Thanks for the data!
You established that your overall UTI did not change. The number of accounts open did not change.
Did you have any of the following:
Any Inquiries Under 12 months old?
Any Inquiries under 6 months old?
Any late payments under 24 months old?
Any seriously late payments of any age?
Do you know the age of your oldest account?
Do you know the AAoA?
@Thomas_Thumb wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Sharing a few data points that I hope will help someone. I have 21 cards, primarily Visas, Amex, Discover and Mastercards (only have 2 store cards and am getting rid of those at the end of this year as I continue to trim down the excess!)
Out of the 21 cards, for a prior month I carried fairly small balances on 6 or 7 of the cards. Several of the cards are on 0% offers so I'm not going to PIF those at this time.
Recently I made several balance transfers as a consolidation move, because I had two opportunities that involved no fee to do so. I was able to trim the number of cards with balances down to 4 cards. During this past month I did not make payments amounting to any higher in total than I normally do. No other changes in the credit report during that month.
Another data point - my overall utilization is 7% and the overall utilization did not change. Individual utilization went up slightly on 2 cards that the balances were moved to.
My EX score increased 17 points once my reports reflected the change in number of cards with balances. Each individual situation may be different, and you can see that the number of cards with balances was not excessive compared to the total number of cards I have. They were small balances spread over more cards.
It just illustrates that having fewer cards with balances (or as few as you possibly can, we all have different situations) is a definite positive, provided that you don't do anything crazy with utilization by moving balances to achieve this. I expected an increase but not that much of increase. Hope this helps someone.
Thanks for the data point.
It looks like going from 7 cards (33%) to 4 cards (19%) reporting a balance gained you 17 points with Fico 08. Data I have seen, including yours, suggests the # cards factor may account for 20 points in Fico 08. The ding for zero cards reporting a balance (20 to 30 points) related but separate. For example:
1) Zero cards reporting => -20 to -30 points
2) One card (possibly up to 4 depending on profile) reporting => 0 points deduct
3) 100% of cards (assuming profile has more than 2 cards) reporting => -10 to -20 points
Ask lg8302ch, she had $1 report on all 8 of her cards and a stupid amount, well more than -20.
Haven't seen any data that's contradicted 25% and 50% being breakpoints, not enough data for someone landing spot on one.
@Thomas_Thumb wrote:
@Imperfectfuture wrote:
If have ten or more accounts on report, three or less cards is the optimal (according to Fico as well). Mine jumped when paid down loan to less than 9%, and consolidated onto three cards. In addition, the utilization went up to almost 30% on the one card. Overall dropped to 4% (I think). Jumped to 800 and over 780. If have five accounts or fewer, think optimal is one card reporting. Between five and 10, two cards reporting. Oldest account should be more than five years.
FYI - See link to Oilcan post below. Take a look at others upthread as well. He can allow at least 4 cards (11%) to report without any change in Fico 08 Classic or Bankcard enhanced score. He has 36 cards. [ I recall reading about 3 cards or less reporting for high achievers as well. No mention of %, strictly count. However, it was a simple statement and it would be an extrapolation to conclude % is not considered]
http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/General-Credit-Topics/My-First-850-on-Transunion/m-p/4466089#M224439
I have 6 cards and my EQ Fico 08 Bankcard score peaked at 886 with 2 cards reporting (33%) last November [standard is 3 to 5 reporting]. TU Fico 08 Bankcard stays at 900 with 2 or 3 cards (33% or 50%) reporting but drops when more than 3 report.
You have done some excellent analyses and hard work on this, Tom Thumb. Thank you for sharing some fantastic information!
It does seem even when you have a fair number of cards, that they like to see very few with baalnces (you mentioned 3). At one point previously when I had 5 cards out of 21 reporting balances (and they were small balances at that time), I did notice on my Citi EQ score/ report that "number of cards with balances" was a concern mentioned. Never thought that 5 out of 21 would be an excessive number of cards with balances, especially when the balances are small, but then again, FICO is sensitive and fickle.
Eventually I hope to consolidate, trim down to 15 or 16 cards, and have no more than 2 reporting balances at any given time. I know that having just one reporting a balance is ideal, but may not be completely realistic for me. 
@Anonymous wrote:
Another data point - my overall utilization is 7% and the overall utilization did not change. Individual utilization went up slightly on 2 cards that the balances were moved to.
My EX score increased 17 points once my reports reflected the change in number of cards with balances. Each individual situation may be different, and you can see that the number of cards with balances was not excessive compared to the total number of cards I have. They were small balances spread over more cards.
Thanks for the data.
What is the list of cards involved before and after... are they the same cards, any cards added to become part of the new 4, or was it a starting list and cards just dropped to zero off the list.
What is the calculated utilization (CL and open balance at the two months statements) on each of the cards individually including the slight increase in util on the two cards. Other cards would have gone down in utilization?
Oh, and what is the year / month each card was opened, for those opened in the last two years?
