Does # of cards w bal affect score?

[cr101]

I have 10 cards. 3 are reporting balances and I plan to keep these 3 balances for a while bc of 0%. Will I hurt my score if I report a balance on 1 additional card, bringing the total to 4 cards reporting a balance?

Here's a good example. Let's say that all of my 10 CL are $1000 each.

Month 1, I let 3 cards report a bal of $80 each. Total util would be 2.4%

Month 2, the only other change is that I let 4 cards report a bal of $60 each. Total util is still 2.4%

In this example, the only thing that changed is lower util on 3 cards that were originally at $80, and the additional card now reporting a balance.

[AllZero]

For reference From AZ --> AZEO --> 100% w/balances data

[SouthJamaica]

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@cr101 wrote:

I have 10 cards. 3 are reporting balances and I plan to keep these 3 balances for a while bc of 0%. Will I hurt my score if I report a balance on 1 additional card, bringing the total to 4 cards reporting a balance?

Here's a good example. Let's say that all of my 10 CL are $1000 each.

Month 1, I let 3 cards report a bal of $80 each. Total util would be 2.4%

Month 2, the only other change is that I let 4 cards report a bal of $60 each. Total util is still 2.4%

In this example, the only thing that changed is lower util on 3 cards that were originally at $80, and the additional card now reporting a balance.

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1. To answer the question in your headline, yes, the number of cards with a balance does affect the mortgage scores.

2. I don't know the answer to your 2nd question, whether going from 3/10 to 4/10 would move your scores.

[Anonymous]

Yes it would most likely result in a small penalty, but it’s so small it’s insignificant most likely.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Yes it would most likely result in a small penalty, but it’s so small it’s insignificant most likely.

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In my profile I had the experience of EX FICO 2 swinging up and down by 11 points each time I toggled between 12 accounts with balance and 13 accounts with balance. If I'm not mistaken it might have had to do with crossing a 40% threshold. I don't know if I ever pinned it down, but whatever it was, it wasn't insignificant.

[Anonymous]

TBH, The number of points gained or lost is going to be scorecard and profile dependent.

I have found a lower thresholds give more than the 33% or 40% threshold. For us really to give an educated guess you would need to give us your profile specifics.

Edit: higher risk profiles will lose and gain more where lower risk profiles will lose and gain less.

2d Edit and correction of 1st edit: additionally, it will have a bigger effect on the mortgage scores as SJ said, whereas on fico 8 it will probably cause a small penalty which is what I was referring to in my earlier post.

I mistakenly said gain more when I meant gain less referring to lower risk profiles in my first edit. It has been corrected.

[cr101]

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@AllZero wrote:
For reference From AZ --> AZEO --> 100% w/balances data

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I inadvertently tested this. My EXP score stayed the same. I went from 3/10 reporting a bal to 4/10 reporting a bal. The overall util only increased by $9. But, that pretty much answers my q about shifting overall bal between cards.

[AllZero]

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@cr101 wrote:

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@AllZero wrote:
For reference From AZ --> AZEO --> 100% w/balances data

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I inadvertently tested this. My EXP score stayed the same. I went from 3/10 reporting a bal to 4/10 reporting a bal. The overall util only increased by $9. But, that pretty much answers my q about shifting overall bal between cards.

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@cr101   I'm guessing that was for EX8. Did you notice a change for EX2?

[Anonymous]

Do you wanna hear something funny? It appears the ratio may include closed revolvers/accounts. At least on version 2. There’s a recent thread from @Trudy where this was the only explanation for a point loss when an account dropped off. This is the first I’ve heard of this and I don’t know if it can be called a fact yet and I definitely don’t know if it applies outside of version 2, but I’ll see if I can grab the link.

[Anonymous]

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/AAoA-from-11-yrs-11-mo-to-11-yrs-8-mo-re...