@Jensen wrote:By my calculations, I am at 20% utilization on revolving credit, +/- 1-2%. I have a couple of long-term balances that I currently pay the minimum on, and then a couple of cards with monthly spend that are paid in full. However, my three scores reflect utilization consistently at either 32% or 33% - which is summarized as "Fair." Not sure if this would rise to "Good" if they correctly reflected 20% utilization, but it is a bit of a frustration. Is there an accepted margin or error (although a difference of 12 or 13 % points seems unreasonable to me)? Is it worth contacting the bureaus to get this looked at? Thanks.
1. Utilization is based on the statement balance. So if you make payments before statement cut date you will see a reduction in utilization percentage.
2. If you can get your overall utilization below 30% that will help.
3. If you can get most of your cards reporting a zero balance that will help.
4. If you can get to a point where no card reports a balance greater than 29% that will help.
No there's no reason to contact any bureaus.
@Jensen wrote:Thanks for the replies. Some solid information and suggestions. However, aged balances (which slowly reduce as I make payments) and monthly spend combined still only currently equal around 20% utilization. So, not sure I quite understand the disconnect. Thanks again!
From what source are you getting the information that your utilization is 32-33% and that this is "fair"?
If your total of reported balances is 20% of your credit lines your utilization is 20%
It's not the bureaus, it's FICO's presentation of the dataset.
Without your providing the data for all the balances we can't even spot check your math, but ultimately whatever the presentation says has absolutely no bearing on your score: the score and the reason codes are the ball game on that count.
@Jensen wrote:
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@Jensen wrote:Thanks for the replies. Some solid information and suggestions. However, aged balances (which slowly reduce as I make payments) and monthly spend combined still only currently equal around 20% utilization. So, not sure I quite understand the disconnect. Thanks again!
From what source are you getting the information that your utilization is 32-33% and that this is "fair"?
If your total of reported balances is 20% of your credit lines your utilization is 20%
From FICO. I subscribe to 3-Bureau Monitoring and have done so for three years.
I click on a bureau score in the dashboard, and it is under "Score 8 Ingredients." I have "Exceptional" and "Very Good" for 4 of the 5 categories, and "Fair" for Amount of Debt - under which it says (using Equifax as an example) :"You're utilizing 32% of your available credit." Same for the other two bureau +/- 1% point.
After you open up "amount of debt", where it says "Total Balance on Revolving Accounts" is it giving the right number or the wrong number?
@Anonymous wrote:That information on those screens only updates when you pull a new report. It should say the date "As of..." which will be the date if your last report. Only the FICO 8 score in your dashboard will update as changes are actually reported.
For example, my Amount of Debt screen says "As of Aug 16, 2016" (when my last report was pulled). However I have had changes and score updates as of Sept 6 on the dashboard.
+1
Good point