Utilization 30% to 7% and no score increase?

[raisemysc0re]

I have 722/686/718 for Fico8 scores.

I have about 45K total credit lines.

End of December:

All my cards have either a very small (>1% UTUI) or a $0.00 balance except one.

That card has a small line of credit (5K) and I had a balance of about $1,500.00 (30% UTI).

My overall UTI was 6%.

Begining of January:

Everything posted to CRA's is paid off except the one card where I left a balance of $350.00 

Bring that card to 7% UTI and my overall UTI to less than 1%.

However, my scores didn't move at all?

No new inquiries, credit lines or other changes except for on time payments...

Does anyone have experience with MyFico scores not updating correctly when an alert is triggered or should I simply not have expected a score change?

[atarvuzdar]

Everyone's mileage varies but your overall utilization was already under 8.9%. Most people see some sort of increase by taking an individual card to under 28.9% but not all profiles do. Some profiles would see that after crossing the 48.9% threshold on an individual card.

Not sure how many total cards you have, but you may get more bang for your buck scorewise if you move to AZEO (all cards @ $0 balance except one). 

[Anonymous]

Yep, if that $1500 balance was actually 28.9% or less utilization, you may not see a credit score increase at all.

[Anonymous]

Aggregate utilization is King. Going from 6% to 1% aggregate or vice versa is what matters most here and since a threshold is not crossed it's not surprising that there was not score change. Some people have reported running a single card up into the 40s percentage wise and if aggregate utilization doesnt cross a threshold sometimes scores remain the same. It is very profile specific, though.

[SBR249]

Agree with the above, you are taking a very small limit TL and paying it down. The algorithm wouldn't be very good if it couldn't recognize that that doesn't actually have much of a predictive value on your creditworthiness. 

[raisemysc0re]

So, since that card is a lower limit card compared to my other cards it's UTI is weighted less than if I had 30% on a higher limit card?

[Anonymous]

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@raisemysc0re wrote:

So, since that card is a lower limit card compared to my other cards it's UTI is weighted less than if I had 30% on a higher limit card?

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Not necessarily but running 28% on a $5000 card versus 28% on a $500 card will affect your aggregate utilization quite differently.

There are very rare data points on some people seeing minimal (3-6?) point changes when their AZEO utilization varies between 2% or 4% or 8% or whatever.  I've not tested this myself, though.

[Anonymous]

I'd go as far as to say that many people have run a single card into the 40s with no change to score (assuming a low total utilization, before and after). 

The "keep every card under 29%" rule is more a practical guideline to absolutely ensure that you don't lose even a couple points due to an individual U penalty.  Losing zero points when you have one card in the 40s is probably commoner than we think -- and for those who do lose, its likely not more than 3-4 points.

[Anonymous]

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@raisemysc0re wrote:

So, since that card is a lower limit card compared to my other cards it's UTI is weighted less than if I had 30% on a higher limit card?

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Absolutely not.  The FICO algorithm on an individual trade line simply looks at the utilization percentage.  A $6000 balance on a $30,000 card is scored the same as a $600 balance on a $3000 card, or a $60 balance on a $300 card.  As ABCD points out, aggregate utilization may be impacted to the point of a threshold crossing if we're talking a higher limit card, but you can do the math yourself on that.  If no threshold is crossed, chances are it doesn't matter.