utilization question

[jbee]

My Equifax score has been 686 since 4/1/10.  Since then, I've paid about $1,000 cc debt but still no change (TU went up 15 points here on myfico).  When I look at the negative reason, it says heavy use of available balance on both (TU and Eq) reports.  My utilization is at 36%.  I know FICO like to see it lower, but I didn't think this was too bad. 

Can the experts help me please, I really want to get to 750 by August (do you think this is even possible if I get under 10%)?

Thanks!!

[MarineVietVet]

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@jbee wrote:

My Equifax score has been 686 since 4/1/10.  Since then, I've paid about $1,000 cc debt but still no change (TU went up 15 points here on myfico).  When I look at the negative reason, it says heavy use of available balance on both (TU and Eq) reports.  My utilization is at 36%.  I know FICO like to see it lower, but I didn't think this was too bad. FICO High Achievers (760+) on average have a utilization of 7% so it is quite important to get it down and keep it there.

Can the experts help me please, I really want to get to 750 by August (do you think this is even possible if I get under 10%)? Get to 750 from a 686 by August? In my opinion that will be very difficult but don't give up trying just because of my lowly opinion. Do you have any derogatory items that you could try and get removed before then? 750 is a great goal but I think it's more critical to keep doing all the things that will get and keep a higher score; mainly always paying on time and watching that utilization.

Thanks!!

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ETA: I'm not an expert at anything. You can ask my wife.

From a BK years ago to:

9/09 EX pulled by lender 802
3/10 EQ- 800
4/10 TU -772

You can do the same thing with hard work

Credit Scoring 101
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[GregB]

Changing a 686 with 36% util to a 750 just by perfecting util  is asking alot. I suppose if you had a large number of cards and they almost all had balances and you then paid all of them off except letting one report a small balance, then maybe. Without lots more info, my best guess is you would get most of the way there.

Do you have a large number of revolving accounts? Do you have Real Estate, Installment , and Revolving accounts? Do you have ANY derogatory info at all?  

I would expect a similar score for both TU FICO and EQ FICO if the reports match. What is different?

[jbee]

Thanks for the responses....

Equifax is 686 and TU is 665.  They both have one collection and one 30-day late from Cap One.

I have one installment account (CitiFinancial Auto)

I also have 5 cc accounts: 2 reporting 0 balance, 3 with balances: Best Buy, bal 485, cl 1150; WaMu, bal 1143, cl 1500; and Merrick, bal 99, cl 1175.  The Merrick account is closed and has been for about a year.  I was told that if I kept a small balance on this one it would help my utilization because once I pay it off it will not count towards it.

[GregB]

Still curious why the difference between EQ and TU. Also what you paid down $1000, which raised TU by 15 points to 665. That means it was 650 and EQ was 686, right? Was the $1000 on one of the other cards that are now $0? IF the $1000 was on both cards that are now $0, you should see more increase than 15 points and you should see it in all CRAs.

My experience is that 750 is not reachable until collection and 30-day late are quite old. As the scores increase, any derogatory has a larger effect. Getting your scores above 720 is a more realistic goal, which should get you best rates on most anything.

I have no idea about the closed Merrick counting toward your score with a balance.

[jbee]

I did some research to see what the differences were:

TU:

1- collection

1- serious deliquency (over 60 days- it was a charge off)

36% utilization

too many credit accounts

Eq:

1- collection

no serious deliquency (it's not on this one)

36% utilization

In April, I paid the closed cc from $785 to $99; another cc from $230 to $0; another cc from $195 to $0 and one from $1315 to $1100, so I paid over $1000 but no Equifax boost and only 15 more points with TU.

Thanks for the advice of the score, I will change my goal and work hard to get a 725 

[jbee]

Ok, I just purchased another Equifax report and it has went up to 690 (4 points).  That's better than nothing, right??

The only thing about it is I didn't get a score alert.  I have it set at 686, so it would notify me if it went above that, but it didn't.

Thanks!

[GregB]

The 60-day on TU certainly explains the lower score. I believe a 60-day is far worse than a 30-day. I would guess from the smallish difference that these are not very recent lates.

I would look thru the EQ report and make sure the two account that have $0 balance are actually listed as $0.

There is a substantial change for me with more than 50% of revolving reporting a balance - any balance more than $0. Several time well less than $20 has cost me 8-10 points when I had 13 accounts out of 25 reporting a balance instead of 12 out of 25. I don't know if that works the same with only 5 accounts, particularly if one of them is closed. You will find out when you get down to only ONE reporting a balance.

I have always gotten a score alert with any score change as long as I set the setting at my current score. You might post your concern in Product Feedback. I found them helpful and they even gave me an extra EQ report for free when I had to pull an extra report when they were giving me too many SW alerts that caused me to buy a couple extra EQ reports. I know now not to do that but it was nice of them to make it up to me even though my own ignorance.

[jbee]

Thanks Greg!