Utilization question, please help! My scores are just cruising and not really going up :(

[Anonymous]

Hi All!

So I started rebuilding September 2014. My scores were in the high 500s. My scores have been on a steady climb since then, up until July/August my scores have been on a 1-3+ increase in score. Here are my current scores:

Equifax started myFico in April 2015: 604 ; Score today: 640

Transunion started myFico in April 2015: 623 ; Score today: 660

Experian started myFico in April 2015: 621 ; Score today: 659

I had a question about my utilization and how much of an impact it is having on my current scores. Here is my total debt as it stands today:

CapitalOne Platinum: $1200/3000 (opened Sep. 2014, started @ $500) (40% util)

CapitalOne QuickSilver1: $1200/2000 (opened Nov. 2014, started @ $500) (60% util)

CapitalOne QuickSilver1: $1200/2000 (opened Jan. 2015, started @ $500) (60% util)

Barclays Reward MC: $560/1500 (opened 4/2015) (35% util)

Chase Slate: $300/500 (opened 4/2015, 0% 18 months) (60% util)

Amazon Store card: $60/3500 (2% util)

Auto Lease: $490/18 months remaining

AAOA: Oldest 8.75 years, avg: 2.5-3 years

Utilization across the board: 29%

3 unpaid collections 6+ years old, aging off on April 2016

1 30 day late, 6+ years old

INQ: EQ: 7 TU: 5  EX: 17 (within last 12 months) (0 INQ in last 6 months)

My question is, is my utilization @ 29% affecting my score? Would I see an increase once I get it under >10% ? Anything else you pros see here that may be holding my scors back, besdies the obvious 3 collections? I am going to go for EE with TU on those collections in November.

Please help, I feel like I've come to a standing hault. Thank you in advance.

[Anonymous]

You would definitely see an increase dropping your utilization don below 10%. Mine creeped above 10% this month and I saw a small decrease. Start paying them down and reap the benefits.

[CH-7-Mission-Accomplished]

Pay your revolving accounts down to less than 3% of your total revolving credit limits and make sure that only one card reports this balance to your reports.  Your scores will go way up.

[Anonymous]

The best way to get the maximum score increase right now is to pay off all your revolving cards with the exception of one and have under 10% utilization on that card.  Doing this could make a diiference any where from 7 to 15 points of course the real increase will come when the collections fall off.

[Anonymous]

thank you!!

[yoyo]

Yep...try to get below 30% Ut on each card and see your points grow.  Crazy..My Equifax did not move from July until Setp...all because of one of my Cap1 cards got a $1000 credit line increase giving me a UT of 9% on that card.4 point's but I'll take it

[DeeBee78]

In addition to your overall utilization, there is also the per-account utilization you need to be concerned about. Every single one of those accounts reporting greater than 30% utilization is dragging your score down. Individual utilization comes first, overall comes second. 

Get those accounts below 30% and you should see some score improvements. 

[CH-7-Mission-Accomplished]

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@DeeBee78 wrote:

In addition to your overall utilization, there is also the per-account utilization you need to be concerned about. Every single one of those accounts reporting greater than 30% utilization is dragging your score down. Individual utilization comes first, overall comes second. 

Get those accounts below 30% and you should see some score improvements. 

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This is not true.  Overall utilization is the important number.  Individual utilization does not matter unless a cardis at or over 90%.  This is an urban myth.

Do you honestly think that if someone has threel $300 Comenity cards with a balance of $200 on each card (a total of $600 owing) is more important than the fact that the person owes $600 and has $30,000 in available credit?

John Ulzheimer, who worked for FICO, verified this.  His comment was "FICO isn't stupid."

[DeeBee78]

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@CH-7-Mission-Accomplished wrote:

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@DeeBee78 wrote:

In addition to your overall utilization, there is also the per-account utilization you need to be concerned about. Every single one of those accounts reporting greater than 30% utilization is dragging your score down. Individual utilization comes first, overall comes second. 

Get those accounts below 30% and you should see some score improvements. 

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This is not true.  Overall utilization is the important number.  Individual utilization does not matter unless a cardis at or over 90%.  This is an urban myth.

Do you honestly think that if someone has threel $300 Comenity cards with a balance of $200 on each card (a total of $600 owing) is more important than the fact that the person owes $600 and has $30,000 in available credit?

John Ulzheimer, who worked for FICO, verified this.  His comment was "FICO isn't stupid."

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From Creditcards.com:

To more accurately gauge your risk of nonpayment, the widely used FICO scoring model not only looks at overall debt in comparison to total credit limits, "the scoring formula also looks at utilization on the individual cards that make up the overall utilization percentage," says Barry Paperno, consumer operations manager at myFICO.com. 

Please don't say individal utilization doesn't matter, because it absolutely does. 

[Anonymous]

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@CH-7-Mission-Accomplished wrote:

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@DeeBee78 wrote:

In addition to your overall utilization, there is also the per-account utilization you need to be concerned about. Every single one of those accounts reporting greater than 30% utilization is dragging your score down. Individual utilization comes first, overall comes second. 

Get those accounts below 30% and you should see some score improvements. 

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This is not true.  Overall utilization is the important number.  Individual utilization does not matter unless a cardis at or over 90%.  This is an urban myth.

Do you honestly think that if someone has threel $300 Comenity cards with a balance of $200 on each card (a total of $600 owing) is more important than the fact that the person owes $600 and has $30,000 in available credit?

John Ulzheimer, who worked for FICO, verified this.  His comment was "FICO isn't stupid."

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With all due respect, your example is extremely atypical, and not at all representative of an average consumer, nor is it at all similar to the OP's situation. You most certainly do lose points when a card goes over 50-60% - not a lot, and it will vary by CRA, but there are likely some points there for the OP to gain by getting those individual UTI's lowered. It certainly will not HURT him to lower those balances first....

As for the "FICO isn't stupid" comment... well, it doesn't seem to be smart enough to figure out that someone that PIF all his accounts is NOT a worse credit risk than some who leaves a small balance on one card - yet it scores them that way.