Used over $100,000 in credit, here is what happened to my score

[gen-specific]

Right

I experienced a late a few years back, so that is one deragotory, and it did cause a 100 point drop to my amazement at the time. I reboosted by credit score by creating a tiny  installment loan and paying that with automatic payments. so that's been running since early 2014, I have in mind that my score should return back to the mid 700s from when my utilization was 2-8%

But I came to this forum to mention that I will be dropping my utilization to 50% and report how this effects my credit scores. Then I'll bring it down to 40% and then under 30% to see if it is a dramatic difference.

[Anonymous]

I have been following this thread and just wanted to say I appreciate that you are sharing this information!  I find it totally interesting and educational.  I know which lenders I don't want to work with after seeing some of your experience.

How do you plan on recouping your score?  How long do you anticipate it taking?

[elim]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have been following this thread and just wanted to say I appreciate that you are sharing this information!  I find it totally interesting and educational.  I know which lenders I don't want to work with after seeing some of your experience.

How do you plan on recouping your score?  How long do you anticipate it taking?

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   +1   big thanks

   great financial adventure here  

[gen-specific]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have been following this thread and just wanted to say I appreciate that you are sharing this information!  I find it totally interesting and educational.  I know which lenders I don't want to work with after seeing some of your experience.

How do you plan on recouping your score?  How long do you anticipate it taking?

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I will recoup my score by moving the cash back onto the cards. It is currently sitting in a bank account.

A score that is depressed by high utilization will stop being depressed when you have low utilization. Utilization has no history. 

This will also be beneficial to the lenders because they will see that I have carried a high balance with them, paid more than the minimum payments, and on time. This will make them more likely to approve a credit limit increase in the future.

I am lowering utilization to ~50% and it will take a little over a month for all the scores to update, as statement reporting across cards happens in intervals.

And then, not sure yet. This now becomes like a game of chess, where I don't know the lender's next moves. I will have a 50% utilization and a merely OK score (maybe mid-high 600s?) so this will give lenders that I've paid off, an opportunity to close the cards if they are still concerned about my score, which was previously mid 700s and then mid 500s.

If anything happens, I'll let you guys know!

[MercyMe]

But I really want to know which creditors have weak hands, these are the ones that will kick you when you are down, and I want insight into this.

As much as I hate to say this, for as coveted a card as it is, Am Ex!!  Though I'd never ever made a late payment, and never ever utilized more than 30% of the credit made available to me which was around $13,000 between Hilton and Blue, during the credit crunch of '09, Am Ex cut my limits to within $100 of the balances owed and raised the interest rates besides!  Needless to say, my credit score dive bombed due to high utilization, so of course I called and though I was told how valuable a customer I was, because I lived in an area of the country that was especially hard hit  (Florida) American Express decided it in their best interest to do as they did.  Though they were the first to do this, many creditors followed suit, such as Citi Bank,  and within a matter of just a few months my credit scores fell to the low, low, 600's as utilization was through the roof, across the board.  It took me a long time to recover.  To this day American Express has yet to up my limits to what they were before, but they have lowered the interest I pay and throw a few hundred dollars at me here and there.  It's frustrating, as I did nothing wrong but was made to pay simply because of where I live.

Many creditors, like Citi, as the economy improved, raised my credit limits but did not lower the interest rates I was charged.  Until recently I was paying Citi 29.9 on the Thank You preferred card that I could never pay down by more than a few dollars, each month, because of the ridiculouly high minimum paymen that pretty much only covered interestt!  It's been but a couple of weeks since Citi lowered the interest to 22%, which is still to high for one who's been with them for a long time, always paid on time, and over the minimum, no matter how painful it was.  As of now I am diligently working at BT'ing all high interest cards to 0's for 12 to 18 months.  The interest I was paying Citi alone will pay off two cards in less than 6 months, saving me a bundle!  Of course my scores are being hit as I apply for these 0%ers, such as Discover  that opened up with a $2500 limit, as did BOA.  Just last night, and utilizing a soft pull, Discover upped the $2500 to $6500, 0% for 12 months!!  Bye Bye balance on Amazon at 25.9, Home Depot at 25.9 and Brandsmart, at 29.9! 

It's my absolute intention to be completely debt free within 18 months! 

Thank you Discover!  Thank you BOA.  Thank you Comenity! For providing me with the shovel that will help me to dig my way out of debt.

It is the right time of year to garden, after all.

Current Ficos:  Eq:720; Transunion:708; Ex:701. 

Take heart all who are struggling, seeing no light at the end of the tunnel.  In 2011-12 my scores were in the 500s.

[althes]

Any further updates.

[gen-specific]

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@althes wrote:

Any further updates.

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Nothing new! I get all sorts of offers for loan consolidation in the mail, and I am very conscious about getting my credit pulled while running this experiment for a long time, for instance, what if I move to a new place or what if I get a new job. Will they look negatively on these open balances (although I felt the same way when I was carrying $8000 - $15000 of debt years ago)? These people are not financial institutions and they may just have opinions on the open balances or the actual credit score. That is interesting to think about, but so far so good.

All the institutions are honoring their balance transfer promos still. Everything paid on time. Credit score moving upwards when I relieve just small percentages off of my utilization. It is like a lever.

If you recall, at one point I was considering putting some cash back and getting my utilization down to 50%. This is still an option, my first promo ends in September this year in whcih case I'll really have to consider paying that off in a lump sum.

[gen-specific]

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@althes wrote:

Any further updates.

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Got in the mail today that my Macy's AMEX has been CLD'd to $100 , this was a $2400 line and my smallest. Inconsequential, but hilarious. We have already established the American Express lines mean nothing.

Now, I will be disgruntled if my Citi Custom Credit Line gets dropped. So I'll watch out for that.

[BallBounces]

great thread.

[gen-specific]

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@gen-specific wrote:

.....I'll let you all know if Macy's (my lowest limit card) gets spooked and gives me another credit limit decrease, hysterical.

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Woah just realizing I predicted this