At that level of expenses I would think it would just be utilization. If you had a huge CL like 50k or something and spending 9% on it each month, Im not sure if that would change for lenders on manual review. The FICO score isnt affected by it in either circumstance.
yea im sure its simply utilization. even on simulators its the utilization
Starting Score: 5/2012 TU 595, EQ 565, EX fako 547
For FICO, it's not how much you spend in a given month, it's what gets reported as your statement balance to the bureaus.
Personally to look attractive to other lenders (since their profitability is based on not only interest charges, but also how much you use the card as they get a portion of the transaction fee for every swipe) I run my entire life through my cards. Barely using a card for two charges a month, isn't very profitable for the lending institution. There's more to future approvals than FICO alone, and you can always pay early or multiple times in a given month to manage your reported balances so FICO likes you too.
@RockyJones wrote:
Thanks. That was my original intention... Running everything through the cards, then PIF on each statement date. That is, until I learned about utilization. Sure, I can go online and PIF after each and every purchase, but I'm concerned that my balance might get reported right after a large purchase and right before I pay that balance.
In other words, I spend $250, intending to PIF that night. The issuer just happens to report the balance just after the purchase, and my CR ends up showing a utilization of 13%. In the meantime, my goal is 9% or less. If I knew exactly when my usage gets reported each month, I might be able to pull this off. Or maybe I'm just being too ansl snd/or paranoid?
It's very rare that you get an out-of-cycle update, it almost always is the statement balance that gets reported. All my cards have a due date between the 7th and 10th of each month, so I just hammer the balances by the sixth, let that roll into the statement cycle as zero on all my cards except one (which I use and keep it at minimal utilization) and that covers me for the next month assuming I'm trying to make an application that month... which I very rarely am.
Other than that case where I'm prepping for something, like an impending auto refinance as soon as I get a second paycheck, and my balances update for July, I don't worry about it at all though I tend to still pay early anyway around the same time I'm paying my rent on the first... I just don't micromange it quite the same way and use whatever card is handy instead of running it through one (or a debit card for a week if you're REALLY trying to tweak it, personally I consider this counter-productive but people do wierd things for their FICO).
