Is there a cap on net credit limits for utilization purposes??

[haulingthescoreup]

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Revike wrote:

Perhaps there are two different cutoffs for CCs and HELOCs? All I know is that my 56K CL HELOC is counted as a revolving account on both EX and EQ and factored into the reported utilization, and the 31K and 35K CCs are reported identically on all three credit reports, with no indication from the TU Fico score that TU's formula is ignoring that combined 66K CL....

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*tears up another set of notes on things I thought I knew*

Really, this will just make you nuts. I know my $50K HELOC is not factored, and I've seen so many posts indicating that $30K or $40K is the magic number for CC's as well. Just when you think that you've figured something out...

So it's listed as revolving (which of course, it is), and you can tell from varying utils on your reports that the $56K is included in the denominator when your util is calculated?

[smallfry]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Perhaps there are two different cutoffs for CCs and HELOCs? All I know is that my 56K CL HELOC is counted as a revolving account on both EX and EQ and factored into the reported utilization, and the 31K and 35K CCs are reported identically on all three credit reports, with no indication from the TU Fico score that TU's formula is ignoring that combined 66K CL.

I'm going to pull EQ and TU Fico scores in a couple of days, and I'll try to dig up some old reports and scores to see if I can find any more clues. Maybe I've missed something ...

Smallfry, where were you seeing the indications that 30K is the TU cutoff?

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I allowed my NFCU 40K to report. It was the only CC reporting on that TU FICO report. TU dinged me for 11 points for no revolving lines reporting. I chopped my credit limit down to 29K on the NFCU card repeated the same action and the card was picked up as being used by TU. Some others have reported the same.

[smallfry]

The Dollars reported on Credit at a Glance but I was dinged for no usage. Makes sense? No of course not but hey it's FICO.

Message Edited by smallfry on 03-29-2009 08:16 PM

[Anonymous]

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@smallfry wrote:
The Dollars reported on Credit at a Glance but I was dinged for no usage. Makes sense? No of course not but hey it's FICO.

Message Edited by smallfry on 03-29-2009 08:16 PM

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No, that makes sense.

Based on your NFCU test, is there any reason TU's maximum CL couldn't be $35,000 or $39,999? Either of those cutoff amounts would fit your NFCU examples as well as my 31K and 35K accounts ... 

[Anonymous]

If I'm following this thread correctly, someone with $120,000 in total credit limits would be much better off( in terms of utilization calculation) by having 4 cards with limits of $30,000 each vs 2 cards with limits of $60,000 each. Right?

[smallfry]

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@Anonymous wrote:
If I'm following this thread correctly, someone with $120,000 in total credit limits would be much better off( in terms of utilization calculation) by having 4 cards with limits of $30,000 each vs 2 cards with limits of $60,000 each. Right?

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I think they would and better yet if it were spread among 4 different banks.

Message Edited by smallfry on 03-30-2009 06:00 AM

[hdporter]

Some additional data points: 

$17K bal on $50K card.  Ignored by TU/EQ in Utilization stat.

$12K bal on $36K card.  Ignored by TU; Factored by EQ in Utilization stat.

 "Raw" utilization = 11%.  EQ myFICO reports as 7%.  TU myFICO reports as 2%.

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 Re HELOC (DW report):

Apply in 2003 for HELOC line increase.  Reporting $24K bal against $50K line. 63 pt difference between lender FICO and myFICO.  (DW app:  666 vs 729).  Apply again in 2004.  HELOC bal $25K.  Lender 724 vs myFICO 716.  

Merely inference, but on first round it would seem that the lender FICO score factored the HELOC balance as a revolving account; treated it as a mortgage account the 2nd time around.