Difference in having more then one card report a balance?

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know or see a big change in their FICO for having more the one CC report a balance? I know its best to have one report, but if your UTIL is under 9%, does it really make a huge difference how many cards report? For example say your have a store card with a T.V on it that you can't PIF every month, but your Discover that you do PIF both report a balance. With the two cards reporting together your have a total of 7% UTIL. Is it really worth paying the Discover before your statement cuts?

[marty56]

A lot would depend on your credit profile and when the last time that Discover card reported a balance.  Since you can PIF, that gives you the freedom to experiment to see the effect of 2, 1 or 0 cards reporting a balance.

[Anonymous]

Part of the answer lies in how many TL your have reporting. Remember:

Optimal credit utilization for FICO scoring purposes is:

• Total revolving utilization > 0 and <= 9%, the lower the better, and
• Reporting a balance on less than half of your revolving TL's, and
• Reporting a balance on half or less of all TL's.

Anyway you get there is fair game. You only need have one revolving TL report a balance.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Part of the answer lies in how many TL your have reporting. Remember:

Optimal credit utilization for FICO scoring purposes is:

• Total revolving utilization > 0 and <= 9%, the lower the better, and
• Reporting a balance on less than half of your revolving TL's, and
• Reporting a balance on half or less of all TL's.

Anyway you get there is fair game. You only need have one revolving TL report a balance.

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So you are saying that it is best to have ALL TLs report half their balance? #2 says your revolving, and #3 says ALL. So installment loans or non revolving accounts should be under 50%?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Part of the answer lies in how many TL your have reporting. Remember:

Optimal credit utilization for FICO scoring purposes is:

• Total revolving utilization > 0 and <= 9%, the lower the better, and
• Reporting a balance on less than half of your revolving TL's, and
• Reporting a balance on half or less of all TL's.

Anyway you get there is fair game. You only need have one revolving TL report a balance.

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So you are saying that it is best to have ALL TLs report half their balance? I did not say that. #2 says your revolving, and #3 says ALL. So installment loans or non revolving accounts should be under 50%? I also did not say that.

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[Anonymous]

Ok, so are you saying that FICO wants to see half of all your revolving tradelines report and half of all tradelines? So if  you had 6 accounts open, 5 which were revolving, you would want only 2 credit cards to report since the installment reports also. And since you cant have half a card to report then to have 5 CCs would mean no more then two. Did I get this right? 

[marty56]

I would recommend having 0 report a balance to get a score baseline.  You can then add 1 and see that effect and a 2nd if you want.  Trial and error if you will.

[Anonymous]

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Kylan1234 wrote:
Ok, so are you saying that FICO wants to see half of all your revolving tradelines report and half of all tradelines? So if  you had 6 accounts open, 5 which were revolving, you would want only 2 credit cards to report since the installment reports also. And since you cant have half a card to report then to have 5 CCs would mean no more then two. Did I get this right? 

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You're getting closer. It is that or better. In your example two would be the maximum. Don't forget to could your installment TL's as well - they are non-revolving.

[Anonymous]

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marty56 wrote:

I would recommend having 0 report a balance to get a score baseline.  You can then add 1 and see that effect and a 2nd if you want.  Trial and error if you will.

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This is a good process. Chances are having more that one account report a balance will be suboptimal.

[haulingthescoreup]

I usually lose 7 - 10 points on EQ for having 2 report. But I gain points on TU. It's a function of my current score and scoring bucket.

If you've gotten to the point where there's nothing left to work on, there's a lot to be said for having no accounts report, then 1, then 2, and see what happens to your scores each time. For those with scores under 760 or so, you will lose points if all report 0. For those at 760 or above, you will lose points on EQ or be equal, and gain points on TU.

As others have pointed out, if you're not headed for an app, there's no reason to worry about this. But for those of us who die a thousand deaths when we lose two points, this can be an interesting exercise.