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I used to think credit utilization was a myth until I ran my own numbers
Last month I was one of those people who swore paying off your balance in full every month was all you needed. I had a $2,500 limit on one card and spent like $2,400 on it every cycle. My credit score sat at 690 for like a year and I could not figure out why. Then a buddy in the forum said look at your utilization and I did the math. I was using 96% of my limit every single month. So I paid down to $500 before the statement hit and next month my score jumped 35 points to 725. Now I keep all my cards under 10% usage and it feels like a cheat code. Has anyone else seen a big jump just from lowering their utilization?
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drewr151mo ago
Hold up though. People act like one number change is gonna fix everything. Dropped my utilization from 80% to 15% on a $3k card and my score only went up like 12 points. Felt like a dud. Maybe it works better if you have a thinner file or something. But 35 points in a month? That's a lot. Sure, lower usage helps, but I swear the algorithm just likes some people more than others.
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dixon.james1mo ago
Watched my score go from 680 to 740 just by keeping my main card under 20% usage for two months. It's wild how much difference that one number makes on the FICO formula. Took me way too long to figure out that paying the balance after the statement drops is the real trick.
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