2 or 2.5% on CC utilization?

[SouthJamaica]

I seem to have lost 3 points in TU and 2 points in EX when my credit card utlization went from ~1% to ~2.8%. Wondering if there's a minor benchmark at 2 or 2.5%.

[Thomas_Thumb]

SJ,

I allow my aggregate utilization to float between 1.0% and 5.0%.  Over the past year I never saw a change in Fico 04 or Bankcard Fico 08 that I could attribute to an aggregate utilization change. The score changes I have experienced I attribute to # cards reporting and my NPSL AMEX charge card reporting. Why do I say that? Because some score drops happened when UT% went down but # cards reporting increased and/or AMEX reported a balance. 

Best way to confirm how your file behaves is to go back and forth over a hypothetical threshold to check repeatability. I did that with VS 3.0 to confirm my suspicion that I gain 4 or 5 points increasing UT from the (1.5% to 2.5%) range to the (3.5% to 4.5%) range.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Thomas_Thumb wrote:

SJ,

I allow my aggregate utilization to float between 1.0% and 5.0%.  Over the past year I never saw a change in Fico 04 or Bankcard Fico 08 that I could attribute to an aggregate utilization change. The score changes I have experienced I attribute to # cards reporting and my NPSL AMEX charge card reporting. Why do I say that? Because some score drops happened when UT% went down but # cards reporting increased and/or AMEX reported a balance. 

Best way to confirm how your file behaves is to go back and forth over a hypothetical threshold to check repeatability. I did that with VS 3.0 to confirm my suspicion that I gain 4 or 5 points increasing UT from the (1.5% to 2.5%) range to the (3.5% to 4.5%) range.

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You may be right.  I did also move to 6 cards reporting, from 3.

[RonM21]

I'll be in single digit utilization, and will have to test this too. I'm sure the sweet spot is different for everyone.

[grillandwinemaster]

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@Thomas_Thumb wrote:

SJ,

I allow my aggregate utilization to float between 1.0% and 5.0%.  Over the past year I never saw a change in Fico 04 or Bankcard Fico 08 that I could attribute to an aggregate utilization change. The score changes I have experienced I attribute to # cards reporting and my NPSL AMEX charge card reporting. Why do I say that? Because some score drops happened when UT% went down but # cards reporting increased and/or AMEX reported a balance. 

Best way to confirm how your file behaves is to go back and forth over a hypothetical threshold to check repeatability. I did that with VS 3.0 to confirm my suspicion that I gain 4 or 5 points increasing UT from the (1.5% to 2.5%) range to the (3.5% to 4.5%) range.

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TT, your saying you actually gained 4-5 points by INCREASING your uti% by 2 percentage points? The energy required to gauge your individual "sweet spot" can be daunting! I'm not sure if I will ever be that precise in gauging my own sweet spot. But more power to you in figuring that out.

[Thomas_Thumb]

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@grillandwinemaster wrote:

TT, your saying you actually gained 4-5 points by INCREASING your uti% by 2 percentage points? The energy required to gauge your individual "sweet spot" can be daunting! I'm not sure if I will ever be that precise in gauging my own sweet spot. But more power to you in figuring that out.

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Actually it was 4 to 6 points depending on which CRA. I tested it twice. However, please note this was VantageScore 3.0. This model likes to see mid single digit (4% to 5%) utilization and has never deducted any points relating to # revolving accounts reporting balances - as long as the balances are low [Never tested zero reporting - that will drop score just not sure how much]

Note 1: The change in utilization (2% to 4%) had no affect on my Fico 08 score.

Note 2: Fico 04 scores did drop across the board for the above situation. However, I think that was associated with reporting a balance on all my cards (6 of 6) including an AMEX charge card as opposed to the small increase in utilization. Previously I had reported a 4% to 5% aggregate utilization with fewer cards (4 of 6) showing a balance - AMEX not reporting - and saw no score change on Classic EQ/TU/EX Fico 04 scores