Credit Utilization

[Anonymous]

I know this gets covered alot, but I'm still foggy on the correct one.

I have the following cards:

- Capitol One Plaitinum: $500.00 CL

- Capital One Platiunum: $300.00 CL

Before my statement cuts, can I utilize 9% of each card, or 9% of one and leave the other zero?

Also 9% of 800.00 which is my combined available credit would be 72.00....thats also one way to look at it? Because if I only use 9% of one of the cards I wouldn't be using a 9% total credit utilization. Just 9% of that particular card.

Please unconfuse me.

Thank You.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I know this gets covered alot, but I'm still foggy on the correct one.

I have the following cards:

- Capitol One Plaitinum: $500.00 CL

- Capital One Platiunum: $300.00 CL

Before my statement cuts, can I utilize 9% of each card, or 9% of one and leave the other zero?

Also 9% of 800.00 which is my combined available credit would be 72.00....thats also one way to look at it? Because if I only use 9% of one of the cards I wouldn't be using a 9% total credit utilization. Just 9% of that particular card.

Please unconfuse me.

Thank You.

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Your utilization is a percentage of the combined credit limits, in this case $800.  Individual creditors may also look at the utilization of their particular card but the FICO scoring model is based on overall utilization

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

I know this gets covered alot, but I'm still foggy on the correct one.

I have the following cards:

- Capitol One Plaitinum: $500.00 CL

- Capital One Platiunum: $300.00 CL

Before my statement cuts, can I utilize 9% of each card, or 9% of one and leave the other zero?

Also 9% of 800.00 which is my combined available credit would be 72.00....thats also one way to look at it? Because if I only use 9% of one of the cards I wouldn't be using a 9% total credit utilization. Just 9% of that particular card.

Please unconfuse me.

Thank You.

---

Your utilization is a percentage of the combined credit limits, in this case $800.  Individual creditors may also look at the utilization of their particular card but the FICO scoring model is based on overall utilization

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FICO scores both individual account utilization and overall utilization.

[Anonymous]

From what  I gather split your goal of 9% across the 2 cards evenly as in carry 9% or less on each card. That way your individual UTI is matched with your overall UTI

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

From what  I gather split your goal of 9% across the 2 cards evenly as in carry 9% or less on each card. That way your individual UTI is matched with your overall UTI

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For scoring purposes this is what not to do. 

One card at least $2 to less than 9%. The other zero. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

For scoring purposes this is what not to do. 

One card at least $2 to less than 9%. The other zero. 

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Correct for scoring...... My statement was geared toward overall UTL

[takeshi74]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Before my statement cuts, can I utilize 9% of each card, or 9% of one and leave the other zero?

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Here are the general recommendations:

• Do not exceed 30%.
• When applying for credit you may want to optimize by allowing only one balance to report at 10% or less to eke out every possible point.  Some choose to do this all the time but it's really not necessary.
• Short term high utilization is generally not an issue.  Prolonged high utilization can lead to AA.

It's really up to you to determine the specific strategy and tactics that you want to use.  You can certainly control reported utilization by restricting spend, letting the statment cut and then paying the statement balance prior to due date.  However, you can also spend all you want, pay down the balance prior to statement date to hit the desired utilization level, and then pay off the remainder of the statement balance.

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@Anonymous wrote:

Also 9% of 800.00 which is my combined available credit would be 72.00....thats also one way to look at it? Because if I only use 9% of one of the cards I wouldn't be using a 9% total credit utilization. Just 9% of that particular card. 

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As stated above both individual and overall utilization matter.

[Anonymous]

The previous advice has been right on the money.  Let me just add that some of us optimize utilization all the time because we like to optimize FICO all the time, for two reasons:

1-  To be always ready to apply to any offer that might pop out, and get the best terms possible.

2-  As a sport.  We love to see those three little digits go up and up.  If's fun.  BTW, the January 2015 TU FICO score at Walmart has just posted.

[Anonymous]

I just removed several posts because of TOS violations. Namely the discussion of unethical practices.