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CK and Experian CreditScore Simulator Accuracy

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Anonymous
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CK and Experian CreditScore Simulator Accuracy

So I currently have a very high utilization (95%) and a credit limit of 10,5k across two cards.  Card 1 limit of 9.5k, card 2 1k limit.  Anyway, I want to take out a debt consolidation loan to pay them off.  However, CK has a Utilization simulator, which I believe is used by TU, and it says that if I pay it off I will see an 85 point jump in my score from TU 585 to TU 669.  When I log into Experian's Creditscores.com their simulator only gives me a 20 point increase.  

 

Does this seem correct?  I've read what I can about simultors here and am still confused.  Also, I haven't used my credit cards in years and have just focused on paying them down.  Card 1 keeps reducing my available credit line so utilization is always high.  Thank you.

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Anonymous
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Re: CK and Experian CreditScore Simulator Accuracy

Simulators are garbage, so you can't really trust what they say.  I'll tell you how I would personally figure the amount your score could go up though:

 

Your FICO score can range 550 points (300 to 850).  Of those 550 points, 30% of them go toward utilization.  30% of 550 is 165 points.  It's then possible to consider that going from the "best" possible utilization (1%) to the "worst" possible utilization (maxed out) could result in a score change up to that amount.  We are talking FICO scores here, not Vantage scores which CK provides. 

 

So if you have maxed out utilization and your FICO score is 550 and you take your utilization down to 1%, you could potentially see a score increase up to 715.  In order to see that amount though everything would have to be perfect, meaning you'd need at least 3 total revolvers with 2 out of 3 reporting $0 balances and the 3rd one reporting a small balance, say $10 (but up to 8% of the limit would be acceptable).

 

Hopefully that helps a bit with your ability to estimate. 

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