Decrease in Fico model 8 score

[CreditBob]

I have two revolving lines of credit. On one card the balance was $ 14 out of a $ 610 limit. Now here is the interesting part. On the second credit card with a $ 700 limit, I had a zero balance & increased the amount to $ 20. My Fico score dropped about 10 points. The reason given was that the balance increased by 100%. I always thought that the balance would be taken off the utilization p[ercentage of the current balance vs. what the line of credit is. And my calculation was I am at 3% utilization. So I called customer support. She told me to bring down the balance to $ 5 and keep it there. So I am going to try that. So, has anyone else experienced this situation before?

[Anonymous]

The reason is wrong.

Part of FICO utilization scoring is how many cards you carry a balance on versus how many total cards you have.

1/2 means half the cards have a balance. 2/2 means all the cards have a balance.

[Anonymous]

Also should mention you can get a third card with no real FICO penalty. And the rule for how many cards should you report a balance on is general 1/2 - 1 so half your total cards, minus one.

With 3 cards total you can carry a balance on one. With 6, on 2. Etc.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Also should mention you can get a third card with no real FICO penalty. And the rule for how many cards should you report a balance on is general 1/2 - 1 so half your total cards, minus one.

With 3 cards total you can carry a balance on one. With 6, on 2. Etc.

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Great advice from ABCD.  Bear in mind in his last sentence he means report a balance, as he said before.  There's never any scoring advantage to carrying a balance (which means to not pay the amount on the statement in full, and to carry the remainer over to the next statement and pay interest on it).