Score improvement with utilization drop... looking for score estimates.

[tcbofade]

Howdy, howdy boys and girls.

I will KNOW the answer in 30 days or so, just asking those who might know better than I what I can expect.

DW has scores in the 660s and 670s (Fico 8) as of today...  Aggregate utilization in the high 50's, nearly 60%.  Some cards paid to zero, some cards reporting over 70%.  (Tennish...maybe a dozen)

I'm spending January and February using some 0/0 BT's (thank you NFCU) moving SOME portion of her balances to MY zero percent offer.

When the dust settles (05 March or so) she'll be under 49% aggregate with no cards reporting above 69%.

I'm hoping for a significant score boost for her. 

Any ideas how much of a boost she might see?

[atarvuzdar]

Number of accounts @ $0 will certainly factor into the final scores. Here's changes which I saw last October/November 2017 when I paid down my balances from >47% to <1%. # of cards @ $0 is also reflected. I don't think your DW's changes will be anywhere near this dramatic since she's just going to <49% but hopefully this gives you some info. My reports are clean, no derogs.

Date	Equifax	TransUnion	Experian	# of Accounts @ $0	Overall Balance	Utilization
10/18/2017	689	688	687	2 of 12	$39,866.35	47.54%
10/26/2017	692	691	687	3 of 12	$37,895.26	45.19%
10/27/2017	696	699	687	4 of 12	$37,001.29	44.13%
11/2/2017	705	701	701	4 of 12	$32,219.57	38.43%
11/5/2017	705	701	701	4 of 12	$32,219.57	38.43%
11/9/2017	719	730	731	5 of 12	$27,565.36	32.87%
11/10/2017	737	730	731	5 of 12	$20,220.29	24.11%
11/11/2017	737	730	731	5 of 12	$18,612.89	21.43%
11/12/2017	749	743	756	7 of 12	$14,967.15	17.23%
11/13/2017	762	773	756	8 of 12	$10,077.05	11.60%
11/18/2017	784	791	785	8 of 12	$145.49	0.17%

[SouthJamaica]

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wrote:

Howdy, howdy boys and girls.

I will KNOW the answer in 30 days or so, just asking those who might know better than I what I can expect.

DW has scores in the 660s and 670s (Fico 8) as of today...  Aggregate utilization in the high 50's, nearly 60%.  Some cards paid to zero, some cards reporting over 70%.  (Tennish...maybe a dozen)

I'm spending January and February using some 0/0 BT's (thank you NFCU) moving SOME portion of her balances to MY zero percent offer.

When the dust settles (05 March or so) she'll be under 49% aggregate with no cards reporting above 69%.

I'm hoping for a significant score boost for her. 

Any ideas how much of a boost she might see?

---

If I'm reading this right, and she has 10 to 12 cards reporting at > 70%, and your balance transfers will move all of those to below  69%, with only a few even that high.... I think she'll see a big pop in her FICO 8 scores.

But on different profiles the impact of such a blessing could have differing effects, depending on variables such as:

1. whether there's a mortgage in her profile, and if so what it says

2. if there are any negatives in her profile

I would say the pop will be from 20 to 40 points.

If she has no mortgage and no negatives, the pop could be even bigger than 40 points.

[tcbofade]

Thanks both.  No derogatories.. she DOES have a mortgage.  A bit over four years old, perfect payment history.  Originally 118k, currently 105k.

Yes, you read that correctly.  As of last Monday, she has six accounts reporting with a zero balance.  Four accounts over zero, but under 48.9%, four accounts between 48.9% and 68.9%, and ten accounts between 69 and 89%.

[SouthJamaica]

---

wrote:

Thanks both.  No derogatories.. she DOES have a mortgage.  A bit over four years old, perfect payment history.  Originally 118k, currently 105k.

Yes, you read that correctly.  As of last Monday, she has six accounts reporting with a zero balance.  Four accounts over zero, but under 48.9%, four accounts between 48.9% and 68.9%, and ten accounts between 69 and 89%.

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OK well the fact that she does have a mortgage and no derogatories shows that she's in a scorecard that doesn't give the biggest 'signal strength' to credit card utilization, but it also shows that she would be assigned to one of the top scorecards. So it seems pretty clear that utilization is what's holding her back from having super scores. So the changes you're making could be like rocket fuel. I would suggest that the next step, after your planned across-the-board assault, would be to take the account with the highest individual utilization, and then whittle that one down to < 49%, and so on. Then on to < 29%.

[atarvuzdar]

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wrote:

---

wrote:

Thanks both.  No derogatories.. she DOES have a mortgage.  A bit over four years old, perfect payment history.  Originally 118k, currently 105k.

Yes, you read that correctly.  As of last Monday, she has six accounts reporting with a zero balance.  Four accounts over zero, but under 48.9%, four accounts between 48.9% and 68.9%, and ten accounts between 69 and 89%.

---

OK well the fact that she does have a mortgage and no derogatories shows that she's in a scorecard that doesn't give the biggest 'signal strength' to credit card utilization, but it also shows that she would be assigned to one of the top scorecards. So it seems pretty clear that utilization is what's holding her back from having super scores. So the changes you're making could be like rocket fuel. I would suggest that the next step, after your planned across-the-board assault, would be to take the account with the highest individual utilization, and then whittle that one down to < 49%, and so on. Then on to < 29%.

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@Absolutely agree. Great plan. Definitely don't stop @ 49%, keep it up! 

[tcbofade]

Thank you both again.  Right now, I can only reach so far. 

I'll be able to get her aggregate under 49% with no accounts reporting above 68.9% by 05 March.

Next up will certainly be to get her aggregate under 29%, but she may have to do that herself.  (Pick up a balance transfer card or two...)

We shall see.