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FICO 9 Problem: Too many cards with balance message even if you put off the debt monthly

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Anonymous
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FICO 9 Problem: Too many cards with balance message even if you put off the debt monthly

So I have been getting this message with FICO 9.. too many accounts with balance despite paying off cards every month.  Now I am wondering if I should follow the AZEO method because my score seems stuck at 665 with four cards and two student loans and on-time payments.  The negative score factor specifically stated the having too many accounts with  balances can hurt my score despite paying it off every month. Is this new for FICO 9? Anyone have any knowledge or experience with this or suggestions to improve credit score?

 

KnightTrader 

7 REPLIES 7
Ficoproblems247
Valued Contributor

Re: FICO 9 Problem: Too many cards with balance message even if you put off the debt monthly

Are you letting all of your cards close with a balance on the statement close date, then paying them off after that?





FICO 8 Sep '23 EX 755 EQ 765 TU 739
TCL $199,800
Message 2 of 8
Anonymous
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Re: FICO 9 Problem: Too many cards with balance message even if you put off the debt monthly

Too many accounts with a balance as a negative reason code can be visible with anything greater than 1 account with a balance depending on profile.  I've seen it on some scoring models with just 2 accounts (1 loan, 1 revolver) with a reported balance. 

 

OP, how many total open accounts do you have on your CR and how many of them have a reported balance greater than $0?

Message 3 of 8
Anonymous
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Re: FICO 9 Problem: Too many cards with balance message even if you put off the debt monthly

@Ficoproblems247 I was paying my cards off before due date and the balance reported was zero (no additional charges before statement cycle closed) and I still get this message about balances.  Just curious about the message.  

 

 

Message 4 of 8
Anonymous
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Re: FICO 9 Problem: Too many cards with balance message even if you put off the debt monthly

@Anonymous I had four cards and zero balance reporting on all and the same message.  Two student loans.  

 

I am trying this month .... to have one card show a balance at total 2% utilization across all cards and no activity on other cards....and see what happens with the score. Just a weird scoring issue. Wonder if anyone else has this occur.

Message 5 of 8
Anonymous
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Re: FICO 9 Problem: Too many cards with balance message even if you put off the debt monthly

Two student loans by default means 2 accounts with a balance right there... that number is greater than 1 which means that negative reason statement can be displayed.  I wouldn't sweat it though.  All a negative reason statement means is that it's adversely impacting your Fico score at least 1 point.  This could mean you're looking at a couple of points here honestly, so nothing to really stress over.

Message 6 of 8
Anonymous
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Re: FICO 9 Problem: Too many cards with balance message even if you put off the debt monthly

@Anonymous  Thanks for the input.  It makes sense. 

Message 7 of 8
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: FICO 9 Problem: Too many cards with balance message even if you put off the debt monthly

@Anonymous yes this metric seems more influential on version 9 than it is on version 8.


Additionally look at what number reason code it is. The number 1 reason code is affecting your score of the most while the number 4 is affecting it the least. So if nothing else, you can tell relatively how many points it's taking in comparison to other metrics. Profile depending sometimes it can take more than a couple points. 

and at 2 of 6 accounts that's 33% of accounts with a balance. 

Message 8 of 8
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