Whats better for score, one card with high util or several with low?

[Anonymous]

I have about 5 cards that I have balances on, overall my utilization is about 24%.  I am hoping for a nice CLI with NFCU, they have a balance transfer option that is attractive so I am considering putting all of my balances on the one card which will likely put that utilization at 70% or so.  Am I better off in terms of FICO to go that route or spread the balances over these several cards? 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have about 5 cards that I have balances on, overall my utilization is about 24%.  I am hoping for a nice CLI with NFCU, they have a balance transfer option that is attractive so I am considering putting all of my balances on the one card which will likely put that utilization at 70% or so.  Am I better off in terms of FICO to go that route or spread the balances over these several cards? 

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Several with low is better than 1 with high and the rest with 0. However, if you have actual monetary savings from the 1 with high, I would go that route and sod the score. The utilization will rebound as you pay off the card, and the lower interest rate will help you pay off the money faster.

[Anonymous]

^ my thoughts exactly. the score will recover so do what saves you money. don't get caught up on your score. having a high amount of money is better than having a high score

[kdm31091]

I would definitely opt for whatever will save you more money vs worrying about maximizing the score, as others have said.

[Mattopotamus]

The ideal overall utilization is around 9% or less.  A single card over 30% will have impact on your scores, and over 50% will have significant impact.

On paper it sounds nice only having a single card with a balance, but it is always better to spread the utilization over multiple cards if it means keeping a single card below 30%

[Anonymous]

^ but would you really recommend that and pay interest on each card or have one with high utilization with 0%? i hope you don't say paying interest is smarter than not paying interest...

[Mattopotamus]

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@Anonymous wrote:
^ but would you really recommend that and pay interest on each card or have one with high utilization with 0%? i hope you don't say paying interest is smarter than not paying interest...

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Not paying interest is obviously the better choice.  The OP was inquiring about what is better for his FICO though.

[Anonymous]

yeah i understand lol. but i hope they understand saving money is more important than worrying about a score. the score will go up after its paid so there's no sense in wasting money :/

[kdm31091]

The point is that there isn't much reason to worry about your FICO when it comes to utilization since it's so fluid and can be fixed quickly. Worry about longer term factors: accounts paid on time, AAOA, inquiries even. With utilization, you want to get it low and keep it there, but there's no point in worrying about the temporary score fluctations. You need to do what saves you money, not what will gain you a few points (which are irrelevant if you aren't applying for anything anyway).

[daverhere]

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@Mattopotamus wrote:

Not paying interest is obviously the better choice.  The OP was inquiring about what is better for his FICO though.

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++++1