27 REPLIES 27
LS2982
Mega Contributor

Re: Credit Card usage from 2% to 1%


@Slab wrote:

I checked my credit today and noticed I had a 7 point drop. The only thing different was my credit card usage went from 2% to 1% after paying $200.00 on my one credit card balance. I have 7 credit cards but keep a balance on only one card. My credit aged another month and I was expecting a bump instead of a drop. All other items on my credit remained the same as the previous month. Does this make any sense? I am stumped.


Where did you pull your credit at?




EQ FICO 548 3/3/16
Message 2 of 28
E150GT
Frequent Contributor

Re: Credit Card usage from 2% to 1%

I feel like that sometimes. I paid down over $500 in one month and my score hasnt changed since february. I am anxious to see if my score will have gone up or down or what now because I just paid off all cards except the amex is showing a balance. No alerts yet. 


CSP-$8700, Amex BCE-17.2k, Chase Freedom-$5700
Discover It-$6600, USAA MC-$5900 Ink Bold- $12k United Explorer-$5k
Message 3 of 28
Slab
Frequent Contributor

Re: Credit Card usage from 2% to 1%

I pulled it from Equifax Premier which I know is not FICO but it mirrors my FICO Equifax.

Equifax FICO 781, Transunion FICO 821, Experian FICO 807,

810 goal on all three by 3-1-2015
Message 4 of 28
youngandcreditwrthy
Senior Contributor

Re: Credit Card usage from 2% to 1%

Allegedly 9% util is optimal
Marriott PR$25k | BCE $24.5K |BankAmericard Visa $25k| BOA Better Bal $17.5k |Wmt Discover $12.5k | BR Visa $17.5k | Amex Delta Gold $10k | Discover IT $10k | Paypal Extras MC $15k | Amazon Store $10k|Smile Gen $7.25k | Dillard's $10k | West Elm $4k| Express $3.05K | Mypoints.com Visa $4.5k | Freedom Visa $1k| Amex Surpass $1k
Message 5 of 28
SnackTrader
Valued Contributor

Re: Credit Card usage from 2% to 1%

I don't agree that there is any individual number that will lead to the highest possible score for EVERYONE. My thought is that the number will be different from person to person based on what else is in their profile and the amount of credit they have available to them. I have discussed this hypothesis before, but the thought behind it is that FICO is very capable of "bucketing" people for score based on their credit profile. It seems to me that the bucketing could extend to utilization as well.

Of course I have no proof to backup any of that. But it sounds like the OP should play around with utilization percentages to find their best personal utilization, and in their case it may be 2% rather than 1%. At the end of the day, I still believe something between 1-9% is very reasonable.

In My Wallet: Amex BCP (12/12) $50,000, Chase Freedom (12/12) $16,500, Cap1 Quicksilver (6/12) $14,000, Barclaycard Rewards (5/13) $10,500, Citi Prestige (4/16) $30,000

Last App: June 27, 2015
Message 6 of 28
LS2982
Mega Contributor

Re: Credit Card usage from 2% to 1%


@Slab wrote:

I pulled it from Equifax Premier which I know is not FICO but it mirrors my FICO Equifax.


I wouldn't put any serious thought into that score. Its worthless and goes off of a different scale than FICO.




EQ FICO 548 3/3/16
Message 7 of 28
danielodonoll
New Contributor

Re: Credit Card usage from 2% to 1%

I u pay the credit cards down to 1% utl you will lose up to 15 fico points

If you are at 2% utl ur GOLDEN so yes 2% is the name of the game

Citi Bank X2/ 29k-USAA Amex/Mastercard 24k-PP Mastercard 20k_
WMDiscover 20k-PenFed X2/15k
Current Fico/EQ-765
Garden Time Day- 10
Remaining Days-170
Message 8 of 28
Countingpennies
Established Contributor

Re: Credit Card usage from 2% to 1%

My util. was 2-3% (2 1/2 rounded up or down) last month (I have 2 cards.) This month 1%, my scores all dropped a few points also. I'm going to try 4% next month.
Message 9 of 28
danielodonoll
New Contributor

Re: Credit Card usage from 2% to 1%

4%utl is good but you will not get the max Fico score

Trust me u need 2%

 

Citi Bank X2/ 29k-USAA Amex/Mastercard 24k-PP Mastercard 20k_
WMDiscover 20k-PenFed X2/15k
Current Fico/EQ-765
Garden Time Day- 10
Remaining Days-170
Message 10 of 28
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