Hi All:
So thanks for all the great advice I am getting on these boards, I'm experimenting with my monthly utilization and what kind of impact it makes on scoring from month to month. So letting my OCD get the best of me, my scores went down again roughly 10 points on all three reports because I paid my cc statement and show $0 on all three reports. So rather than letting one closing balance report, I am going to let 4 report (excludes amex) and see what happens. I normally only charge up to 5-10%% of my credit limits on my cards. But this month I have two cards that will report 15-20% (needed to meet the bonus spend). So out of curiousity, has anyone experienced a score drop as a result of reporting 15-20% utilization on one or two cards? My overall that will report will be less than 1%. My score has flucuated around 10 points when I report a balance and when I pay it off.
I know I shoudn't get wigged out over this stuff, but it would be nice to get to that sweet spot and not see these kind of changes.
Thanks again for all the great advice!! 
@irunfromcredit wrote:Hi All:
So thanks for all the great advice I am getting on these boards, I'm experimenting with my monthly utilization and what kind of impact it makes on scoring from month to month. So letting my OCD get the best of me, my scores went down again roughly 10 points on all three reports because I paid my cc statement and show $0 on all three reports. So rather than letting one closing balance report, I am going to let 4 report (excludes amex) and see what happens. I normally only charge up to 5-10%% of my credit limits on my cards. But this month I have two cards that will report 15-20% (needed to meet the bonus spend). So out of curiousity, has anyone experienced a score drop as a result of reporting 15-20% utilization on one or two cards? My overall that will report will be less than 1%. My score has flucuated around 10 points when I report a balance and when I pay it off.
I know I shoudn't get wigged out over this stuff, but it would be nice to get to that sweet spot and not see these kind of changes.
Thanks again for all the great advice!!
If you want to optimize your score you should let one card report a small balance of 9% or less and the others a zero balance.
If you don't want to see "changes" then don't go chasing bonus spends and changing your reported balances.
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@irunfromcredit wrote:Hi All:
So thanks for all the great advice I am getting on these boards, I'm experimenting with my monthly utilization and what kind of impact it makes on scoring from month to month. So letting my OCD get the best of me, my scores went down again roughly 10 points on all three reports because I paid my cc statement and show $0 on all three reports. So rather than letting one closing balance report, I am going to let 4 report (excludes amex) and see what happens. I normally only charge up to 5-10%% of my credit limits on my cards. But this month I have two cards that will report 15-20% (needed to meet the bonus spend). So out of curiousity, has anyone experienced a score drop as a result of reporting 15-20% utilization on one or two cards? My overall that will report will be less than 1%. My score has flucuated around 10 points when I report a balance and when I pay it off.
I know I shoudn't get wigged out over this stuff, but it would be nice to get to that sweet spot and not see these kind of changes.
Thanks again for all the great advice!!
If you want to optimize your score you should let one card report a small balance of 9% or less and the others a zero balance.
If you don't want to see "changes" then don't go chasing bonus spends and changing your reported balances.
Touché! And so true. I have no more bonuses to chase.
I think where I mess up is I do only let one card report ~9% uti, but it also reports $0 mid cycle once I pay it off. So for 15 days I show $0 on my reports and my score drops. When the statement closes the following month my score goes up again. Not sure if that makes sense....
@irunfromcredit wrote:
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@irunfromcredit wrote:Hi All:
So thanks for all the great advice I am getting on these boards, I'm experimenting with my monthly utilization and what kind of impact it makes on scoring from month to month. So letting my OCD get the best of me, my scores went down again roughly 10 points on all three reports because I paid my cc statement and show $0 on all three reports. So rather than letting one closing balance report, I am going to let 4 report (excludes amex) and see what happens. I normally only charge up to 5-10%% of my credit limits on my cards. But this month I have two cards that will report 15-20% (needed to meet the bonus spend). So out of curiousity, has anyone experienced a score drop as a result of reporting 15-20% utilization on one or two cards? My overall that will report will be less than 1%. My score has flucuated around 10 points when I report a balance and when I pay it off.
I know I shoudn't get wigged out over this stuff, but it would be nice to get to that sweet spot and not see these kind of changes.
Thanks again for all the great advice!!
If you want to optimize your score you should let one card report a small balance of 9% or less and the others a zero balance.
If you don't want to see "changes" then don't go chasing bonus spends and changing your reported balances.
Touché! And so true. I have no more bonuses to chase.
I think where I mess up is I do only let one card report ~9% uti, but it also reports $0 mid cycle once I pay it off. So for 15 days I show $0 on my reports and my score drops. When the statement closes the following month my score goes up again. Not sure if that makes sense....
The solution to that is simple too... use that card as one of your zero balance cards. Let the small balance subsist on one of the other cards.
That would mess with it a bit when it hits zero mid month.
