Well, I was half right...now that all of her accounts are under 80% util, her scores HAVE increased...26 points on EX, 32 points on EQ and TU.
However, much more noticably, as her util dropped, the CLI's started rolling in...she's had SEVEN unrequested CLI's since 01 July...
Food for thought boys and girls.... 
@tcbofade wrote:Well, I was half right...now that all of her accounts are under 80% util, her scores HAVE increased...26 points on EX, 32 points on EQ and TU.
However, much more noticably, as her util dropped, the CLI's started rolling in...she's had SEVEN unrequested CLI's since 01 July...
Food for thought boys and girls....
That's great - congrats. Next thing to help increase the score would be to make sure that less than 50% of her open accounts report a balance.
IMO,
Ignore the score.
Starting Score: 675
@tcbofade wrote:
@drkaje wrote:IMO,
Ignore the score.
Why do you say that? The whole point (or most of the point, anyway) was to see if this would affect her scores...
Because the score is just a snapshot of how we manage finances. In the bigger picture, she'll gain more points with lower debt.
I get dinged for utility, too many cards with balance, and other stuff when forgetting and letting a balance post but worry more about the debt trend itself. My score is fine but even if it were 851, the problem is still too much debt. I can barely keep 7 cards straight, 19 would be a job, LOL!
It pretty much seems that FICO loves utilization around 9%, on one card. If that's not an option, they like it when every card isn't reporting a balance. I don't track the changes closely enough to see how 4 cards versus 7 reporting affects the score, though. I don't really believe it matters until you're positioned for a major purchase.
@drkaje wrote:
@tcbofade wrote:
@drkaje wrote:IMO,
Ignore the score.
Why do you say that? The whole point (or most of the point, anyway) was to see if this would affect her scores...Because the score is just a snapshot of how we manage finances. In the bigger picture, she'll gain more points with lower debt.
I get dinged for utility, too many cards with balance, and other stuff when forgetting and letting a balance post but worry more about the debt trend itself. My score is fine but even if it were 851, the problem is still too much debt. I can barely keep 7 cards straight, 19 would be a job, LOL!
It pretty much seems that FICO loves utilization around 9%, on one card. If that's not an option, they like it when every card isn't reporting a balance. I don't track the changes closely enough to see how 4 cards versus 7 reporting affects the score, though. I don't really believe it matters until you're positioned for a major purchase.
Shhhhhhhhh! Quiet down there!
That's what I was attempting to have him do without actually mentioning it.
+1 to drkaje's advice. You need to eventually get the balances below 9%, but you already know that I hope.