AZEO vs 8% and 28%

[Ugenie7]

I sort of get the AZEO idea. For example 8% of $3900 CLI is $312 and all other cards report zero even if you have 15 cards.

I see posts where someone recommends letting 8% report. I assume that is for one card only. 

Then we get into letting 28% report for 2 or more cards.

Shouldn't this 28% start to decrease as more cards are in use or does the 28% stay the same for all your cards with a balance?

Hmmm, now that I think about I have it backwards.

28% for AZEO with a single card reporting and all others report zero. Now 28% of the $3900 example above is $1092.

If using 8% for two cards, would that be 4% for each card or 8% for each card.

Someone jump right in and explain where I'm wrong but remember I get confused easily!

[Girlzilla88]

@Ugenie7    Honestly I saw the biggest score jump and CLI etc when I did 8.9% across the board rather than on one card and the rest report 0, so I had like 4% on one card, 2% on another etc to equal around 8% (below 9%) but some people RAVE on the AZEO method, for me it just didn't give me grins and giggles like I thought LOL (If you are wanting to be 29% and below that is something completely seperate than AZEO which you can do your Bank Card reporting 28%, and the rest 0, but most people when referring to AZEO are referring to Bank Card reporting 8.9% while others report 0.      Just keep in mind also to use your other cards and pay them down to 0 on statement so you don't have CLD or Closures by trying to behave

[Ficoproblems247]

AZEO (All Zero Except One) is simply the number of cards you let report a balance. The other numbers are the percentages of those balances that are reporting to the bureaus. They are two different things. What you are thinking about is using one in conjunction with the other for optimal scoring purposes. In order to optimize certain FICO scores, you would want to pay off all cards except for one. The one card that you let report should have a balance below 8.9% to keep it in the most optimal threshold. AZEO is certainly not something you need to practice on a consistent basis, rather something you should use before submitting an app to ensure you are approved for the best terms/CL possible. In a normal situation, feel free to let your balances report as you spend organically, provided it does not leave you with high utilization on any one card, or your aggregate utilization.

[Anonymous]

@Ficoproblems247 +1, Well said, except for the fact the threshold is equal to or less than 9% as proven by @Anonymous. It was long wrongly believed it had to be below 8.9%, but that has been debunked.

@Ugenie7 What you’re thinking of is the best practice of keeping your aggregate equal to or less than 9% and then any individual cards equal to or less than 29%.

But, when you need your best score, such as when you’re about to app, you want to practice AZEO with the one card having a balance under $100, so that you receive awards for optimizing: 1. utilization metrics, 2. raw dollar amount metric and 3. The number of accounts/revolvers with a balance metric.

@Ficoproblems247 is correct that what we commonly advise as AZEO includes a small balance, which therefore combines 3 metrics to gain points, not just 1.

[Anonymous]

Just keep in mind that a lot of people use Experian's credit monitoring. If someone is only using that service, they will think AZEO isn't that big of a deal.

EX 8 doesn't really care about number of cards with a balance. This is not true of EQ/TU 8. I get +19/+14 on them at AZEO, when EX 8 doesn't move. Some other scores on EQ/TU at AZEO move as much as +27pts. This is just with 1 of 2 cards reporting a balance.

Of course, it all depends on the scorecard. People with derogatories or much greater length of credit history might not see much movement at any CRA.

[Anonymous]

Very good point, Cassie.

[Ugenie7]

Good info everyone!

I do use experian since its free. There's no concern where my experian report says usage low (had a balance) or no usage (0 balance) even though the low was reported at 2% for all cards and 8.92% rounded to 9% on one card? This is with 3 cards reporting where 2 had a balance.

[Anonymous]

@Anonymous @Anonymous  - So if you only have 1 CC is a $0 balance better than < 9%?   I don't want to open a new account right now and I only have the one card. I am an AU on another account but it is my understanding that only impacts AAoA. 

[Anonymous]

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@Ugenie7 wrote:

Good info everyone!

I do use experian since its free. There's no concern where my experian report says usage low (had a balance) or no usage (0 balance) even though the low was reported at 2% for all cards and 8.92% rounded to 9% on one card? This is with 3 cards reporting where 2 had a balance.

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Having only one card of the three report a small balance would be optimal. The only low useage that you have to worry about is if all your revolvers report zero.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

@Anonymous @Anonymous  - So if you only have 1 CC is a $0 balance better than < 9%?   I don't want to open a new account right now and I only have the one card. I am an AU on another account but it is my understanding that only impacts AAoA. 

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No matter what you have to have a balance on at least one revolver to avoid the all zero penalty. 

if you're AU card counts for version eight it also must have a small balance or you will receive a penalty. If it doesn't count then it doesn't matter, except for the mortgage scores where AUs always count.