Went from 8% utilization to 11%, lost 3 Points

[Anonymous]

On both EX and TU when my utilization went from 8% to 11%, I lost 3 points. Just thought I share this data point in case anyone was wondering about the points lost for crossing that threshold.

[Anonymous]

I'm assuming you're talking overall utilization here?  If so, I'm surprised that drop was so insignificant.  Would you be able to share a bit more data such as your total number of revolvers, total number with balances, etc?

[Anonymous]

I'm referring to overall utilization. I have 10 revolving accounts, 7 are reporting balances this month, 2 less than $100 balance. I will paying those 2 balances off this week.

[Anonymous]

Did both of your aggregate utilization percentages referenced (8%, 11%) involve exactly the same number of cards reporting balances, or did it fluctuate at all? 

Also, did any individual revolver cross  threshold in this process?  For example, overall utilization may move from 8% to 11%, but that could be because a $30k limit revolver went from a $50 reported balance to a $3000 reported balance, or it could be because a $500 revolver went from a $5 balance to a $450 balance.  Overall utilization may be the same in the end, but when looking at the individual trade line balances we get a different picture from the FICO perspective.

[Anonymous]

At 8% I had 5 cards reporting a balance, at 11%, 7 cards reporting a balance. I had a low limit card go from zero balance to 75% utilization report, because I forgot to pay down before statement cut. I had another card go from zero balance to 20% utilization report also. No other cards crossed any threshold.

[arkane]

When I had only one revolver, crossing 7% util but staying under 8.9% dropped my TU08 score by 4 points.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

At 8% I had 5 cards reporting a balance, at 11%, 7 cards reporting a balance. I had a low limit card go from zero balance to 75% utilization report, because I forgot to pay down before statement cut. I had another card go from zero balance to 20% utilization report also. No other cards crossed any threshold.

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Based on everything you said, I would guess that your score would have dropped more than 3 points.  Several things happened here:

1 - Aggregate utilization crossed from the best to the second best range across a well known threshold.

2 - A card with 0% utilization went to 75% utilization.

3 - You went from 5 revolvers with balances reported to 7 with non-zero balances reported.

I'm not sure number 3 above matters with respect to scoring since you were already at 50% or greater of your revolvers reporting balances when you had 5 with reported balances.  Numbers 1 and 2 though definitely matter and losing only 3 points is pretty surprising.

[NRB525]

I agree with BBS, that is a boatload of changes all at once.

OP what are your scores? Any baddies?

[Anonymous]

Also another point to mention that CGID brought up in different thread that got me thinking is the negative reason code, "number of accounts with balances is too high."

While we often think of these things in terms of percentages, "number" could very well refer to the actual whole number amount of accounts that you possess with a positive balance.  If it does matter, going from 5 revolvers to 7 revolvers with reported balances means you took on 2 more accounts "with balances" which in theory could impact score, although I'm not sure that it does.

[Anonymous]

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@NRB525 wrote:

I agree with BBS, that is a boatload of changes all at once.

OP what are your scores? Any baddies?

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Ex score of 686 dropped to 683. Yes I have baddies, a 2 1/2 yr old BK, several lates on student loans, and a $44 medical collection.