@EW800 wrote:Hi Everyone,
I was just wondering if generally speaking there is every any or much of a credit score difference between a UTIL of say 3% and about 7 or 8%? Would I be correct in assuming that pretty much any at 9% and below would be the same bucket, or could there be an advantage to staying in the 2-3% range vs the 7-8% range.
Thanks!
Anecdotally on FICO '04 and '98 and presumably '08 too, there's been small differences to the tune of a handful of points and everyone has a sweet spot. You'll have to play with it and track your scores over time... bearing in mind as your file changes (derogs coming off, or AAOA changes, or god only knows what else) that sweet spot might change over time.
The $.01-9% rule though seems to hold as close to optimal, a few points this or that way doesn't matter to the majority of consumers unless you're marginal on a tier boundary for a mortgage generally.
@Revelate wrote:
@EW800 wrote:Hi Everyone,
I was just wondering if generally speaking there is every any or much of a credit score difference between a UTIL of say 3% and about 7 or 8%? Would I be correct in assuming that pretty much any at 9% and below would be the same bucket, or could there be an advantage to staying in the 2-3% range vs the 7-8% range.
Thanks!
Anecdotally on FICO '04 and '98 and presumably '08 too, there's been small differences to the tune of a handful of points and everyone has a sweet spot. You'll have to play with it and track your scores over time... bearing in mind as your file changes (derogs coming off, or AAOA changes, or god only knows what else) that sweet spot might change over time.
The $.01-9% rule though seems to hold as close to optimal, a few points this or that way doesn't matter to the majority of consumers unless you're marginal on a tier boundary for a mortgage generally.
I have also found slight alterations in my score going between the 1% to 9% range, but only a few points either way. Having all accounts report a zero balance lowers my score more than a few % deviation in UTIL
Thanks!
> bearing in mind as your file changes (derogs coming off, or AAOA changes, or god only knows what else) that sweet spot might change over time.
Sometimes I think it literally depends on what direction the wind is blowing! 
@EW800 wrote:Thanks!
> bearing in mind as your file changes (derogs coming off, or AAOA changes, or god only knows what else) that sweet spot might change over time.
Sometimes I think it literally depends on what direction the wind is blowing!
I have found north west to be my optimal reporting direction.
Revelate wrote: Anecdotally on FICO '04 and '98 and presumably '08 too, there's been small differences to the tune of a handful of points and everyone has a sweet spot. You'll have to play with it and track your scores over time... bearing in mind as your file changes (derogs coming off, or AAOA changes, or god only knows what else) that sweet spot might change over time.
The $.01-9% rule though seems to hold as close to optimal, a few points this or that way doesn't matter to the majority of consumers unless you're marginal on a tier boundary for a mortgage generally.
I recieved a Score Watch alert this afternoon. My EX score went from 696 to 699. Along with that alert was one that said my Barclay's balance went from $1656. to $779. Utilization went from 07% to 03%. I didn't expect any change with the lower balance. Maybe because it was a 52% decrease from my previous balance. Or because there is a high pressure system in the area that is ushering in warmer weather. I don't know. I may bring my utilization down to the 1-2% range to see if that does anything.
I think I've maxed out my score for my current profile for now. I'm not looking for a mortgage in the near future but I just want one more point to get me to 700. Not that is really matters but it just makes me feel better 
Next step after that will be 720. I think I'll just have to let time help get me to that goal.
@masscredit wrote:
Revelate wrote: Anecdotally on FICO '04 and '98 and presumably '08 too, there's been small differences to the tune of a handful of points and everyone has a sweet spot. You'll have to play with it and track your scores over time... bearing in mind as your file changes (derogs coming off, or AAOA changes, or god only knows what else) that sweet spot might change over time.
The $.01-9% rule though seems to hold as close to optimal, a few points this or that way doesn't matter to the majority of consumers unless you're marginal on a tier boundary for a mortgage generally.
I recieved a Score Watch alert this afternoon. My EX score went from 696 to 699. Along with that alert was one that said my Barclay's balance went from $1656. to $779. Utilization went from 07% to 03%. I didn't expect any change with the lower balance. Maybe because it was a 52% decrease from my previous balance. Or because there is a high pressure system in the area that is ushering in warmer weather. I don't know. I may bring my utilization down to the 1-2% range to see if that does anything.
I think I've maxed out my score for my current profile for now. I'm not looking for a mortgage in the near future but I just want one more point to get me to 700. Not that is really matters but it just makes me feel better
It's a little more complex than that, namely the utilization on single cards is calculated as well, and dropping from roughly 25% to 12% (napkin math) might be non-trivial in the algorithm for all we know on FICO '08: we just don't have enough data yet.
The standard advice is 1-9% (and as near as we know, $.01 is legit, any non-zero balance) on one tradeline, of that individual tradeline rather than aggregate utilization. Cut it in half again next month and see if you get another improvement. .
Today I received a score alert that my equifax score went up from 637 to 645 because of a new balance. My old balance was at 7%, new balance was at 0.03%. I've tried every balance I could think of without my score budging at ALL.
A few months ago I had a 0$ balance on all cards. Raised my Utilization to 7% as reccommended, score dropped 4 points! Paid all off to zero, thinking it would go back up 4 points? but no. Stayed the same for months. FINALLY went up, whoo hoo! 
@youshallcallmedragon wrote:Today I received a score alert that my equifax score went up from 637 to 645 because of a new balance. My old balance was at 7%, new balance was at 0.03%. I've tried every balance I could think of without my score budging at ALL.
A few months ago I had a 0$ balance on all cards. Raised my Utilization to 7% as reccommended, score dropped 4 points! Paid all off to zero, thinking it would go back up 4 points? but no. Stayed the same for months. FINALLY went up, whoo hoo!
Sometimes I think it really does depend on the direction of the wind and the mood of the FICO God's!
Congrats on getting the bump!
My UTIL is already pretty low, but it will be even lower when my current balances hit the 3 CB's. It will be interesting to see if I get any kind of score bump or not.