@k-s wrote:
@nbsiddiq wrote:I recently opened 4 store cards but do not intend on using them. The main reason why I opened them was to decrease utilization. What is most beneficial? Keeping the card at a zero balance or making small purchases and paying it off every month. Is there a difference in regard to the creditors reporting it to the bureaus?
If these store cards are issued by Comenity or GE (which most are!), then your account will not report to the CBs if there is no statement that month, and no activity = no statement. Also, if they're GE cards, GE gives nice CLIs typically every 4 statements, so you'd be delaying CLI if you don't use it.
Sadly GE doesn't recognize a negative balance as being statement worthy either.
I tried 
Date of last activity is listed as Oct. and they sent me a check for the $6.37 they owed me heh.
@nbsiddiq wrote:The reason I would want to pay off say $50 over a stretch of 4 months would be to have it reported. I want them to constantly report. If I pay off the balance to zero and do not use the card for another 3 months they will not report.
I did this with Wally at least, no issues, got a second auto-CLI somewhere in there too with my limited use.
Bout to go do it again as the credit report lists it as idle for the past 3 months, no bueno.
@notfancy wrote:
@Revelate wrote:
@nbsiddiq wrote:The reason I would want to pay off say $50 over a stretch of 4 months would be to have it reported. I want them to constantly report. If I pay off the balance to zero and do not use the card for another 3 months they will not report.
I did this with Wally at least, no issues, got a second auto-CLI somewhere in there too with my limited use.
Bout to go do it again as the credit report lists it as idle for the past 3 months, no bueno.
I might have to do this as well with Walmart and Paypal. The interest rates are horrible, so I keep paying the paypal in full which is never going to get me a CLI.. but I'm too uncomfortable leaving a balance just sitting there. I'm trying to leave the little charge currently on my Walmart card right now long enough to generate a statement, but I don't like it. Hopefully I can remember to keep buying something there for the next several months.
Yeah, you're either stuck buying something once a month (and the shipping charges are worse than the interest rate if we're talking small purchases) or paying the fractional APR over the course of the balance. In my case doing the math, it came out cheaper to simply do the bulk purchase, qualify for the free shipping which I think was minimum $50, and then just play it out at the minimum + 1 buck or whatever.
Course I could go into the store and purchase something, meh, I'm so lazy.
@CreditUnionFan wrote:
@nbsiddiq wrote:The reason I would want to pay off say $50 over a stretch of 4 months would be to have it reported. I want them to constantly report. If I pay off the balance to zero and do not use the card for another 3 months they will not report.
It works out well if you do every other month, buy something, then once the bill is mailed, pay it off right before the due date.
Why pay interest?
Because the interest on that is trivial at least in my case. 20% APR or whatever for $50 balance reduced by $15 monthly, /yawn. Rather do that than continually buy stuff frankly both in the interest of time and overall expense.
If we were talking hundreds or thousands of dollars that's one thing, but when I spend more at Outback non-date in a given evening watching a football game, I consider the interest charges to be utterly irrelevant.
