One above 90% or 3 above 50%

I'd venture out and say 1 at 90% is probably better. You'll get dinged for being maxed out, but FICO also takes into consideration the number of cards with balances. If you had a bal on on 3 cards, you'd get dinged, plus the ding for being at 50% utilization or greater.

Can you call your creditors and see if you can get any CLIs - inquiry free?

 

YMMV
I have had 3 or 4 cards MAXED at like 99% because of 0.00% BT...IT'S THE ONLY LOGICAL THING TO DO

F.I.C.O. may or may not like it...

TOTAL DEBT TO TOTAL CREDIT LIMIT is usually under 30%...sometimes down to 10%

 

You should take the free money usually. But your scores will suffer more, I think. I know the reports I have with a few cards at about 50% (EFX/EXP) show higher scores than the one where I am at 100% on one card (TU).

The scores are from PrivacyGuard and are about 15 points less on TU. Unfortunately TU also has two cards listed that have been removed from the other two reports. (I was AU and removed the younger accounts with high balances. Made a world of difference.)

On Equifax, my score jumped from 676 to 691 with the only change being a card at 83% utilization dropping to 36%. I got a smaller rise, from 669 to 676, by removing two younger accounts with 83% and 90% utilization.

The results for Experian were similar, with a 17 point rise (from 670 to 687) from the utilization change of 83% to 36%, and no other changes. Losing two younger cards at 73% and 90% utilization only gave me a six points (from 664 to 670).

With Transunion, OTOH, my score only moved up ONE point by dropping from 83% to 36% utilization. I attribute this to my being at 100% utilization on another card, that only reports to TU.

On all of the accounts mentioned, except the last card reporting to TU, I am an authorized user on the cards, in case anyone wondered how I was able to remove them so easily. I would probably have been better off waiting for the balance transfers that are coming, but I was impatient.