utilization question

[Anonymous]

A shout out to everyone...you guys rock!

I have read a lot about utilization and would like to ask those of you have played the numbers game this....

is 50% the magic number not to go over?

does the lower your utilization go the higher your score go? Or will you see much difference say between 20-49%?

thanks all!

[SonorityGenius]

FICO is heavily biased on Utilization ratio to Available Limit.

The lower your balance to limit - MOST analysts recommend well below 10% total combined throughout credit cards - the higher your score (unless you have tons of other negative stuff on there, delinquencies, liens, CA reportings.. )

But generally speaking, the lower the utl the better - thats why everyone on here wants to increase their credit limits so the ratio goes down..

[haulingthescoreup]

My understanding is that under **% means one less percentage point. So under 50%, read 49%; under 30%, read 29%, and under 10%, read 9%. That's why you always see people posting about 1-9%, or even 1-4%.

First step for anyone with really high util is to get ALL cards under 50%, and then keep bringing them down in whichever order works for you (smallest balance first, highest interest first, all of them equally, etc.) When you're doing that, pay $10 more than minimum on any cards that you're not currently targeting.

FICO penalizes for overall high util AND for individual card high util.