# of CCs with a balance...

[tjmolly]

Does it matter FICO point-wise if you have 1 vs 2 CCs with a balance? I'm still at <10% utilization with both.

[SouthJamaica]

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@tjmolly wrote:

Does it matter FICO point-wise if you have 1 vs 2 CCs with a balance? I'm still at <10% utilization with both.

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Yes. If you have 2 cards, it helps to have one report at zero.

[NRB525]

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@tjmolly wrote:

Does it matter FICO point-wise if you have 1 vs 2 CCs with a balance? I'm still at <10% utilization with both.

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How many CC do you have total? 2 or more than 2?

[sarge12]

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@tjmolly wrote:

Does it matter FICO point-wise if you have 1 vs 2 CCs with a balance? I'm still at <10% utilization with both.

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If you only have 2 cards it matters a good bit. In my experience, if you have 10 cards, 2 reporting small balance is very little difference than 1 reporting small balance.

[tjmolly]

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@NRB525 wrote:

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@tjmolly wrote:

Does it matter FICO point-wise if you have 1 vs 2 CCs with a balance? I'm still at <10% utilization with both.

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How many CC do you have total? 2 or more than 2?

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I have an AMEX BCE, Capital One, Discover, and am an authorized user on my wife's Citibank Card.  The citicard is at 50% ish, the Discover has a $170 bal, the cap one $0 and AMEX $43 bal.  Overall util is about 8.6%.

[CreditDunce]

For my profile, I haven't seen much difference in my FICO 08 scores when I let most of my cards report a balance.  EQ-04 does seem to be hurt.  I don't have enough DPs for the other FICO models.  Personally, I wouldn't worry about the number of cards reporting a balance unless you are house hunting.

[Anonymous]

OP, with 3 CC's (and one AU account) you're best served to only let one card report a small balance. 

From what I've taken in from reading lots of threads on this forum regarding this topic, it seems that letting 25-33% of one's cards report seems to be the sweet spot for many profiles.  That said, letting a second one report wouldn't really shouldn't be considered until one is talking a profile with 5-6+ cards.  Just my opinion.

Since you only have 3 cards though, you could test it out yourself and get some good data over just a few cycles.  Let 1 report one month, 2 the next, all 3 the next all under 10% and see what differences your experience in scoring.

[NRB525]

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@tjmolly wrote:

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@NRB525 wrote:

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@tjmolly wrote:

Does it matter FICO point-wise if you have 1 vs 2 CCs with a balance? I'm still at <10% utilization with both.

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How many CC do you have total? 2 or more than 2?

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I have an AMEX BCE, Capital One, Discover, and am an authorized user on my wife's Citibank Card.  The citicard is at 50% ish, the Discover has a $170 bal, the cap one $0 and AMEX $43 bal.  Overall util is about 8.6%.

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The balances on each of your cards is so low already, you are at rock bottom for utilization, so Number of Cards isn't going to change things much at all. Just make sure one of your cards has a reported statement balance. Since these balances are so low, you are at risk of having all three report zero balances, which would be bad for your score. You don't have to pay interest, but use the cards and let something report on the statement, then pay it off before the due date, and use the card again, repeat.

Help DW to pay down that 50% balance, and keep it down. That's where your score gain will come from.

[sarge12]

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@tjmolly wrote:

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@NRB525 wrote:

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@tjmolly wrote:

Does it matter FICO point-wise if you have 1 vs 2 CCs with a balance? I'm still at <10% utilization with both.

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How many CC do you have total? 2 or more than 2?

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I have an AMEX BCE, Capital One, Discover, and am an authorized user on my wife's Citibank Card.  The citicard is at 50% ish, the Discover has a $170 bal, the cap one $0 and AMEX $43 bal.  Overall util is about 8.6%.

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If the citicard is not going to be paid down, you may want to stop being AU on that card, but utilization is a point in time metric. Maximizing the utilization points is only important score wise, before applying for credit. To maximize pay all cards except 1 to 0, prior to statement cutting. Pay that 1 card down to 9%< balance prior to statement cutting. You can pay the balance or the minimum payment prior to due date. The trick is to have all cards except the 1 report to cra with a 0 balance, and have that 1 report with less than 9% balance. If they all report 0 balance, it looks like accounts are dormant. Best to have no card reporting over 9%, but certainly not over 30%. For scoring, both overall utilization and individual card utilization matter, with overall utilization the mor critical. If you had 12 cards, one at 50% might not ding you much, but with only 4 cards including the AU card, it could cost significant points.

[redpat]

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@sarge12 wrote:

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@tjmolly wrote:

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@NRB525 wrote:

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@tjmolly wrote:

Does it matter FICO point-wise if you have 1 vs 2 CCs with a balance? I'm still at <10% utilization with both.

---

How many CC do you have total? 2 or more than 2?

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I have an AMEX BCE, Capital One, Discover, and am an authorized user on my wife's Citibank Card.  The citicard is at 50% ish, the Discover has a $170 bal, the cap one $0 and AMEX $43 bal.  Overall util is about 8.6%.

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If the citicard is not going to be paid down, you may want to stop being AU on that card, but utilization is a point in time metric. Maximizing the utilization points is only important score wise, before applying for credit. To maximize pay all cards except 1 to 0, prior to statement cutting. Pay that 1 card down to 9%< balance prior to statement cutting. You can pay the balance or the minimum payment prior to due date. The trick is to have all cards except the 1 report to cra with a 0 balance, and have that 1 report with less than 9% balance. If they all report 0 balance, it looks like accounts are dormant. Best to have no card reporting over 9%, but certainly not over 30%. For scoring, both overall utilization and individual card utilization matter, with overall utilization the mor critical. If you had 12 cards, one at 50% might not ding you much, but with only 4 cards including the AU card, it could cost significant points.

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Not necessarily true it depends on each individuals credit file.  I had experiences with my score going down with only one card reporting and find if I have 3 cards report my score goes up and no changes if all 5 of my cards report w/ util being constantly equal no matter how many cards report.  

As for util that also can be different for others 1 - 9 and 10 -20 can have little affect on your scoring maybe a point or two.  Fico is funny, it different for everyone, it's not an exact science.