how much will a single card util spike hurt?

[expatCanuck]

I'm planning to transfer a balance to a card with a 0/0 offer, which will cause that card's utilization to spike to 35 or 40% for a month or two.  That'll be the only card out of 6 reporting a non-zero balance (out of 7 once the new Amex reports in Feb or Mar).  Aggregate util is under 8%.

Any thoughts on how much of a hit my score will take until I get the utilization under 28% (and then under 8.9%)?

(Current scores & stats in my sig.)

[Anonymous]

It could be anything from 0 points to a few (say 5) points.  Nothing significant IMO.

Aggregate utilization is King to individual card utilization.  If your aggregate utilization before & after is in the ideal < 8.9% range and isn't crossing over that threshold, the impact of bringing 1 card to a higher utilization range is quite diluted.  Anything that lands in the 9%-29% range usually doesn't impact score at all.  Anything in the 29%-49% range on some profiles doesn't impact score at all, where on others it impacts it a small amount, say 5 points.  Perhaps there are exceptions, but this is what I've seen the majority of the time.

I started a thread similar to this a few weeks back, linked below, where I saw a 4 point drop in letting one card go from 0% to 48% utilization while my aggregate utilization remained in the single digits both before and after:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/1-revolver-from-0-48-4-point-drop/td-p/51...

[expatCanuck]

Thanks.  Splendid.  So the only remaining concern is that the card issuer (oft-discussed on these boards) will take umbrage at me actually making use of the offer, and balance-chase me down.

But, hey, we had to book the flights.

---

@Anonymous wrote:
...

I started a thread similar to this a few weeks back ...

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/1-revolver-from-0-48-4-point-drop/td-p/5125775

---

Indeed you did.  And I appear to have participated in same.

[Anonymous]

Good catch, I do see that now as well!

I don't see a creditor balance chasing someone down that's at 35%-45% utilization.  No reason to, especially if a BT offer was taken advantage of, since by definition almost those programs are designed to take on what may be good sized (higher utilization) balances.