For as long as I've been on these forums, I've been under the impression that a charge off balance is counted as "maxed out" regardless of the actual credit limit. I have a Sync/Care Credit CO on my report that I can't do anything about because I was 1099C'ed, so I'm stuck with it until late 2025. Due to this, my aggregate revolving utilization has been 50-51% even with AZEO. The only way to improve that would be to open another card (not going to do that) or with CLI's. My scores have been stagnant for months, so I took a break from obsessing over them and from these forums, although I have kept my monthly 3B subscription.
Last month I received another $100 CLI on a bucketed CapOne Platinum (that I have since PC'ed to Savor.) Now that I have updated my 3B, I see that the CLI brought my agg util to 49%. I got curious to see if I could get that down to 48.9% and (hopefully) realize a few point gain after no movement for so long. That's when I did the math and realized FICO is including my credit limit in their calculations (instead of charged off amount) across all three bureaus.
Current Revolvers:
CapOne QS $32/$400
CapOne Spark $34/$1100
CapOne Savor $0/$1200
Discover $0/$500
NFCU $0/$600
Charge Off:
Sync Care Credit: $3941/$4300
If Sync's credit limit is counted as $3941, then my aggregate utilization would be $4007/$7741 or 51.76%
If Sync's credit limit is counted as $4300, then my aggregate utilization would be $4007/$8100 or 49.47% (which is what my 3B reports reflect).
Additionally, my CapOne QS will close on 1/2/2025 with a $15 balance and my CapOne Spark closed on 12/24 with a $0 balance (but hasn't reflected on my reports yet) bringing my aggregate utilization to $3956/$8100 or 48.84%. When this happens, I believe I will cross a threshold and (hopefully) gain at least a few points. Any positive movement is good movement!
“A woman’s best protection is a little money of her own.” – Clare Boothe Luce
