2 point gain in a month -- possible?

[Anonymous]

Okay, I'm strategerizing here.

I paid 10K today and will pay another 1900 by the end of this week between my regular payment and my tax refund when it credits (Friday). So, next Monday or Tuesday I should have a balance of 24591 on our citi card (utilization % of .61477 on card). This puts me at .494788 utilization on ALL cards....

SO, do you think I need to get it to an even 49%? LOL I *really* want to make it work. I think to get just under that % would take another 250 bucks which I could probably swing.

I think I am going to try getting the CC company to report once the last payment hits.....I did see where I can change my payment date online -- has anyone tried this in order to try to get them to report earlier? I might *call* at that point and ask them directly, although there is nothing I loathe more than calling the CC company...I always get the ditzy ones. Add to it that I am an AU on this account which just makes it difficult as DH hates talking to them even more.....well, anyway....worst case, I think it will report on Monday the 26th as that is my statement date and it looks like they reported on my statement date on the last report I viewed.

Any other tips or ideas at this point? We're pretty well down to the wire. Either it is goign to work by the 26/27th or it isn't. Our lender has to get things to underwriting by the 27th.

[rena347]

I am by no means an expert on how the FICO scores are calculated but looking at your calculation of .494788 , I would be afraid that the algorithm would round up to 50%. Especially since you are in a time crunch and there is no room for error, if it were me I would pay the extra 250 bucks to make sure it calculated the 49% that you are aiming to achieve. Better safe than sorry!

[FrugalRican]

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@rena347 wrote:

I am by no means an expert on how the FICO scores are calculated but looking at your calculation of .494788 , I would be afraid that the algorithm would round up to 50%.

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Your assessment is correct. This happened to me just two months ago.

My calculation was at 27.67, etc...

And it just rounded it up to 28%.

The utilization doesn't seem to account for decimal points but just the nearest percent point.

[Anonymous]

Thanks! I will make sure to bump it up.

Cross fingers for me!

[Anonymous]

Thought I would come share my good news!

After much drama and waiting and citi updating too early.....my lender did a rapid rescore this Tuesday. Balance was 24099. Down from 36213/40k limit. Util on card in 61%, and just under 49% for all available credit.

This bumped me from 718 up to 727. I assume it would have been higher but for the hard pull the lender did Tuesday. I don't care. I am over 720 and thrilled beyond compare!

[atarvuzdar]

Way to go! Well worth the investment

[FrugalRican]

Thanks for the update, glad to see everything worked out okay!

[Anonymous]

Curiously SW just advised my score changed from 718 to 725. And my lender uses the Same program as here. So that is confusing. But still over 720!!!!!

[Crashem]

Maybe included the new hard inquiry.  Also, scorewatch uses Equifax right?  I find the Equifax FICO accurate.  But lenders often have your own lender enhanced FICO score even if it is based on the same Equifax FICO score.