Does Credit Utilization of 30% Represent 255 points lost/gained?? I need Help!!

[Carlosjb3]

So I finally got my utilization down from over 96% at one point all the way down to 2% and my results are below in terms of how many points I gained:

Scores when utilization was over 96%:

Scores after dropping utilization to 2%:

So on average I went up 67 points accross all 3 credit bureaus. I was hoping for at least an average increase of between 80 to 100. Hopefully this gives others a rough idea on how many points one can gain when drastically bringing utilization down. Keep in mind however, that this experience is unique to my own credit profile so milage will definately vary.

[Shooting-For-800]

Congrats!

I estimated 50 others said 100.

Looks like you were between the predictions at 67.

The next 67 will be much harder but you can do it!

Keep it up!

[Anonymous]

Carlos, just to be clear, you had two revolvers that were at maxed out utilization and took one of them to a $0 balance and the other to a small (non-zero) reported balance which constitutes 2% aggregate utilization post-paydown... correct?

Just making sure that in dropping to 2% aggregate utilization that you did so with AZEO in place, not with two small reported balances on both of your cards.

[Carlosjb3]

I have two secured credit cards and one LOC from Penfed.

Discover balance: $39 out $1.2K limit
Capital One balance: $24 out of $1.3K limit
Penfed Balance: $0 out of $500 limit

To answer your question I don’t have AZEO reflecting. My intention was to just have Discover card show a small balance. I paid my Capital One to $0 balance right on the day my statement closed so there was a delayed interest of $24 bucks that popped up.

Today my Capital One statement closes again and I’m currently at $0 balance with them so in the next couple days I will be at AZEO, will this give me more points?

[Anonymous]

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@Carlosjb3To answer your question I don’t have AZEO reflecting.
Today my Capital One statement closes again and I’m currently at $0 balance with them so in the next couple days I will be at AZEO, will this give me more points?

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Yes.  If you weren't at AZEO you were at 100% of your cards with a balance (or 67% of your accounts) where you'll now be at 50% of your cards with a balance (or 33% of your accounts) - This will result in a score gain and I'll ballpark it to the tune of 10 points. 

This would take your 67 point average gain up to ~77 points on average, more in line with the 80-100 point shooting from the hip feeling that I had originally.

[Carlosjb3]

Right on! I will update as soon as Capital One reports $0 with all 3 credit bureaus.

Is there a threshold that is optimal to maximize utilization score for card balances? I will be at 33% credit cards with balances. Should I be getting more cards to lower the 33% to a more desirable threshold? Does the Penfed LOC even count since is not a card?

[Anonymous]

You'd have to see if Penfed is coded as a revolver to know.

Many people (myself included) believe that not just revolvers, but total accounts with balances is what matters.  So, whether or not your Penfed account is coded as a revolver may be irrelevant, as it's either going to have a balance or it isn't.

33% of accounts with balances will maximize your EX/TU scores, while possibly giving you a slight ding on EQ.  I'd quantify "slight" to be about 4 points.  See my chart below.  With 3 of 9 accounts with reported balances (33%) I saw a 4 point ding on EQ, but nothing on EX/TU. 

The bottom line is that with 3 total accounts, in order to maximize your scores you'll want just 1 of 3 to have a small balances reported with the other two report $0.