Scoring updates?

[FicoMike0]

@Timbo12 

Who did you pay the ton to? When does the account post? That's when you'll get credit for the reduced utilization. Fico can't give you credit for data that hasn't yet been reported to the bureaus. 

I had an amex card close to 50% last week. What do you think my utilization on that account was and still is? 7%, because that's what it was when the account posted on 02Oct. I paid it off this week, so on 02 Nov, my until will drop to 0%.

[Timbo12]

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@FicoMike0 wrote:

@Timbo12 

Who did you pay the ton to? When does the account post? That's when you'll get credit for the reduced utilization. Fico can't give you credit for data that hasn't yet been reported to the bureaus. 

I had an amex card close to 50% last week. What do you think my utilization on that account was and still is? 7%, because that's what it was when the account posted on 02Oct. I paid it off this week, so on 02 Nov, my until will drop to 0%.

Amex and another Credit Card company last week. It showed up on all the reports. TU and Equifax moved up.......Experian didn't move at all. Just showed a 1 pt drop from an inquiry exactly one month ago.

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[FicoMike0]

If you made large utilization reduction s and they reported, you should see some score improvement. What were your reported utilization s before and after? Did you pay a ton after charging a ton, for little net change?

[Timbo12]

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@FicoMike0 wrote:

If you made large utilization reduction s and they reported, you should see some score improvement. What were your reported utilization s before and after? Did you pay a ton after charging a ton, for little net change?

My totals were there for sometime slowly decreasing and I went all in to get three down so all of my accounts were under 30%. My Amex total was a big one where I took off $900 on a previous total getting it from $1,500 to $600. I'm now at 22% utilization overall. FICO still claims I have a high utilization for some reason.

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[FicoMike0]

High util is relative. Fico is telling you there are more points to be had with further reduction.

If you want the experts here to help, you should start a new thread and give a complete data dump.  

[JoeRockhead]

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@Timbo12 wrote:

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@FicoMike0 wrote:

If you made large utilization reduction s and they reported, you should see some score improvement. What were your reported utilization s before and after? Did you pay a ton after charging a ton, for little net change?

My totals were there for sometime slowly decreasing and I went all in to get three down so all of my accounts were under 30%. My Amex total was a big one where I took off $900 on a previous total getting it from $1,500 to $600. I'm now at 22% utilization overall. FICO still claims I have a high utilization for some reason.

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How many accounts you have reporting a balance also has influence on your scores regardless of low reported utilization. For example, if you have 5 revolving accounts and 3 of them are reporting a balance, it doesn't matter if there's $1 on each of  them, it would still be a penalty because more than 50% of your accounts are reporting a balance.

[Timbo12]

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@JoeRockhead wrote:

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@Timbo12 wrote:

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@FicoMike0 wrote:

If you made large utilization reduction s and they reported, you should see some score improvement. What were your reported utilization s before and after? Did you pay a ton after charging a ton, for little net change?

My totals were there for sometime slowly decreasing and I went all in to get three down so all of my accounts were under 30%. My Amex total was a big one where I took off $900 on a previous total getting it from $1,500 to $600. I'm now at 22% utilization overall. FICO still claims I have a high utilization for some reason.

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How many accounts you have reporting a balance also has influence on your scores regardless of low reported utilization. For example, if you have 5 revolving accounts and 3 of them are reporting a balance, it doesn't matter if there's $1 on each of  them, it would still be a penalty because more than 50% of your accounts are reporting a balance.

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Seriously? The algorithm can't break down the difference between having a zero balance, $1  balance or $1,200 on an account that has a $2,000 limit? The rule always use to be "carry a little debt" on an account.

So should I go back and pay off the accounts that are carrying some balance and dispute them if I'm going for a loan soon??

[Thomas_Thumb]

As you know, Fico looks at all your reported individual account balances and calculates utilization levels for each account. It also calculates your aggregate balance and utilization. Additionally it sums total number of open card accounts and total number of such accounts with balances.

Fico looks at the following scoring factors relative to revolving credit:

1. Aggregate utilization.

2. Highest utilization % on cards that report a balance.

3. Aggregate balance in absolute $

4. Percent and number of card accounts that report a balance.

The first three factors capture different aspects of amount of debt. The fourth purposely looks at qty of accounts showing a balance independent of amount because qty/% is known to correlate with risk.

There is no silly rule to carry some debt on all accounts. Such behavior is considered an increase in risk and score is often penalized depending on qty of accounts involved. If there is only one account, it should report a small balance.

[JoeRockhead]

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@Timbo12 wrote:

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Seriously? The algorithm can't break down the difference between having a zero balance, $1  balance or $1,200 on an account that has a $2,000 limit? The rule always use to be "carry a little debt" on an account.

So should I go back and pay off the accounts that are carrying some balance and dispute them if I'm going for a loan soon??

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 The rule of thumb is to carry a small balance on one, or two cards as long as you have enough cards to avoid the "too many accounts with balances " penalty, which by the way isn't that many, but it's still points if you're trying to maximize points. It's a completely separate scoring metric that ignores dollar amount. It's initiated anytime you have 50% or more of your revolving accounts report a balance.   

If you go back and pay off enough cards to to get under that 50% threshold, those lost points come back the next time those accounts report. Just as if you had high reported utilization, then paid it down to a favorable scoring metric, under 30%, under 9%... as soon as the unfavorable condition is removed and the accounts report, the points go up. 

I'm not sure I understand what you would want to dispute, as there's nothing to dispute.

[Timbo12]

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@JoeRockhead wrote:

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@Timbo12 wrote:

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Seriously? The algorithm can't break down the difference between having a zero balance, $1  balance or $1,200 on an account that has a $2,000 limit? The rule always use to be "carry a little debt" on an account.

So should I go back and pay off the accounts that are carrying some balance and dispute them if I'm going for a loan soon??

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 The rule of thumb is to carry a small balance on one, or two cards as long as you have enough cards to avoid the "too many accounts with balances " penalty, which by the way isn't that many, but it's still points if you're trying to maximize points. It's a completely separate scoring metric that ignores dollar amount. It's initiated anytime you have 50% or more of your revolving accounts report a balance.   

If you go back and pay off enough cards to to get under that 50% threshold, those lost points come back the next time those accounts report. Just as if you had high reported utilization, then paid it down to a favorable scoring metric, under 30%, under 9%... as soon as the unfavorable condition is removed and the accounts report, the points go up. 

I'm not sure I understand what you would want to dispute, as there's nothing to dispute.

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I would dispute the new balance.