No credit card required
Browse credit cards from a variety of issuers to see if there's a better card for you.
@kdm31091 wrote:I agree sometimes answers can tend to be too general and "YMMV" around here but that's just some people's personalities. No reason to overreact. Some people think the 1% thing is a waste of time and you will see that in responses because that is some poster's opinions on it.
To better answer what I think you are trying to ask with your post, no, I don't worry about feeling "comfortable" with balances reporting. Life is too short (IMO) to worry about this. Unless you are apping soon, utilization is really not a big deal, and any dings from a balance reporting will recover. To me it's just not worth stressing or obsessing over it because it's just not that important.
A rare event. I agree with you.
Although the majority of my apps have been under non-optimal utilization!
I wish there was a consensus (maybe there is and I'm uninformed) about what Paid In Full means. I'd always thought it to mean paid LAST month's statement in full to avoid interest and that's all I ever tried to do. Now that I've been trying to get our scores up, I'm trying to pay our 'everyday' cards to $0/not report (REALLY PIF) since we each have 3 cards with BT 0% balances (2 Discos shared via AUs and each an individual HD).
I'll likely relax a bit with the REALLY PIF when I finish this home loan thing (and maybe refi cars through DCU and pick up a hotel card or two and maybe a...something else). But now I'm armed with the knowledge that utilization doesn't have memory and I'll be in a good position to squash balances before any next round of apping for something substantial. (DH wants me to get a new car and I don't want to. I'm waiting for some things in the 2016 model year which will be here soon enough...and I don't think I really want one even right then.)
@Anonymous wrote:I wish there was a consensus (maybe there is and I'm uninformed) about what Paid In Full means. I'd always thought it to mean paid LAST month's statement in full to avoid interest and that's all I ever tried to do. Now that I've been trying to get our scores up, I'm trying to pay our 'everyday' cards to $0/not report (REALLY PIF) since we each have 3 cards with BT 0% balances (2 Discos shared via AUs and each an individual HD).
I'll likely relax a bit with the REALLY PIF when I finish this home loan thing (and maybe refi cars through DCU and pick up a hotel card or two and maybe a...something else). But now I'm armed with the knowledge that utilization doesn't have memory and I'll be in a good position to squash balances before any next round of apping for something substantial. (DH wants me to get a new car and I don't want to. I'm waiting for some things in the 2016 model year which will be here soon enough...and I don't think I really want one even right then.)
I thought that the general consensus was that PIF meant what you say it does: you paid the most recent statement in its entirety before the due date, which prevents interest from accruing. It has nothing to do with whether a balance reports. However, taken literally, it also just means that you paid off the entire balance of the card, regardless of when that is done.
I thought OP's initial post (I know he has since updated) was inquiring after those people who PIF, rather than the "all but one at zero" people who pay in full before the statement closes, so that no balance reports. OP may have muddled the question a little by mentioning that he carries a balance, but I don't think it really confused the issue.
To answer the OP's question, I think I side with KDM. Since I always PIF, I don't sweat utiliization at all, other than making sure I don't go over my limit. I've had my DC as high as 90% recently, because I had some one-off expenses (furnace repair, vet bill, etc.). Utilization will go back down though, once the bill comes due, so it isn't worth fretting about. However, I do generally try to make sure my cards report a balance every couple of statements. My Amazon card is the one I let go the most; I think I let it run six months without a purchase before I used it at a drug store (2% back, no different from the DC, so I might as well use it).
Well, life happens and each individual has their own reasons to carry a balance. My util last year was below 9%, then boom a year later, I'm at 27%... Again, life happens... Good news is, I'm not applying for a car loan or mortgage anytime soon, I don't mind if my credit tanks. I can recover from my util.
I realized today how obsessive and unnecessary my credit management has become when I got angry that a $2.02 balance posted on my Citi AA card due to a FTF posting on the statement cut date that I'd completely disregarded.
So now I have 3 balances / 23.
I'm carrying 0% for 18 months on:
CapOne QS1 (2 cards)
Best Buy
Care Credit
I'm carrying 0% for 12 months on:
BECU
Total UTI is about 20% and I don't lose sleep at night for carrying balances... 0% is a pretty good interest rate.
Everything else I PIF each month.
My plan is to have everything paid off or close to it by the end of the year when my Ch 13 derogs fall off my reports and I get a boost up to the 750+ range. By then I will micro-manage my balances a bit more due to the fact my scores won't be weighted down by a 6+ year old BR.
Unless I am worried about a large loan I never pay before statements cut. I PIF by due date for any cards that have interest. However currently I have 3 cards with 0%, so they are carrying balances. I typically use 3-4 different cards a month depending on rewards, so I had 5 cards report a balance last month. Not concerned, my overall Util is under 10%. I have too many other things I have to watch on a daily basis to worry about balance reporting. However in a couple years when I am looking for a mortgage I will make it a priority. If I ever monitored it beyond that it would be more as a hobby to see how scores were effected.
@Anonymous wrote:Unless I am worried about a large loan I never pay before statements cut. I PIF by due date for any cards that have interest. However currently I have 3 cards with 0%, so they are carrying balances. I typically use 3-4 different cards a month depending on rewards, so I had 5 cards report a balance last month. Not concerned, my overall Util is under 10%. I have too many other things I have to watch on a daily basis to worry about balance reporting. However in a couple years when I am looking for a mortgage I will make it a priority. If I ever monitored it beyond that it would be more as a hobby to see how scores were effected.
Yep. Same here. I've already bought a car and am in the early stages of mortgage planning for a 2016 purchase. By then I will have my CC's paid... no new accounts in quite a long time... and premium credit scores after my Ch 13 falls off.
At that time I'll play the balance reporting game... for now I don't care. The 0% cards can report... the others I PIF by the due date.
@Anonymous wrote:I wish there was a consensus (maybe there is and I'm uninformed) about what Paid In Full means. I'd always thought it to mean paid LAST month's statement in full to avoid interest and that's all I ever tried to do. Now that I've been trying to get our scores up, I'm trying to pay our 'everyday' cards to $0/not report (REALLY PIF) since we each have 3 cards with BT 0% balances (2 Discos shared via AUs and each an individual HD).
I'll likely relax a bit with the REALLY PIF when I finish this home loan thing (and maybe refi cars through DCU and pick up a hotel card or two and maybe a...something else). But now I'm armed with the knowledge that utilization doesn't have memory and I'll be in a good position to squash balances before any next round of apping for something substantial. (DH wants me to get a new car and I don't want to. I'm waiting for some things in the 2016 model year which will be here soon enough...and I don't think I really want one even right then.)
Utilization doesn't have a memory when you are talking about FICO scoring. However, any balances that report to the credit bureaus DO have a memory, and can be used by credit companies in their internal scoring.