Well, I do it every month and it works for me. For instance, Capital One QS is due on the 25th, I let it report a $10 balance and do not use it again until the statement cuts on the 28th. One month, I used it on the 26th and the balance from the purchase made on the 26th of $200 reported on a $1100 card, which I didn't like. But anyway...I understand your point. At the end of the day, the OP will take your advice or mine or both or none 
....either way thanks for sharing the wisdom!
@longtimelurker wrote:
@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
Agreed use the KISS Method. Keep it Simple Stupid or Silly or Sassy or what have you. Always pay on time and good credit will get established. I agree tgeres nothing wrong with buying something and making monthly payments to hrlp establish that you CAN make timely payments. Its not the end of the world if you pay a little interest contrary to myFico belief. I did this with my Fingerhut account and im darn proud of how far ive come in rebuilding or as i can say building my credit to a respectible level. Best of luck to your brother
If all else fails introduce him to myFicoThe question is: did that really help, i.e. do lenders really check that you made regular ontime payments outside the whole FICO scoring process? They may certainly look at how much was purchased, but do small regular interest payments actually do anything than waste money?
I don't think so; I think it just wastes money. Automated processes (e.g. FICO) don't distinguish between having a balance every month or carrying a balance. So it definately doesn't help you there. The only way it would get noticed is if an underwriter manually reviewed the account information. And if I were an underwriter and I saw that the customer was stretching out payments on a small amount, I would think "either this guy doesn't have good cash flow, doesn't know how to handle money, doesn't pay attention, or is just an idiot." And any one of those three would make me decide "this guy isn't a good risk."
Chris.
Just because one , or i in this case, carry a balance doesnt mean one, or i in this case, doesnt know how to handle money. Just means i need more of it lol. There are plenty of people with lots of money, high income, here included, that have bks and late payments and other assorted baddies that shows that are just as much a risk as someone who carries a balance. Orherwise money would equate to perfection. I wouldnt call strecthing out payments on a small balance the act of idiot either because whether one agrees with it or not, one can make a consxious decision to make those streched out payments to show themselves they can make payments and then move onto bigger things. Just my 2 cents
@ls2016 wrote:Well, I do it every month and it works for me. For instance, Capital One QS is due on the 25th, I let it report a $10 balance and do not use it again until the statement cuts on the 28th. One month, I used it on the 26th and the balance from the purchase made on the 26th of $200 reported on a $1100 card, which I didn't like. But anyway...I understand your point. At the end of the day, the OP will take your advice or mine or both or none
So he can take the advice of someone with an 850 or 650 fico? Should be an easy choice.
Sorry, establishing good credit isn't hard work. Mostly it takes time and good judgement.