Utilization?

[Joeychgo]

My utilization is at 1% -- and it only says very good -- what does it take to get exceptional??

[Thomas_Thumb]

You can have an Excellent/Exceptional rating at 4%-5% reported aggregate utilization and even higher.

What's your highest individual card utilization? Also, what percentage of your open CCs are reporting non $0 balances?

A personal line of credit (PLOC) is often classified as a revolving account. Do you have an open PLOC that you have drawn against? Any closed accounts with a balance?

[FicoMike0]

Here on my fico, I'm showing 1% utilization and exceptional.

7 of 13 zero,

Highest 12% (just hit the $200 sub on that one!)

[BrutalBodyShots]

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@Joeychgo wrote:

My utilization is at 1% -- and it only says very good -- what does it take to get exceptional??

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First thing, be aware that those arbitrary ratings don't actually matter / no lender looks at those fluff terms when making a lending decision.

To answer your question though, it's because that the "Amount of Debt" metric still presents an opportunity to you. As one example, if you don't have an open installment loan you're missing out on the installment loan utilization boost to your FICO scores. The summary software could consider that as something keeping you from "exceptional" as far as an arbitrary rating goes.

[Thomas_Thumb]

Installment loans help the mix rating and an open loan can be beneficial to credit score. However, lack of an open loan does not influence utilization rating. If the OP does have an open loan at a high B/L ratio, it might affect rating.

[BrutalBodyShots]

How do you know what influences an arbitrary "rating" system provided by a CMS? 

Since they vary from CMS to CMS, are you speaking of only this CMS in question? 

[Thomas_Thumb]

Clarification of the category description (exact wording) would be helpful. The Fico report categories are not "arbitrary" regarding their make-ups although classification ratings don't translate to thresholds for scoring. 

The OP does not mention source or the specific wording for the category. Having both would add useful background info for a more targeted response. Sometimes debt types are intermingled in utilization/debt ratings, sometimes not. Regardless, I am unaware of lack of an account type negatively impacting a utilization/debt category rating.

[BrutalBodyShots]

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@Thomas_Thumb wrote:

The Fico report categories are not "arbitrary" regarding their make-ups although classification ratings don't translate to thresholds for scoring. 

Regardless, I am unaware of lack of an account type negatively impacting a utilization/debt category rating.

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Sure, there are "ingredients" that go into what makes up a rating. I'm asking how you know what they are / is there a thread or something where people have tested different factors that contribute to rating levels? You spoke confidently on it with your first comment reply as if it were common knowledge, but in your most recent comment quoted above you seem less sure.

I wasn't suggesting that lack of an account type in and of itself would "penalize" a rating,  just that we know full well that the presence of an installment loan (verses none) provides a FICO scoring bonus from the Amount of Debt slice of the FICO pie. Since installment loan utilization could only be classified as utilization (no other category) and it aids a FICO score related to Amount of Debt, my take would be that it could impact a utilization "rating" provided by a CMS. I don't know that to be a fact, but I can't see where else the installment loan bonus would be "awarded" by a rating system. Since no one else can seem to come up with a reason as to why OP isn't seeing "exceptional" based on the data they've provided, perhaps there's some merit to the point I made.

[Thomas_Thumb]

Fico lists CMS category ingredients but no way to tell if the list is comprehensive. You can research it if you want. I can't recall whether the CK CMS lists ingredient details. Numerous CCs have CMS platforms associated with their Fico score. Not clear if they create their own ratings or use Fico's. Then we also have the CRAs.

You believe the hold back on excellent/exceptional rating for a utilization category is lack of a loan. I can't deny that possibility but consider it unlikely. The OP provides no details on accounts in the profile. Only mentions 2% utilization. Unable to eliminate possibilities.

This exact situation (very good utilization rating with 1% revolving UT) was the topic of a thread early this year or last year. After probing we uncovered the OP had an open loan not mentioned in the original post. Possibilities suggested at that time included AU account influence, an open Klarna or Affirm account with a balance, a student or other installment loan, a PLOC and QTY of accounts with balances.

Fwiw - I have no open loans and low utilization.  I'll check my TU CMS category ratings on Discover Scorecard and EQ ratings on MyFico for comparison.

[FicoMike0]

We do know there are points added when the aggregate installment loan B/L drops below 9%. Could those points be in the utilization catagory?  Not getting those points might explain very good, vs exceptional.