Credit Cards

[CC40]

I need a better understanding of the credit card affects on FICO scoring.  I have a CC that I just paid down from 67% uti to 9%.  I did not pay the remaining balance yet.  The CL is $2100 - reported balance was $189.00.  I have the used the card for minor purchases with plans to pay again this month.  Do I need to only pay for the purchases and carry the $189 balance to keep the optimal FICO?

I have read these threads about how to "play the game," but I don't quite get it yet.  Can someone help me explainn?

[cardslayer]

There is no game. Pay off your card, and avoid interest. 

[CC40]

There is a certain skill to the optimal score.  I do know that.  I was actually advised NOT to pay the card in full - at least until it reported - in order to get optimal FICO increases.  That is the information I am seeking.

[creditnocash]

What are your cards? Balances? 

To get optimal fico score you are playing the game of utilization. 

Pay off all your cards except one. And keep it 1-9 percent of your total credit available. 

For example. 

My credit limit reporting is 8100 so I need to keep it 1-729 reported on one card. 

From what ive read 7% gets you the most score for your balance. (get it bang for buck)

[bichonmom]

For the highest FICO, have all of your CCs report a zero balance, except one reporting a bal <9% of that card's CL.

You can use the other CCs as much as you want during the month. Just PIF *before* the statement cuts and be sure not to use the card for a few days, so that nothing new posts between your payment and the statement cutting.

Just as an example, I missed a couple of payments before the statement cut this last month because of a hectic schedule. One CC reported a $12 balance on a $2500 CL and my FICO dropped 10 points. A second one just reported $190 bal on $3000 CL and it dropped another 6 points. As you can see, these are very small balances on decent CLs, and yet my FICO was affected by 16 points total for the 2 cards. Of course, next month, the score should bounce back after they report a zero balance again. If the balances were higher, the FICO drop would have been even greater.

[CruzImperial]

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bichonmom wrote:

For the highest FICO, have all of your CCs report a zero balance, except one reporting a bal <9% of that card's CL.

You can use the other CCs as much as you want during the month. Just PIF *before* the statement cuts and be sure not to use the card for a few days, so that nothing new posts between your payment and the statement cutting.

Just as an example, I missed a couple of payments before the statement cut this last month because of a hectic schedule. One CC reported a $12 balance on a $2500 CL and my FICO dropped 10 points. A second one just reported $190 bal on $3000 CL and it dropped another 6 points. As you can see, these are very small balances on decent CLs, and yet my FICO was affected by 16 points total for the 2 cards. Of course, next month, the score should bounce back after they report a zero balance again. If the balances were higher, the FICO drop would have been even greater.

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Cannot agree more with you. +1+1+1+1

Same happened to me 2 months ago. I only had 4 cards and my CapOne reported 7 dollars making it 2 cards with balances and 2 with 0 util. My score dropped 14 points.
 Util was 11% I think at that time.

[wealthcreator]

I also want more information on this subject. I have 3 cards and all are reporting balnces below 10%. Should i keep balances on only one and payoff rest? Fromthe replies of this thread it looks better to use only one card and keep other cards in locker unless required.

[Crashem]

I'm on iPad so I wI'll try and keep thiS short.  Util is calculated on reported balance.  Reported balance usually happens once a month.  Most common report date is around your statement date.  Use your card as much as you want, but pay what you need to so payment hits just before statement date to whatever you want reported balance.  Not all cards report on statement date and cards don't always just report once a month.  This is where paying attention to how your cards report come in as well as research.  1-9% util of both one card and total utilization with the rest of your cards reporting 0 balance is ideal for highest fico.

[gulobasito]

Hi there.

Would this also work out with a two credit cards (BofA secured 99/500 and Discover More) and one charge card (Zync) configuration?

I am thinking of paying the two credit cards in full before statement date and putting enough on the Zync to get to a 1-9% overall util rate.

[HenryJumbo]

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Crashem wrote:

I'm on iPad so I wI'll try and keep thiS short.  Util is calculated on reported balance.  Reported balance usually happens once a month.  Most common report date is around your statement date.  Use your card as much as you want, but pay what you need to so payment hits just before statement date to whatever you want reported balance.  Not all cards report on statement date and cards don't always just report once a month.  This is where paying attention to how your cards report come in as well as research.  1-9% util of both one card and total utilization with the rest of your cards reporting 0 balance is ideal for highest fico.

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I have two cards, so keeping one reporting zero balance and the other reporting a balance would be the best way to boost your FICO score?

Example 10% of my first card $2,000 = $200, and 10% of my second card is $240. Add both CLs gives me $4,400 and 10% of that is $440, the same amount if you only have a 10% balance on each card individually (isn't it better to have a balance across cards?). Where does having a zero come into play? Wouldn't the company report your zero balances which from what I read is not bad but not good either.

So far I see two schools of thought, the people who never want to carry any outstanding balances reported and they payoff and push payments before the statement cut off date. And now I see the only keep one or half of your cards with a zero balance people. where do you get your information? Or is this all just theory.