Somewhat random utilization question

Anonymous · ‎10-15-2020

So it's super late (like 2 am)and I woke up wondering this (ridiculous I know). If my available credit went from about 5% on 5k across 5 cards, to about 5% on 28k across 6 cards, will I likely see a nice score increase or will it stay the same because the score is based on % of utilization and not dollar amount? That might be a dumb question but I just can't figure it out and I'm patiently waiting for my new card to report...by patient I mean laying here not sleeping thinking about my dang credit score

tcbofade · ‎10-15-2020

Good morning.

5% is 5%, and I don't see your score changing much because of it.

Good luck tho!

Fico 8 10/01/26: EX 785, EQ 813, TU 797.
Fico 9: EX 812 04/15/25, EQ 804 04/08/25, TU 792 02/15/25.

Zero percent financing is where the devil lives...

Dalmus · ‎10-15-2020

If your overall utilization stays at 5%, your score shouldn't change much as long as any individual card still also has low utilization.

Although "number of cards with balances" *is* a reason code that shows up on in denial letters.

Something to keep in mind.

Total Cards: 24 | Total Limit: $304,250

Current FICO 8 Scores: EQ: 841| TU: 815 | EX: 814

Hard Inquiries: 1

AllZero · ‎10-15-2020

For your reading pleasure below from ABCD2199
The Truth about Credit Card Utilization
My 11 Rules to Credit Rebuilding
FICO Score: What to pay down first?

From Birdman7
General Scoring Primer and Version 8 Master Thread rev.5.17.20

Anonymous · ‎10-15-2020

Super helpful! Thanks y'all!

Anonymous · ‎10-15-2020

@Anonymous wrote:
So it's super late (like 2 am)and I woke up wondering this (ridiculous I know). If my available credit went from about 5% on 5k across 5 cards, to about 5% on 28k across 6 cards, will I likely see a nice score increase or will it stay the same because the score is based on % of utilization and not dollar amount? That might be a dumb question but I just can't figure it out and I'm patiently waiting for my new card to report...by patient I mean laying here not sleeping thinking about my dang credit score

There seems to be a significant penalty for 100% of cards reporting a balance on EQ/TU 8/9 scores, so if you want a score boost one month, have 1 of the 6 report $0. It's not necessary to do this every month. Experian 8 score is unaffected.

You can get that penalty with even 1% utilization.