Charge cards' effect on FICO

[Anonymous]

I recently got my first charge cards and am a bit confused as to how they will affect my credit. I understand that only a few types of FICO scoring factor in charge card utilization. So does that mean I should pay off most of my bill right before my statement closes so that a small balance is reported?
Or should I charge up a lot on my first statement so that my "limit" will be that high utilization from the first month and every month after that have it be a small amount so that it's a low utilization?
Any advice on how to best affect my credit would be appreciated!

[Revelate]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I recently got my first charge cards and am a bit confused as to how they will affect my credit. I understand that only a few types of FICO scoring factor in charge card utilization. So does that mean I should pay off most of my bill right before my statement closes so that a small balance is reported?
Or should I charge up a lot on my first statement so that my "limit" will be that high utilization from the first month and every month after that have it be a small amount so that it's a low utilization?
Any advice on how to best affect my credit would be appreciated!

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Personally I'd set that high limit and go on with life.  Keeping clean the entire time doesn't really matter, though when I do put lipstick on my pig, my Amex Zync is always one of my zero'd accounts: inconsistent scoring between bureaus, homie don't play that when it actually counts.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I recently got my first charge cards and am a bit confused as to how they will affect my credit. I understand that only a few types of FICO scoring factor in charge card utilization. So does that mean I should pay off most of my bill right before my statement closes so that a small balance is reported?
Or should I charge up a lot on my first statement so that my "limit" will be that high utilization from the first month and every month after that have it be a small amount so that it's a low utilization?
Any advice on how to best affect my credit would be appreciated!

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As near as I can tell, the charge cards don't report at all.

[Anonymous]

Unless you are applying for something don't worry about it. If you are applying, find out what score they use and how it treats charge cards.

For current FICO charge cards improve your score because any monthly spending on them doesn't factor in to your utilization, so they have the effect of lowering your utilization.

For some older scores they use your previous high balance for your limit. For THOSE you want to have a previous high balance (so ordinarily let it report!) just not in the month you are applying.

[cashnocredit]

I've been tracking FICO scores quite a while.

TU FICO 98 and FICO EQ 8 use charge card high balances v reported balance in utilization calculations. All FICO 4 (generation used for mortgages), EX FICO 8 and TU FICO 8 scores ignore charge card balances.

[Revelate]

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@cashnocredit wrote:

I've been tracking FICO scores quite a while.

TU FICO 98 and FICO EQ 8 use charge card high balances v reported balance in utilization calculations. All FICO 4 (generation used for mortgages), EX FICO 8 and TU FICO 8 scores ignore charge card balances.

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EX 98 is part of the mortgage trifecta, GSE's never moved to FICO Risk Model v3 from Experian which was the FICO 04 model, and it may still count under that.  Much like installment utilization affects EX 98, doesn't either EQ or TU 04 out of the trifecta.

I will still never have my Zync with a balance for any application I care about, leave it zero, no problem with whether it counts or not .  Simple is good.

[cashnocredit]

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@Revelate wrote:

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@cashnocredit wrote:

I've been tracking FICO scores quite a while.

TU FICO 98 and FICO EQ 8 use charge card high balances v reported balance in utilization calculations. All FICO 4 (generation used for mortgages), EX FICO 8 and TU FICO 8 scores ignore charge card balances.

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EX 98 is part of the mortgage trifecta, GSE's never moved to FICO Risk Model v3 from Experian which was the FICO 04 model, and it may still count under that.  Much like installment utilization affects EX 98, doesn't either EQ or TU 04 out of the trifecta.

I will still never have my Zync with a balance for any application I care about, leave it zero, no problem with whether it counts or not .  Simple is good.

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Now that we get all those different scores when buying FICO reports I would test it but my h/b won't drop for at least another 12 months. It won't affect EQ 8 scores until then and probably has a similar cutoff elsewhere.