Ok, here is the assumptions, followed by my question. If I have the following... Card 1 - balance 2000, limit 15,000 Card 2 - balance 0, limit 2600 Card 3 - balance 3500, limit 4500 card 4 - balance 7000, limit 7500 card 5 - balance 6700, limit 7500 The above balances put my line utilization at 51.75% of available credit. Would it be better on my credit report (i.e. FICO score) to move money around (via balance transfers) so that each card only has ~52%, as opposed to the way I have it now, or is the overall ratio (~52% in this case) what matters? Thanks! Now the percentage of my lines used is
Re: Revolving bal 2 credit lim I suspect FICO looks at "per card" numbers as well as "average numbers across cards" for almost all factors.
Re: Revolving bal 2 credit lim My assessment stated that it is better to pay the balances down as opposed to moving the balances around. Moving the balances will not improve your score. Hope this helps.
Re: Revolving bal 2 credit lim I ageee with miles. The only good reason to move balances around is to lower your credit cost. Another reason would be the convenience of making fewer payments by consolidating the debt into less cards. I am not really interested in my score, I am interested in how much credit I can control. Paying down will improve your score. http://www.creditsense.com
Re: Revolving bal 2 credit lim "The score evaluates your total balances in relation to your total available credit on revolving accounts, as well as on individual revolving accounts. " This was take from my FICO score reason code expanation.
Re: Revolving bal 2 credit lim The score evaluates your total balances in relation to your total available credit on revolving accounts, as well as on individual revolving accounts. " This was take from my FICO score reason code expanation. Now that makes this interesting Mom
Re: Revolving bal 2 credit lim Thanks for the information... I agree with Momof3.. it is interesting. I would venture to say that based on that statement, I would be better paying down some of the higher balance cards via a balance transfer from Card 1, in order to ensure no one card is over 51%, while ensuring that all stay at 51%. This should yield a better score? Valid assumption?
Re: Revolving bal 2 credit lim I don't think so. FICO has a reason code that says "too many cards with balances". The balance to limit thing is looking at the totals, so if you balance transfer them around the totals are not changing. The only exception to that would be if you were balance transfering to a card that doesn't report.
Re: Revolving bal 2 credit lim according to what I found in my score explanation, they look at BOTH the totals and each individual card. I try to keep my debts on the lowest b.t. rates (while reducing the balances of course), but that means I have 4 cards near max, and 6 cards with no balance. My total balance to limit ratio is about 50%. I have absoultely no negatives on my report ever. Yet, my score is only 639, and this ratio was the top reason for my current score. So I think it must have something to do with the individual accounts, not just the totals.
