does heloc affect util

[Anonymous]

When we get our tax return back I was going to pay off my smallest credit card and make a large pmt on our next smallest loan but now I am thinking that I maybe should make a big pmt on our HELOC.  Of course what is 2k really going to do to an 11k HELOC??

[llecs]

Yes, IMO.

I posted this before, but someone posted here or elsewhere that they had a score of 825. He had $200k plus in available credit and PIF each month. He also had a long history. If I remember correctly, he had a HELOC and took the max out (around $50k) to pay for some home improvements. Once he transferred out the cash, his score dropped to just below 800. He had the HELOC open for sometime before removing the cash which ruled out newness of the account as a reason for the drop.

[Anonymous]

That is what I was thinking but it will be hard to knock it down to a low percent w/ it being 11k.  We only have one open credit card and a score of around 560 so will not be getting any new ones.  We are self employeed and my DH has loans with the local bank but they do not report on our credit bureau.  They must report somewhere else...

[MidnightVoice]

I have a 20K Heloc.  EQ counts it as mortgage, TU as other, and neither figure into util.

EX counts it as a credit card so it affects util (both balance and CL)

I have heard that Helocs over $50K this does not happen with EX

[haulingthescoreup]

I've gone from a $2K balance on a $50K available up to a $13K balance with no change in scores.

The person with the 800+ score probably saw a drop because scores are incredibly twitchy (reactive) up at this level. That was probably the only thing that had changed on his reports in a long time, so even a change in HELOC util affected him. It's not very common though (I suppose because 800+ scores aren't that common!)