Individual vs Aggragate Revolving Card Utilization

[surferchris]

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@Thomas_Thumb wrote:

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@Revelate wrote:

Just from personal data, I ran a card up higher than 90% and I got a 7 point drop on EQ FICO 8, have to go look to see if I got a good Beacon 5.0 datapoint.  I know that when I maxxed a tradeline and was above 10% but below 30% (13 and 27% respectively aggregate) I lost 14 points each time when I was at a 660 Beacon 5.  Presumably a clean file would take a bigger penalty.

I didn't see a breakpoint at 70% but I never really tested it stringently... actually planning to do that once we get to October and Freedom no longer is 5X for restaurants and I get to play with the $200 CL on my itty bitty Discover secured.

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Revelate, if I recall correctly, you previously mentioning having some over 70% card UT without adverse affect. I suspect that may be true for quite a number of profiles

As mentioned in a couple older threads, I had a couple "high utilization" statement balance data points for a Best Buy credit card and saw no reduction in Fico 08 score. The specifics were:

1) Balance of $2101 on a $4000 CL card (52.5% card UT) with Ag UT under the recommended 9%

2) Balance of $0 - with Ag UT under 9%

3) Balance of $3011 on a $4000 CL card (75.3% card UT) with Ag UT under the recommended 9%

4) Balance of $0 - with Ag UT under 9%

Classic Fico 08 stayed the same (at 850) for all the above consecutive monthly pulls. (from Discover card)

However, I have a score buffer with Classic Fico 08 so what I experienced is not necessarily representative. Main point is enough posters have stated seeing score increases/decreases crossing 70% and 50% that they merit inclusion as a broad based generalization. I am not not sure there are single card threshold below 50% - unless you only have one card. Nonetheless, I advise staying under 30% because that is generally recognized as a threshold for "responsible credit management"..

Side note:The month my BB card reported a statement balnce of $3011, I reachd a mid cycle balance of $3202. It was/is this higher number that reports as high balance on my credit reports. At one time I thought HB had to be based off statement balances but, I proved myself wrong [at least for my BB card that is managed by CBNA]

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Thanks for the good information.

[echoecho]

Post app spree data point. After the cc cut and the two new cc reported to cra, eq which had most of the inq came back up just below pre refi scores. Tu never came down and gained 10 points and ex gained 8 points. Hope this help, ymmv.

[Anonymous]

So here's an update on what I did based on all the input from your responses and my own understanding of credit factors.

dropped myself as an authorize user on my wife's credit card (2 with cobined limit of 10,650) both being over 30% utilized. Subsequently my score dropped 21 points even though my utilization dropped from 44% to 32% and my average age of credit history went up by 1 month. The only thing I could think of that could have hurt me was the loss in positive payment history but it didn't seem like it would be enough overall to cause that much a drop. Next day my score went back up 16 points. Decided I should add those cards back and I also added an additional card as an AU with 4100 limit and no balance thinking it would help my utilization as well. The two original I dropped haven't reapplied to my credit report yet but the new one for $4100 did and it also dropped my credit back down 8 points. Overall I'm down 13 points from where I started and all I did was lower my utilization and increase my length of credit, admittedly at the expense of some positive payment history. I really don't understand how this happened. What caused my score to drop? it makes no sense to me. I feel like I've been lied to and now I'm set back. Can anyone tell me something I missed?

[echoecho]

I think time is the factor not counted on this trials. After my closing and post refi apps I saw the hit on all three cra. As I paid off the highest uti cc and the two new cc and mortgage reported, eq with most inq recovered pre refi, tu was never affected and now 17 points higher post refi/app spree and ex 11 points higher. I have no derog and decent size file.

[Thomas_Thumb]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So here's an update on what I did based on all the input from your responses and my own understanding of credit factors.

dropped myself as an authorize user on my wife's credit card (2 with cobined limit of 10,650) both being over 30% utilized. Subsequently my score dropped 21 points even though my utilization dropped from 44% to 32% and my average age of credit history went up by 1 month. The only thing I could think of that could have hurt me was the loss in positive payment history but it didn't seem like it would be enough overall to cause that much a drop. Next day my score went back up 16 points. Decided I should add those cards back and I also added an additional card as an AU with 4100 limit and no balance thinking it would help my utilization as well. The two original I dropped haven't reapplied to my credit report yet but the new one for $4100 did and it also dropped my credit back down 8 points. Overall I'm down 13 points from where I started and all I did was lower my utilization and increase my length of credit, admittedly at the expense of some positive payment history. I really don't understand how this happened. What caused my score to drop? it makes no sense to me. I feel like I've been lied to and now I'm set back. Can anyone tell me something I missed?

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I believe changes/instability in account status can negatively impact scores on a short term basis. Not advisable to react to daily fluctuations. I generally recommend monitoring impact over 60 days before determining follow-up actions.

The # (and/or %) of cards reporting a balance and individual card utilizations are scoring factors so look at that as well as aggregate utilization.

You need to sit back and allow things to settle down. I'd suggest focusing on getting aggregate utilization to under 30% as a starting point and all individual card utilizations under 50% - including the now "reinstated" AU cards which have yet to show back up.

[echoecho]

^^^ a more precise description of my OP. 👍