Utilization question.

[Anonymous]

Ok..I have a question regarding utilization.  With a total combined CL of around 20k, and fairly new AAoA, what would be a good target for utilization to make my garden grow.. Would it be in the 8-12% range? Or, am I better just making smaller purchases on my cards, and PIF when the statement cuts?

[Kevin86475391]

For optimal utilzation let 1 card report a very low balance, about 1-9% and 1% will be better than 9%. Let the others cards report a $0 balance. Coming as close to that as possible is beneficial. Other big utilization benchmarks: stay under 10%, stay under 30%, stay under 80%, stay under 95%.  But in general lower is always better, just not quite zero.

[Anonymous]

Thanks..  Would I be safe to assume that I do have to use the cards so that a payment history will show?

[Kevin86475391]

Yes, you should use them each at least a little bit and ideally try to rotate which card reports a balance and which ones don't. You'll also want to make sure to use them at least periodically to prevent them from closing due to inactivity. Anyway, good luck

[Anonymous]

In my opinion if your gardening and not planning on applying for anything in the near future I wouldn't worry to much about utilization. Just use your cards and PIF before the due date... you will still get the same positive history. Having the cards report a bal and making timely payments will also show creditors you can handle debt. Why stress about it until you need to.

[Kevin86475391]

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@Anonymous wrote:
In my opinion if your gardening and not planning on applying for anything in the near future I wouldn't worry to much about utilization. Just use your cards and PIF before the due date... you will still get the same positive history. Having the cards report a bal and making timely payments will also show creditors you can handle debt. Why stress about it until you need to.

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Great point, I quite agree. While my previous posts mentioned the theoretical best approach to utilization for scoring purposes as we understand it, I certainly don't bother being so precise either. I just keep my utilization low in general, PIF, and let whatever happens to report report.

[elim]

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@Anonymous wrote:
In my opinion if your gardening and not planning on applying for anything in the near future I wouldn't worry to much about utilization. Just use your cards and PIF before the due date... you will still get the same positive history. Having the cards report a bal and making timely payments will also show creditors you can handle debt. Why stress about it until you need to.

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  this ^

  what works for me...

  use a few cards heavy, let them report, PIF, replace one card with one from the safe, do it again, replace a different card with one from the safe, do it again. 

  big spend and big payments on less than half your cards every month, in some sort of overlapping rotation, and PIF = nice CLI mode, 

  just before you exit the garden, report 1-9% on 1 card only(as previous poster mentioned), request any CLI's,  and get you next app out of the way.

  you can target the cards you are wanting CLI on.by using them the heaviest and/or keeping them in rotation.

[ccpat]

Why do some say PIF before due date and others PIF after reporting? 

[Anonymous]

You want to pay down to 10% that gets reported. pay it off as you see fit. With the accounts that aren't run up high, just pay them by the due date. Certain store and fuel cards skip months if they don't report balances so you don't want that. on account that have a weak limit you want to pay them before they cut so util is not sky high. it is bad for scoring but good for internal relationship so you have to decide what is better.

[Closingracer99]

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@ccpat wrote:

Why do some say PIF before due date and others PIF after reporting? 

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Personally I do it out of habit lol.