Utilization: Overall, or by card too?

[gamegrrl]

I'll have to hunt down that post. Thanks for the heads-up!

So now my only 'real' credit card (by 'real', I mean 'not my Wells Fargo line of credit that reports as a credit card') showing a balance is down to 48% Utilization. All others are at 0%. The one at 48% is Capital One, and if I'm reading my credit reports correctly, they tend to report on the 3rd of the month. Got the extra money applied to the account just in the nick of time for reporting in this cycle, I think.

[MarineVietVet]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I'm pretty sure ulit is calculated by card too. There is this senior member on here who goes by ID Marinevietvet, who posted a three or four step util calculation procedure somewhere on this forum that also said cards are factored for util individually. I'm saving atleast 20 points every month eversince I came across that post :-)

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I bloviate so much I'm not sure which post you're talking about. If you could refresh my memory?

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 9/09 pulled by lender 802, EQ - 2/11-816, TU - 2/11-782

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".

[Anonymous]

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@MarineVietVet wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

I'm pretty sure ulit is calculated by card too. There is this senior member on here who goes by ID Marinevietvet, who posted a three or four step util calculation procedure somewhere on this forum that also said cards are factored for util individually. I'm saving atleast 20 points every month eversince I came across that post :-)

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I bloviate so much I'm not sure which post you're talking about. If you could refresh my memory?

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 9/09 pulled by lender 802, EQ - 2/11-816, TU - 2/11-782

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".

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Wish my memory were better than yours, LOL! I read that post months ago, but I'm over 10Billion percent sure it was your post and that you had figured-out those steps by trial n error or something to that effect. All I remember right now is that util has to be less than 9% overall and also by card :-)

[Anonymous]

I asked this question very recently too.  More to understand the nature of FICO than to deal with my specific situation.

The short answer is Yes, FICO evaluates UTL on both a Macro and Micro level.  I work in the industry, so I posed the question to an acct rep who has accesss to a FICO simulator software that allows loan officers to run different scenarios to determine the best UTL strategy for their clients.

Here is what he said...

"I was looking at a credit report and looking at ways to bring a borrower’s score up.  He had several revolving tradelines, and some of them were smaller and some of them were larger.  All of them were highly utilized (75%+ on all of them, and some were maxed).  In an attempt to move the score and save the borrower some money, I targeted the smaller ones and simulated paying them down to the 30% mark.  When I simulated it, it barely moved the score because his total revolving balances were so great together.  I had to go back in and simulate paying them all down, before it really began to move the score."

I am sure there are a number of factors that would affect an individual's results, such as number of accounts.  So, your mileage may vary.

Keep in mind, that you can also lower your UTL by being asking for and being granted a credit limit INCREASE.  If Capitol One increased your limit to $2500, that account would drop to 25% UTL without coming out of pocket.

[Rjackson100]

Only have a recent example to add.

TransU Score (before): 816

CapOne       limit         bal
                      10k          3700

TransU Score (after) : 789

Only kept balance for 1 month, right at end of score reporting period. No other changes to credit usage. Now, CapOne bal back to zero. Waiting to see what happens.