Accounts With Balances

[smallfry]

For arguments sake how much damage would be done score wise if one let 4 accounts out of a total of 8 open accounts report a balance? The mix is 7 revolving and one installment. How bad would it be to let 4 accounts out of 7 open look score wise? I am thinking 10 points. Utilization under 5% on the revolving. TIA.

[haulingthescoreup]

I lost 13 on EX recently when I went from 2 cards with balances to four; 11 open CC's, 14 total accounts, three of which are installment which always have balances. So 4 of 11, 7 of 14.

[marty56]

I loose 1 point on EQ if I let 2 accounts report a balance.  LOL its hard to keep to 1 account reporting a balance since GEMB isnt very consistent in the way they report.

[smallfry]

Thanks. The problem here is going to be to satisfy these banks by showing enough usage to justify the credit limit. I just lost the lion's share of 2 credit cards. Granted I don't care about the Barclays/Juniper card and I can live without the Citi Pro but I am seriously thinking about trimming a card before they close me. My available credit is more than I will ever need. I could lose about all of it and it would not effect my scores at all. 

[haulingthescoreup]

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smallfry wrote:
Thanks. The problem here is going to be to satisfy these banks by showing enough usage to justify the credit limit. 

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??

You don't have to let a balance post to keep the banks happy. Showing balances is strictly a FICO issue. (not sure that I read your post correctly)

But I agree, the trick with the humongous CL's is justifying them. I'm looking at CL's of $27K, $20.3K, $18K, and $10K. That's like going out and buying four cars on a CC. (and then figuring how to pay them off!)

[smallfry]

The problem is using enough of the credit limits to avoid closure. Citi CSR told me they were cracking down on customers who did not use at least 5% of the credit limit every month for the past 6 months. I am lucky to push 1 1/2% through all my cards in any one month. Juniper basically told me the same thing. I used the card since I've had it too. At least 250-300 Dollars every other month. At least. 

[Anonymous]

I also have found that I lose pts when more than one CC reports a balance.  There have been many posts pointing out that to optimize UTIL, you need to have (in addition to other things) 'less than half your revolving accounts report a balance'. 

I PIF all accounts each month, and my UTIL % is never more than 1%, so those factors aren't the issue.  I have eleven open TLs:  one installment car loan, two store cards, one open charge and seven revolving bank credit cards

I guess that for my 'bucket', to optimize UTIL, I can only have one card reporting a balance each month.

To keep the other CC accounts active, I charge and PIF before the closing date each month, so they report a zero balance to the CRAs.

[smallfry]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I also have found that I lose pts when more than one CC reports a balance.  There have been many posts pointing out that to optimize UTIL, you need to have (in addition to other things) 'less than half your revolving accounts report a balance'. 

I PIF all accounts each month, and my UTIL % is never more than 1%, so those factors aren't the issue.  I have eleven open TLs:  one installment car loan, two store cards, one open charge and seven revolving bank credit cards

I guess that for my 'bucket', to optimize UTIL, I can only have one card reporting a balance each month.

To keep the other CC accounts active, I charge and PIF before the closing date each month, so they report a zero balance to the CRAs.

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So in essence you are paying your bills for the most part the old fashioned way. Either by check out of checking account or an ACH. Not even taking advantage of the float the cards give. 

[Anonymous]

exactly.  But when I'm not going to be app'ing for credit for a while, I ignore the FICO changes and just use my cards the way I want to, including using the grace period.  It's really only if I were applying for a loan or new credit that I would care about maximizing my FICO score.

[haulingthescoreup]

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smallfry wrote to writemikep:

So in essence you are paying your bills for the most part the old fashioned way. Either by check out of checking account or an ACH. Not even taking advantage of the float the cards give. 

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Just to comment: I sat down and figured out one day how much I was losing by not delaying payment for two weeks, until closer to the due date. With interest rates the way they are, and the admittedly pitiful balances I have anyway, it was quite literally pennies per month.

Now if I ever got frisky and loaded up those four higher-CL CC's, the float might make sense. But since I'd be having a nervous breakdown anyway, I don't think that the 5 bucks or whatever would do me much good.