Over the limit?

[Anonymous]

Does FICO remember when you max out credit cards? Lets say I go over the limit one month, than pay it down to 9% the next. Will it remember that I went over one month?

[llecs]

There would likely be a ding once that over-the-limit balance reports. However, once paid down, and that reports the following month, FICO has no memory of it being OTL.

[Anonymous]

So in theory, I could be over the limit for a few months, and once I pay it down my score would go up without it even remembering that I was over?

[llecs]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

So in theory, I could be over the limit for a few months, and once I pay it down my score would go up without it even remembering that I was over?

---

Yep, though I suspect your CC might take some sort of action before then. In terms of FICO scoring, utilization is just a snapshot in time and there's no memory of the past.

[Creditaddict]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

So in theory, I could be over the limit for a few months, and once I pay it down my score would go up without it even remembering that I was over?

---

yes

[Anonymous]

lol. I wasnt planning to stay over the limit. It was just a theory. I went over last month, but I am close this month. I plan to pay it down significantly at the end of this month. I only have 1 CC. What is a good debt to income ratio for a person with one card? It has a $300 limit. I was thinking about paying it down to $5 or so. Just to keep it active.

[llecs]

If you only have one CC, I'd PIF monthly to avoid interest. If looking to tweak your score prior to apping for something, then get it to report $27 or less (9%). Oddly enough, FICO will ding you for having all $0 balances, but I personally wouldn't worry about carrying $0 balances until I app'd for something. Like with being OTL, any ding for $0 balances is temporary.

[pizzadude]

One thing to take note of ~ although it does NOT affect your FICO score ~ is that the high balance is reported on your CR.  

If someone were doing a review of your CR they might question it ~ but it won't hurt your score.

[OnTheRebound]

Is this closed account hurting our score? $500 CL with a $1415 high balance? This is my wife's account I'm a AU. In actuality, The credit limit was $3500. The card was useless to us, so I requested they transfer the CL from this card to the Freedom. They were able to transfer $3000 and left $500 on the Platinum and closed it. The CL they are now reporting is not correct, however technically it is, since it did have a $500 CL after the transfer and closed.

I always wondered about this, just never asked.

Account Information

Name Number Open/Closed Owner

CHASE	...XXXX	Closed	Authorized User

Important Dates

Opened Last Payment Last Status

7/24/2007	Account Update: CHASE It has been reported that a payment was made to your CHASE account ending in ...XXXX. 2/1/2011	11/1/2011

The Numbers

Credit Limit High Balance

$500	$1,415

Additional Information

Status Comments

Account/paid satisfactorily	Account closed at consumer's request

[john398]

---

@OnTheRebound wrote:

Is this closed account hurting our score? $500 CL with a $1415 high balance? This is my wife's account I'm a AU. In actuality, The credit limit was $3500. The card was useless to us, so I requested they transfer the CL from this card to the Freedom. They were able to transfer $3000 and left $500 on the Platinum and closed it. The CL they are now reporting is not correct, however technically it is, since it did have a $500 CL after the transfer and closed.

I always wondered about this, just never asked.

Account Information

Name Number Open/Closed Owner

CHASE	...XXXX	Closed	Authorized User

Important Dates

Opened Last Payment Last Status

7/24/2007	Account Update: CHASE It has been reported that a payment was made to your CHASE account ending in ...XXXX. 2/1/2011	11/1/2011

The Numbers

Credit Limit High Balance

$500	$1,415

Additional Information

Status Comments

Account/paid satisfactorily	Account closed at consumer's request

---

According to the closed credit card thread sticky it does if I am reading it correctly:

Tidbits(this section is courtesy of moderator, Lel)

- If a closed CC account with a balance continues to report the original credit limit, then both the balance and the CL of the closed account will be used in the utilization calculations.