Hi all, my credit is slowly changin :)

[CinnamonCister3]

I wanted to stop and thank you all for all the help you provided me..well my first payments are due and I am hoping UpUp is still on here..I have received conflicting reports. Should I pay the entire payment due, all of it except 10 dollars or something else. Now I keep receiving credit cards offers LOL. Where were they when I needed a card LOL. Thanks in advance for any comments.

Still sitting at 689  687  655 stupid Experian

[Anonymous]

Congrats on the improvement!!

For the best scoring points, allow a small balance on one card to report. It will show recent use and boost your score. If you have multiple cards, then rotate them out. Just don't have them all reporting a balance every month, or that will cost you points for too many accounts with balances.

[CinnamonCister3]

Thanks Stef,

A small balance is 20 dollars or a 100. For instance if I owe 1500 and pay 1300 is that good on a MC. Then on a sears card I owe 150, I pay 150 right. Just trying to get a clear picture

[Anonymous]

If you can keep the balance that reports at less than 10% you should be fine. So if you have a $1500 CL, you will want $150 or less to report.

[Anonymous]

Yep, Stef is right. I have noticed that for my individual reports I get dinged a bit for allowing up less than 10% and do better if I have less than 5%. Don't ask me why, but I've tried it a few times and once I am back under 5% I get the points back. Shows me the same thing when I try score simulator too.

[Anonymous]

Just wanted to clarify.. Most credit card companies report the amount on the statement so your chance for this month is over. Pay off all cards completely by the due date! Please don't get into the habit of carrying a balance and paying high interest rates. It is definitely not necessary for high credit scores.

What they are saying here is pay before the statement closes. For example, my statement runs through Sept 16th and my payment due date is Oct 15th. To get the best effect on my score I paid down to below 10% before Sept 16th and paid the rest before Oct 15th.

Message Edited by rmily on 10-14-2008 07:56 PM

[Anonymous]

Good catch, Rmily!  I never pay a dime in interest. Always pay before statement closes. This is where managing your accounts online comes in very handy.

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@Anonymous wrote:

Just wanted to clarify.. Most credit card companies report the amount on the statement so your chance for this month is over. Pay off all cards completely by the due date! Please don't get into the habit of carrying a balance and paying high interest rates. It is definitely not necessary for high credit scores.

What they are saying here is pay before the statement closes. For example, my statement runs through Sept 16th and my payment due date is Oct 15th. To get the best effect on my score I paid down to below 10% before Sept 16th and paid the rest before Oct 15th.

Message Edited by rmily on 10-14-2008 07:56 PM

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[Anonymous]

Congrats from me too on the improved scores... just wanted to add, that when you're figuring out the maximum balance you can let report in order to have 'less than 10%' or 'less than 5%' reporting... you really need to work out 9.9% or 5.9% of your limits and make sure that what's reporting is less than THAT. It definitely seems to make a difference score-wise for me - FICO appears to count 9.9% as 10%, and therefore while your utilization might not be 'over 10%', it's also not going to earn you points for being 'under 10%'... if that makes sense. It probably doesn't make sense, I'm not explaining things very well tonight! 

Congrats again, though... feels good, doesn't it!  

[Anonymous]

Oh, also...

... you ideally want fewer than half of your open accounts reporting a balance at any given time - so while your score will benefit from less than 4.9% utilization reporting on your cards, you'll lose points if ALL your cards are reporting like that. Ideally you want most of your accounts reporting a zero balance. 

So... if you have a mortgage and a car loan, say, that's already two accounts that'll be reporting a balance. If you also have three credit cards, that makes five accounts in total... and to have 'less than half' of your accounts reporting a balance, that means you can only have two accounts reporting a balance... which means that if you have a car loan and mortgage reporting, your FICOS will benefit most if you don't have any balances report on your credit cards at all.

But if you have five credit cards and no other open accounts (such as a mortgage, car loan, etc), then if you have two cards reporting a small (ideally less than 4.9%) balance at any time, and the others reporting a zero balance... you should see nice things happen to your scores.

Again.... I hope that makes sense!