The Truth about Credit Card Utilization

[mowglidude]

Great advice. I have three Chase cards, which I'm hoping will not be decreased, nice limits. So I guess using my Pen Fed CC's are out, which is fine. I also have a Pen Fed PLOC which will be zero also. Maybe like you said, I'll buy lunch somewhere before Chase statement cuts, $12 or whatever and just leave it there. No biggie. Just pay before next statement and do it all over again. I'll try to use each card at least once a month to keep activity on them.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like a great plan and who knows whether the penfed cards would work or not, you would just have to experiment and try it one time. Like SJ said, depending on credit union we’ve seen some wonky results, so we just recommend best practices.

[mowglidude]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Sounds like a great plan and who knows whether the penfed cards would work or not, you would just have to experiment and try it one time. Like SJ said, depending on credit union we’ve seen some wonky results, so we just recommend best practices.

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Best Practices are the way to go. I'm also reading the scoring primer. Lots of great information in there thus far! 

[Anonymous]

@mowglidudeYes a lot of work went into that, but most of the knowledge has to be credited to all the wonderful members of the community. I learned everything here, and from my own testing, so that’s simply a collection of that knowledge!

So I give credit for that to the community and I’m very glad you’re enjoying it. I hope it helps a lot of people. And I have to give total credit to @Anonymous for the presentation otherwise it would look like crap!

[mowglidude]

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@Anonymous wrote:

@mowglidudeYes a lot of work went into that, but most of the knowledge has to be credited to all the wonderful members of the community. I learned everything here, and from my own testing, so that’s simply a collection of that knowledge!

So I give credit for that to the community and I’m very glad you’re enjoying it. I hope it helps a lot of people. And I have to give total credit to @Anonymous for the presentation otherwise it would look like crap!

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I had to take a break, but some really detailed analysis you all have put together. There seems to be a detailed explanation for everything. So far, I haven't seen anything on SBA loans or inquiries. I recently had an SBA loan inquiry a few months back, with all that is going on now. Does that inquiry count in the 12 month window also?

[Anonymous]

There is a section on inquiries under new credit. It’s rather short because there is a master inquiry thread that is linked that goes over inquiries ad nauseam. (It was created before the Scoring Primer, figured why do it twice.)

I can’t really speak on SBA because if you’re seeking business credit, that’s a whole separate set of rules and we have a subforum just for that. If it went on your personal credit, the Primer applies, if it went on the other bureaus and it’s business credit, then you’ll have to check that subforum for expertise. I’m only a little familiar with that, my knowledge is primarily Fico-based in regard to credit scoring.

But there are some very knowledgeable members there that will help you with business credit.

[mowglidude]

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@Anonymous wrote:
There is a section on inquiries under new credit. It’s rather short because there is a master inquiry thread that is linked that goes over inquiries ad nauseam. (It was created before the Scoring Primer, figured why do it twice.)

I can’t really speak on SBA because if you’re seeking business credit, that’s a whole separate set of rules and we have a subforum just for that. If it went on your personal credit, the Primer applies, if it went on the other bureaus and it’s business credit, then you’ll have to check that subforum for expertise. I’m only a little familiar with that, my knowledge is primarily Fico-based in regard to credit scoring.

But there are some very knowledgeable members there that will help you with business credit.

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Thank you so much. The inquiry was on my personal credit. I'll do more research later today and this week. Fascinating stuff. So much the average person would never even know. 

[Anonymous]

Keep in mind that there are times for business credit they will pull your personal report, and again I don’t know all the intricacies of business credit, so I don’t want to conjecture about things I’m not sufficiently knowledgeable about.

But as long as it is credit personally extended and the effects on the 3 CRAs, then we’re good, but when it crosses over into the business bureaus and business credit that’s when you have to check into the business sub forum.

Yes you’re absolutely right so much the average person would never imagine, when I became a member here, I caught the bug! 😉

[Superduper2014]

UPDATE FOR DATA POINTS IF INTERESTED: 

Both cards were paid down to 49% from 90% and scores jumped almost 40 points total. 

First card to report a 49% increase FICO 8 by 17 points

Second Card to report 49% increased Fico 8 by 19 points. 

Next step is

First card was paid down to 29% and it will report on the 3rd of August. What will the FIco 8 score jump to? The Fico score is at 770 

And the second card was paid down to 29% as well. Wonder what kind of increase would that provide. 

Total Utilization is at 18% right now. All 3 scores in the 770+-

Any guesses on what will happnen with these scores when 29% starts reporting? 

I have a thread going here if interested, but this is post is the result of following this guide https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Utilization-Intervals-Brackets-etc/m-p/5... 

[Anonymous]

@Superduper2014 So where is your thread?