Effects of High Utilization

[degs138]

I had a lot of bills this tax month and I am going to carry a balance for the first time ever.  It's on a 0% APR card which is the only reason I'm carring a balance.  Keeping the cash I could pay it off in a 3.25% APY account.

My utilization was always 4-8% each month.  For this month my statements cut and I had 35% utilization.  The following happened to my scores

FICO TU reported by Barclay 696 dropped to a 674

FAKO TU by Credit Karma 684 droped to a 635

I'm going to pay all my cards off at the end of this billing cycle except for my 0 APR card.  I will pay that off the following month.  I'll repost my scores as they change.

[Anonymous]

For many years I had high utilization, very low credit lines and ran 80-90% of my CL's per month through cards. I did not worry about when I paid, although I PIF, I would pay before the due date and not watch when they reported. After learning more about how credit works this last December I decided I would work my cards and get to a low reported balance as I was interested in refinancing my car and boat. My scores sat around 650-680 for many years, by the end of January I had all of my cards reporting 1% or less Util and my scores went to 760-780. I did the refinances and decided I needed new credit card limits, now I have enough line that I can once again not worry about when I pay, but my Util stays below 10%. My scores are staying in the mid to high 700's now, even with several new accounts and HP's.

[ddemari]

My utilization was recently at 12%. I have one cc that was reporting a 51% balance (slate bt card)

I made a payment and got the card down to 38% utilzation. My fico score debt ingredient went from good to very good. No score change though ;(

[zerbherb]

no clis. and fico hates you. this is me right now.

[Anonymous]

yup, happened to me too. i usually pay my cards every friday to keep a low util but i was traveling on business for over a week and i didn't make payments for 2 weeks. my reported util on my CO QS went from about 4-5% to 31% and my scores dropped by an average of 17 points across the board. i've since asked for and recieved some CLIs to prevent this in the future but that was bitter pill nonetheless. 

[Anonymous]

My overall is around 3-5%, but my DC has risen to 50% utilization. I've noticed it hit of about 7 points because of the change from 35% to 55% for the DC. 

[Dw4250]

UTL definitely has an impact on scores. Other than baddies and late payments, it's the biggest factor in determining your fico. It's always interesting to see how scores move up and down.

However many people on this blog may WAY too big a deal out of month to month score changes. The truth is most people have at least a small balance. Personally I wouldn't sweat it unless you are applying for something major over the next month OR UTL gets so high as to create concern on the part of your CCC (or more importantly you become a slave to CC interest payments). Life is way too short and interesting to stress over small variations in scores!

Sounds like you have everything under control ;-). Let us know how quickly your score bounces back.

[zerbherb]

discover is so annoying raise my ^%$%^ limit so 166$ is not a big deal. so tired of them. i think amex will become my go to card. transunion dropped to 709.

[degs138]

Thanks Herb,

 I just started this thread as a way to share some stories of using 0%APR cards.  I don't much care about my score right now because I'm just waiting for my student loan rehab to finish.  I was in the 700s for a while until I decided to fix my student loan.  As soon as i had new activity on my student loan my scores all dropped significantly.  This is the first time I will ever carry a balance.  I am hoping that Chase will give me a CLI for carring the balance, some people have told me they will.....

I figure when I pay it off in July and my utlilzation is back around 4-8% like it always is I will be back to the 690-710 range.  My student loan will rehab in October so I'm hoping rates stay as low as they are though the end of the year.  I've got the down payment ready to go.

One other thing that I might do is transfer $8000 of my car loan onto a 0APY balance transfer card if I get a good offer.  My loan is at a terrible 8.46% so I could save some money that way.

[RussianPassion]

It has huge impact. I have perfect history with no derog or lates what so ever. 4-5 paid car loans. 2 open autos. 6 credit cards and Amazon account. My util is very high at the moment at about 85%... Scores in the very low 600's... I am tackling the debt right now and I am just antsy in anticipation to see my scores baloon to high 700's maybe even 800s when I get my util to 15%...