Utilization & score increase??

[medicgrrl]

I have 2 CO's that are currently showing a balance and causing my utilization to be 187%.  If those accounts show a 0 balance and utilization is less than 100% but still high will I see a score increase?  Or do I need to bring my total utilization down to below 85% before I see any increase in score?  I am trying to "find" 35 points and this is my last option of doing so.

[Anonymous]

If I understand you correctly, you have 2 CO's from previous CC accounts.  The CO's show a current balance and zero CL.  They are causing you to have high utilization (187%).

If the above scenario is correctly understood, then yes, if you can get these to show a zero balance and thereby reduce your utilization substantially, you should see a FICO boost.

However, this will depend upon your current balances of open CC's.  How high is util on current accounts?  If the CO's go to zero balance, what will your util be?  (Sum of Balances DIVIDED by sum of CL's).

My experience has seen the most movement at the following util thresh holds:  7%, 9%, 11%, 20%, 25%, 35%, 50%, 70%, 90% and 100%.  Each time these thresh holds were breached up or down I saw corresponding movement in my FICO.

Also, util percentage is one factor, but total dollar of balances is a factor too.  The higher the real dollar balance, the more your FICO will be affected, EVEN IF your util percentages are fine (example:  100k in CL with 7K balances is well within percentage standards, but you will see FICO improvement by reducing the dollar amount).

[medicgrrl]

My overall utilization will be just under 70% with my visa at 75%.  I can PIF on the 29th but unfortunately it will update again on 5/22   I am trying to figure out if I can make loan application at the end of this month or if I will have to wait until the end of June when my accounts are PIF.  I had all the CA's deleted from my CR but still have the 2 CO's from 5 yrs ago that will be remaining along with 3x30 in the last 5 years.  I am not sure if I will see any boost in score whatsoever for the CA's since the CO's are still there.  I am trying to get those last 35 points on EQ.

[MizzB]

---

@medicgrrl wrote:
My overall utilization will be just under 70% with my visa at 75%.  I can PIF on the 29th but unfortunately it will update again on 5/22   I am trying to figure out if I can make loan application at the end of this month or if I will have to wait until the end of June when my accounts are PIF.  I had all the CA's deleted from my CR but still have the 2 CO's from 5 yrs ago that will be remaining along with 3x30 in the last 5 years.  I am not sure if I will see any boost in score whatsoever for the CA's since the CO's are still there.  I am trying to get those last 35 points on EQ.

---

I think you'll see a boost. I had severe overutilization on one card (over 200%) and high-utilization on another. Even with CO's and CA's, I still saw a 50+ score boost with EQ and a 73+ score boost with TU. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Short of some sort of emergency, I always recommend waiting if you can expect or reasonably expect improvement in your FICO or CR even if FICO does not improve.

Remember that actual CR content is just as important.  And if you can get a slightly better APR or terms, then a little patience pays dividends.  So don't rush to the app line, wait, get it in your cross hairs, then "sqeeze gently" don't jerk   Yeah, I like to shoot.

[medicgrrl]

I am going for a USDA loan.  I was in the mortgage industry for 15 years so I am comfortable with my plan.  Not to mention the huge savings in payment vs rent and my 800 miles a week I drive now!  Thanks for all the advise.  Hopefully this will get me where I need to be

[medicgrrl]

MissB,

Did you still have high utilization on the one card when you saw that boost?  What was your overall utilization wheny you saw that large of an increase?  Where there other things that caused the boost at the same time?

[MizzB]

---

@medicgrrl wrote:

MissB,

Did you still have high utilization on the one card when you saw that boost?  What was your overall utilization wheny you saw that large of an increase?  Where there other things that caused the boost at the same time?

---

My overall utilization is 1% now on Equifax report and 0% on my Transunion report. Those were the last three cards to pay off. I dont believe anything else resulted in my increase. My overall utilization when I paid the cards off was 120% due to a CLD with one of the cards. I still have a CO and a couple of collections so I'm not sure how that affected my score boost.

[medicgrrl]

So you paid all your cc off.  Did you do it in a lump sum or did you pay it down and see an increase in score when you brought it down below 100%?

[MizzB]

---

@medicgrrl wrote:
So you paid all your cc off.  Did you do it in a lump sum or did you pay it down and see an increase in score when you brought it down below 100%?

---

I paid all the cards down at one time, but they updated on my credit file in 2 parts. The first two cards HSBC updated and I saw a 15 point increase. Then my last card updated and I got a major boost (50 on EQ and the 73 on TU). I think I would have gotten more than the 15 point increase if I wouldn't have had two medical collections added simultaneous to the first two cards being paid off.