Negative Comment: Heavy Useage at 3%?

Anonymous · ‎07-07-2009

Anyone ever had MyFICO tell you what's hurting you is "heavy use" of revolving credit at 3%? My reported balances is $2120 with available reporting CL's of over $80k.

You've made heavy use of your available revolving credit.

Ratio of your revolving balances to your credit limits
3%For FICO High Achievers [?], this ratio is 7%, on average.

Your FICO score evaluates your total revolving credit [?] balances in relation to your total credit limits on those accounts. In your case, this ratio of balances to credit limits is too high.
Keep this in mind: This credit usage ratio is one of the most important factors to your FICO score, so you should work on paying down your balances. Your FICO score looks at the ratio of revolving debt, but not in which accounts the debt resides. Therefore, consolidating or moving your debt from one account to another will usually not help your FICO score since the same total amount is owed.

cobaltnv · ‎07-07-2009

txjohn,

I assume this is from your TU report? I received the same negative April 2008 when my % utilization was at 5%. When I lowered my % utilization back down to 1% the comment went away and has not been seen since. I did also have an erroneous 30 late on my report at that time which was removed prior to my next pull (August 2008). Due to the 30 day late and the 5% utilization my TU score was 715 in April 2008. After a phone call and removal of the incorrectly charged late and lowering my % utilization to 1% my TU was back to 789.

It is not clear to me what prompted the 5% utilization being a negative comment as I have never let my % util get above 1% since and I never pay late.

Sorry I do not have more information for you.

Cheers

TU 810: EQ 813: EX 814 (9/16/09--Loan officer pull)

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Anonymous · ‎07-07-2009

I had the same issue. Anything more than 1% UTIL hurts my score.

Anonymous · ‎07-07-2009

@cobaltnv wrote:
txjohn,
I assume this is from your TU report? I received the same negative April 2008 when my % utilization was at 5%. When I lowered my % utilization back down to 1% the comment went away and has not been seen since. I did also have an erroneous 30 late on my report at that time which was removed prior to my next pull (August 2008). Due to the 30 day late and the 5% utilization my TU score was 715 in April 2008. After a phone call and removal of the incorrectly charged late and lowering my % utilization to 1% my TU was back to 789.

It is not clear to me what prompted the 5% utilization being a negative comment as I have never let my % util get above 1% since and I never pay late.

Sorry I do not have more information for you.
Cheers

Yes, it is TU. My current TU FICO (this morning) is 772 with the 3% utilization and this negative comment (the only neg comment - which is funny, it doesn't complain about recent new accounts or inqs). I have no derogs/lates and haven't had this comment applied unless above 7% in the past.

I guess for me it must be the combination of recent new accounts, 2 reporting CC balances (1600 on Discover and 443 on NFCU) and inqs (2 in past 2 years) that FICO wants me to keep ultra low balances/utilization.

I'll try paying off one balance to see if that tips it back.

One other TU paculiarity is that about 2 weeks ago an inquiry dropped prematurely. Then today I notice another dropped. I had 4, now only showing 2. Strange behavior over there at TU. They have always been the most trouble for me.

Message Edited by txjohn on 07-07-2009 10:30 AM

smallfry · ‎07-07-2009

3%? Just pay attention to the scores. That's crazy.

Anonymous · ‎07-08-2009

@smallfry wrote:
3%? Just pay attention to the scores. That's crazy.

I think I have figured out why the neg comment at 3%. One card, Discover, reported on an odd date. So it is showing almost $1700 balance on $2000 limit. I'm thinking that this card being high utilization/ near maxed is the culprit.

smallfry · ‎07-08-2009

@Anonymous wrote:
@smallfry wrote:
3%? Just pay attention to the scores. That's crazy.

I think I have figured out why the neg comment at 3%. One card, Discover, reported on an odd date. So it is showing almost $1700 balance on $2000 limit. I'm thinking that this card being high utilization/ near maxed is the culprit.

Probably it.

haulingthescoreup · ‎07-10-2009

It is also because your score is getting high enough that it's running out of things to complain about. Since you're over 760, you only get one negative comment on myFICO reports, and the util is slightly more influential on your scores than are the new accounts and inqs, so that's why that one winds up as a comment. Plus Discover's hiccup, probably.

* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007

FocusOnFICO · ‎07-10-2009

Hauling----thanks---that explains some of the cryptic comments I've recieved on a 791 TU and 783 EQ. Makes sense now---thanks.

Starting Score: TU 766 EQ 788
Current Score: TU 788 EQ 811
Goal Score: TU 800 EQ 800

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Anonymous · ‎07-11-2009

@haulingthescoreup wrote:
It is also because your score is getting high enough that it's running out of things to complain about. Since you're over 760, you only get one negative comment on myFICO reports, and the util is slightly more influential on your scores than are the new accounts and inqs, so that's why that one winds up as a comment. Plus Discover's hiccup, probably.

FICO has been generally very "forgiving" as my scores got higher. At 800 plus inquiries had virtually no affect. New accounts only had an effect 1 time, meaning that even with 6 new accounts it only ever talked about "newest account is 0 years old."

And recovery of FICO seems much quicker.