I have 2 cards that are reporting high balance. 1st one has 48% UTI and 2nd with 54% UTI
I can BLT one to the other and have 76% and 0%. By doing this I’ll reduce some interest rate.
The question is how many points you guys think I would lose by having one card at 76% vs. two cards at 48% and 54% UTI?
@CYBERSAM wrote:I have 2 cards that are reporting high balance. 1st one has 48% UTI and 2nd with 54% UTI
I can BLT one to the other and have 76% and 0%. By doing this I’ll reduce some interest rate.
The question is how many points you guys think I would lose by having one card at 76% vs. two cards at 48% and 54% UTI?
I don't know if you would lose or gain, but either way I think the difference would be slight.
Based on the Scoring Primer, it looks like there are thresholds for 30, 50, 70, 90, and 100% for individual cards. So one at 48% and the other at 54% could be better than one at 76%, but I'd guess with AZEO bonus and a single card at 76% (that you quickly pay down to under 70% if possible) you might do better than splitting the two. Aggregate utilization is also important, that's got 10% in addition to the other thresholds already mentioned.
That said, if you're doing large BTs, you might have other issues that are more important to address and I would agree with @FlaDude and focus on the actual costs vs FICO score here.
as of 1/1/23
Aggregate utilization and AZEO would not be a factor here. BLT would save 4% on interest. But I can live with that if negative impact would be great from one card showing 75% UTL!
How hard is it going to be to get than one card under 70% though? I'd say if it's easy the temporary downsides from being at 75% are short lived and you're less likely to get the "cards with balances" negative factor since it'd only be one card.
