CC utilization "steps"

[GregB]

I'm finally digging out from the Covid disaster's effect on my finances. Covid really caused some problems with one business down 82% from the year before. 

I remember that most FICO algorithms have steps in CC utilization on score. I seem to recall that anything over 80% is the same as 100%. I can't recall how many steps there are from maxxed out to zero utilization but recall it was a fairly low number, at least with the FICO versions that were commonly used 7-8 years ago when I was digging out from a divorce.

So are the steps?: 

0%

1-5%

5--50%

51-79%

80-100%

I'm mostly interested in the middle range as that 51% number sticks in my head from years ago when I was really on top of this. Second priority is if the 80% still counts as maxxed. I finally have the money from the second round of PPP and want to max my score to get to the point where I can refi my house at a reasonable interest rate as it is still the 5.875% when we purchased while I was still married to psychobitch.

[AllZero]

Remember these aggregate utilization thresholds: 9%, 29%, 49%, 69%, 89%

Remember these individual utilization thresholds: 29%, 49%, 69%, 89%

I would recommend reading the below from ABCD2199
The Truth about Credit Card Utilization
My 11 Rules to Credit Rebuilding
FICO Score: What to pay down first?

From Birdman7
General Scoring Primer and Version 8 Master Thread rev.5.17.20

[AllZero]

In addition, to optimize your EX2, TU4, EQ5 scores, you'll also want to reduce your number of revolving accounts reporting a balance to cross a scoring threshold.

[GregB]

Thanks so much for the help. If these are as fixed at those amounts, it sure is an improvment over where we were 7-8 years ago. I'm going to drop one from 49.6% to 48% and see what happens. Another one closes a few days later and it will drop from 72% to 48%. A few days later on will drop from 12% to 0. I'll post the score changes. I'm at 719 EX FICO8 with $134k CC debt against $202k limit so it will take a couple others later in the month to drop me below 49% total utilization. All negatives are Utilization and too many accounts with balances. 

[SouthJamaica]

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@GregB wrote:

I'm finally digging out from the Covid disaster's effect on my finances. Covid really caused some problems with one business down 82% from the year before. 

I remember that most FICO algorithms have steps in CC utilization on score. I seem to recall that anything over 80% is the same as 100%. I can't recall how many steps there are from maxxed out to zero utilization but recall it was a fairly low number, at least with the FICO versions that were commonly used 7-8 years ago when I was digging out from a divorce.

So are the steps?: 

0%

1-5%

5--50%

51-79%

80-100%

I'm mostly interested in the middle range as that 51% number sticks in my head from years ago when I was really on top of this. Second priority is if the 80% still counts as maxxed. I finally have the money from the second round of PPP and want to max my score to get to the point where I can refi my house at a reasonable interest rate as it is still the 5.875% when we purchased while I was still married to psychobitch.

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No one really knows exactly.

I can't actually tell if you're talking about individual account utilization or aggregate revolving utilization.

If you're talking aggregate, I'm not convinced anyone knows where any of the "steps" are.

As to individual account utilization IMHO

-90% or more is considered maxed

-50% is big, getting under 50% gets you points and

-30% is big, getting under 30% gets you points

[Anonymous]

@GregB don't expect gains necessarily for each card you bring under a threshold. For individual Revolvers it appears to simply deduct points for whichever is the highest individually utilized card or whichever card is in the highest interval, I should say. So expect points potentially whenever your highest individually utilized Revolver goes under a threshold.

5% 10% 30% 50% 70% 90% 100% are commonly believed, with standard rounding. The first threshold only seems to appear on some profiles when aggregate and all individuals are under 5%, I believe. The 10% threshold is only for aggregate, it's commonly believed. The rest are believed to be both. 

[GregB]

So here will be the first changes for a test. The first column is the Current Utilization on today's report and the second is the New Utilization after closing for the month. The total Utilization is the last line. The first five lines are CC that close today or tomorrow so should all affect reports on Monday-Tuesday by EX and a few days later by the others. The sizth line is a zero interest CC that closes 18th so will drop from 90% to 89% so may show if there is some change at 89% individual utilization. The next group all report 5-8 days after that so I might see that one by itself.

[Anonymous]

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@GregB wrote:

So here will be the first changes for a test. The first column is the Current Utilization on today's report and the second is the New Utilization after closing for the month. The total Utilization is the last line. The first five lines are CC that close today or tomorrow so should all affect reports on Monday-Tuesday by EX and a few days later by the others. The sizth line is a zero interest CC that closes 18th so will drop from 90% to 89% so may show if there is some change at 89% individual utilization. The next group all report 5-8 days after that so I might see that one by itself.

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@GregB you may see gains when the first 5 report because you have 2 accounts less with a balance as they report $0.

unfortunately 89.4% is rounded to 89%, so it's already under the 90% threshold. Really wouldn't matter anyway because you already have a more highly utilized individual revolver that's at 99% that will go to 98% and therefore will not cross a threshold either.

So unless you have something else going on, I wouldn't expect any further increases because the most highly utilized revolver is not crossing any thresholds. Now, if you didn't have that revolver at 99% then the highest one would be the one you have at 89%, but it still would not offer any gains because it's going from 89% to 88% when the threshold is at 90%.

Remember standard rounding is used. So 89.5% or higher puts you in the 90% interval. You have to be under 89.5% to go to the next lower interval. 

so your first increase should come when you bring the one that's at 99% under 90%. At least as far as utilization goes from an individual standpoint. I've not looked at aggregate yet. 

[Anonymous]

@GregB OK looking at aggregate you're going from what 61% to 52%, so that doesn't appear across any threshold either. You may see gains from bringing the two cards to $0 though.

[GregB]

Definitely been at 760-770 FICO 8 with more than 50% utilization before but I also had 3-4 more accounts and 3-4 more with zero balance. Several accounts closed with stores that went out of business like The Great Indoors, etc. I hope it moves a bit as that one 98% util card is 5.24% interest and more than a third of the total balance of all accounts. The last account will probably report zero in a month or two.