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Credit utilization

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Thomas_Thumb
Senior Contributor

Re: Credit utilization

AU cards are sometimes ignored by Fico 8 and Fico 9 (the one I have certainly is).

 

I would recommend allowing a small balamce to report one one of the two cards where Tiff88 is primary. Also, building up positive credit history on primary cards is more important than AU cards - which, by definition, are controlled by the primary holder regardless of who makes payment(s).

Fico 9: .......EQ 850 TU 850 EX 850
Fico 8: .......EQ 850 TU 850 EX 850
Fico 4 .....:. EQ 809 TU 823 EX 830 EX Fico 98: 842
Fico 8 BC:. EQ 892 TU 900 EX 900
Fico 8 AU:. EQ 887 TU 897 EX 899
Fico 4 BC:. EQ 826 TU 858, EX Fico 98 BC: 870
Fico 4 AU:. EQ 831 TU 872, EX Fico 98 AU: 861
VS 3.0:...... EQ 835 TU 835 EX 835
CBIS: ........EQ LN Auto 940 EQ LN Home 870 TU Auto 902 TU Home 950
Message 11 of 23
HeavenOhio
Senior Contributor

Re: Credit utilization

Welcome, @Anonymous. Smiley Happy

 

AZEO (all cards reporting zero except one) works best when the positive balance is on a card where one is the primary user rather than an AU.

 

I'd report a tiny balance on the Credit One card. I'm choosing that because those cards tend to have fees and will probably have a balance anyway. Bring the AU and Capital One cards down to zero.

 

I'm not sure if that will give you 16 points. But the mortgage models like AZEO, and I think it's your best shot.

Message 12 of 23
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Credit utilization

I actually tried that and my score dropped because the credit limit on the AU card is 18,000 and it pretty much controls my utilization
Message 13 of 23
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Credit utilization


@Anonymous wrote:
I actually tried that and my score dropped because the credit limit on the AU card is 18,000 and it pretty much controls my utilization

Can you be very specific about what you tried?  I.e....

 

What exactly were the balances on your three cards before the score drop?

 

What were the balances immediately after?

 

How much was the score drop?

 

When did the score drop happen?  (Month/year or best of all M/D/Y)

 

What tool gave you the score that indicated the score drop?  (A score that came with a credit card, myFICO Ultimate, Credit Check Total, Credit Karma, etc.). 

Message 14 of 23
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Credit utilization

My score dropped immediately following the reporting of 0% untilization of my BOA card with 18,000 credit limit and when my other two cards reported that 5 and 10.00 balances my score didn’t move and my aggregate utilization was still
At 0%.
Message 15 of 23
Thomas_Thumb
Senior Contributor

Re: Credit utilization

I would recommend allowing a balance to report on the AU card and a small balance on one of the two cards where you are primary.I suspect you may have done that in the past. How does that result compare against a balance on the AU card only?

 

Side note: some other posters have reported a score drop when all AU cards report zero balance regardless of how large primary card CLs are in comparison to AU cards and the fact that primary card(s) were still reporting a balance. There is not a straight forward explanation for the score drop in that situation.

Fico 9: .......EQ 850 TU 850 EX 850
Fico 8: .......EQ 850 TU 850 EX 850
Fico 4 .....:. EQ 809 TU 823 EX 830 EX Fico 98: 842
Fico 8 BC:. EQ 892 TU 900 EX 900
Fico 8 AU:. EQ 887 TU 897 EX 899
Fico 4 BC:. EQ 826 TU 858, EX Fico 98 BC: 870
Fico 4 AU:. EQ 831 TU 872, EX Fico 98 AU: 861
VS 3.0:...... EQ 835 TU 835 EX 835
CBIS: ........EQ LN Auto 940 EQ LN Home 870 TU Auto 902 TU Home 950
Message 16 of 23
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Credit utilization

This is exactly what I will try letting all of my cards report 1%
Message 17 of 23
Thomas_Thumb
Senior Contributor

Re: Credit utilization


@Anonymous wrote:
This is exactly what I will try letting all of my cards report 1%

Actually I think a better result will be realized reporting a small balance (say between $3 and $10) on one of your cards with your other card reporting a zero balance. Have the AU card report a small balance as well (say between $10 and $500).

Fico 9: .......EQ 850 TU 850 EX 850
Fico 8: .......EQ 850 TU 850 EX 850
Fico 4 .....:. EQ 809 TU 823 EX 830 EX Fico 98: 842
Fico 8 BC:. EQ 892 TU 900 EX 900
Fico 8 AU:. EQ 887 TU 897 EX 899
Fico 4 BC:. EQ 826 TU 858, EX Fico 98 BC: 870
Fico 4 AU:. EQ 831 TU 872, EX Fico 98 AU: 861
VS 3.0:...... EQ 835 TU 835 EX 835
CBIS: ........EQ LN Auto 940 EQ LN Home 870 TU Auto 902 TU Home 950
Message 18 of 23
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Credit utilization

Also bear in mind that I am pretty sure you are talking about some credit monitoring system (CMS) that gives you an alert when a balance changes on a credit card and then gives you a new credit score.  If so, the scoring model is either FICO 8 or Vantage Score.  Neither of those will be used by a mortgage lender -- it's the mortgage score that matters, and AUs are much more likely to be counted interchangeably with cards in your name for the older mortgage models.

 

I asked earlier if you could tell us where the scores you are seeing are coming from (Credit Check Total, Credit Karma, myFICO Ultimate, a score from a credit card, etc.).  If you can tell us that this would also help.

Message 19 of 23
DollyLama
Established Contributor

Re: Credit utilization

+1  Are you actually seeing mortgage scores, and you need your "middle" mortgage score to rise 16pts? They are correct in carrying a balance across multiple cards are damaging to mortgage scores. 

 

Tiff- do you have any derogs, ie late payments, charge offs, collections on open or closed accounts? If so how old are they? I honestly do not know, but with your primary CC, you might have a thin and young file with the low limits- exclusion of being an authorized user.  Are any of the cards approaching a milestone of 1 yr or more in age, if so in 2 months that can bounce some scores up from FICO 8 perspective, don't remember how much it affected my mortgage scores. 

Message 20 of 23
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