To Heaven, Brutal and OP, very important topic and great insightful responses.
In my case, all 800's, several inquiries and new accounts (all going to 0 in about 45 days), rest of CRs are clean. Aggregate utilization usually 2-5% on 200K of total revolving credit card lines.
Recently put a few extra charges on our Costco Visa, with one $500 charge recording on the last day of the statement closing period. That one charge moved utilization on that card to 41%. That resulted in lowering my FICO score 15 points. Had that charge hit on the next statement, no problem. Instead, $175 was the difference between 39% and 41% utilization, the difference between a score of 802 and 787.
Individual card utilization can matter. A lot. Even for one month. It will go back up next month, and in 45 days, I'll have all 3 scores at 825 or better.
The important message is you need to manage both aggregate utilization (what you owe on all cards divided by your overall limit) AND your individual card utilization (what you owe on each card divided by the card's credit limit).
Per the wise advice on this thread, don't let yourself get to a point where your aggregate utilization is high and your individual utilization is high. If you are at that point, understand, analyze and prioritize payments on the cards with the highest utilization. Refer to Heaven's great post (re 8.9%, 28.9%, 48.9%, 68.9%, and 88.9% utilization rates). Once you get your highest utilized card paid down, go after the next highest card, and so on. The biggest challenge is keeping both utilization rates low. That's key to getting - and keeping - a high FICO score.
OP - good luck.
Heaven and Brutal, thanks for sharing all of your very useful advice.
