Carry a tiny balance on one credit card?

[Anonymous]

Now that I'm addicted to gaming the system as hard as possible, here's a question:

I have only one credit card (3k secured). In order to get a few extra points on the old CR, should I leave a $20 balance or pay it in full as I've been doing?

I'd totally do it if I had more than one CC, but I don't and was wondering what the rule was.

[Creditaddict]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Now that I'm addicted to gaming the system as hard as possible, here's a question:

I have only one credit card (3k secured). In order to get a few extra points on the old CR, should I leave a $20 balance or pay it in full as I've been doing?

I'd totally do it if I had more than one CC, but I don't and was wondering what the rule was.

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Are you saying the only credit card you have is this secured card and you are paying it before the statement so it reports $0 balance to credit reports or are you paying after the statement and it reports that balance but you want to know if you should not pay in full and actually pay some interest on the credit card?

[Anonymous]

I pay it to a zero balance every month, yes, before the due date. I'm simply wondering if I should leave the tiniest of balances on there to get an extra few points' increase on my score is all.  

[Creditaddict]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I pay it to a zero balance every month, yes, before the due date. I'm simply wondering if I should leave the tiniest of balances on there to get an extra few points' increase on my score is all.  

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If the statement is coming to you showing a balance, that is what is going to be on your credit report... you dont need to pay interst for it to report to credit.

Why only 1 credit card and a secured one though?

Your scores are the current mid 700's I see?

[tmbr10]

I actually had my FICO bounce up a couple points when I let a balance carry over once. Conversely, I paid off a $500 balance looking for a couple more credit points and nothing happened. Go figure. I generally let a minimal balance post on my cards every 5 or 6 months so they don't get closed or the CL reduced.

[Creditaddict]

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@tmbr10 wrote:
I actually had my FICO bounce up a couple points when I let a balance carry over once. Conversely, I paid off a $500 balance looking for a couple more credit points and nothing happened. Go figure. I generally let a minimal balance post on my cards every 5 or 6 months so they don't get closed or the CL reduced.

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Again I say:

Are you saying when the statmement arrived showing you owed $500, you paid the $500 or you paid (lets say $400) and didn't pay the other $100 until next statement?

You either pay before the Statement there for showing the update with CR $0 balance non use or you wait for that statement and that balance will show on CR.

Not paying the balance in full until the following statement, therefore paying interest if you are not on a promo is not what is getting you the increase score!

[jacksonvillejaguar]

This is what I do. My cc has a limit of $1500 my statement closes every month on the 17th, and my due date is the 14th of each month. I charge everything I possibly can on my card. I make two payments per month one on/ before the 14th for the previous month( so I dont accure any interest)  and another to drop my cc balance to about $5 - $20 bucks a month before my statement closes on/before the 17th. On the 18th I get my credit card statement that reports about a 1% utilization to all 3 bureaus then I start the process all over again. I make money from my cc cash back rewards + I get interest on my savings account (credit union ) each month because I send all my checks there and use my credit card for everything. Long story short I make money paying no interest and still have about a 5% or less credit card usage each month!

[tmbr10]

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@Creditaddict wrote:

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@tmbr10 wrote:
I actually had my FICO bounce up a couple points when I let a balance carry over once. Conversely, I paid off a $500 balance looking for a couple more credit points and nothing happened. Go figure. I generally let a minimal balance post on my cards every 5 or 6 months so they don't get closed or the CL reduced.

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Again I say:

Are you saying when the statmement arrived showing you owed $500, you paid the $500 or you paid (lets say $400) and didn't pay the other $100 until next statement?

You either pay before the Statement there for showing the update with CR $0 balance non use or you wait for that statement and that balance will show on CR.

Not paying the balance in full until the following statement, therefore paying interest if you are not on a promo is not what is getting you the increase score!

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I think I answered the OP's question with an example of my own. Thanks!