New Amazon CC do I pay PIF or leave just a little balance?

[Anonymous]

Greetings,

     Like the title states...what are you guys opinion?  I got my new Amazon Store Prime Card ($5,000) SL. I get 5% on all purchases using Prime.  They have a high APR, so I plan to PIF to avoid the interest charges; but last time I had no balance it hurt my credit score bad.  So do I go ahead and leave a little balance and eat the small interest charge? or will paying PIF hurt my overall credit score over time?  What are your thoughts and advice.  Thanks in advance. 

[myjourney]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Greetings,

     Like the title states...what are you guys opinion?  I got my new Amazon Store Prime Card ($5,000) SL. I get 5% on all purchases using Prime.  They have a high APR, so I plan to PIF to avoid the interest charges; but last time I had no balance it hurt my credit score bad.  So do I go ahead and leave a little balance and eat the small interest charge? or will paying PIF hurt my overall credit score over time?  What are your thoughts and advice.  Thanks in advance. 

---

Depends on what card you wish to leave a balance and the rest should be at $0 

Your choice but you should not be paying interest on ANY card for any reason 

Max scoring rule 1-9% on 1 card all others $0

[Anonymous]

I dont see how a $0 balance could possibly hurt your score. I have PIF on every card, for 8 years now. Dont waste money paying interest. Save the interest for car or home loans. Also you can still PIF and the card can still report a balance. 

[Kevin86475391]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Greetings,

     Like the title states...what are you guys opinion?  I got my new Amazon Store Prime Card ($5,000) SL. I get 5% on all purchases using Prime.  They have a high APR, so I plan to PIF to avoid the interest charges; but last time I had no balance it hurt my credit score bad.  So do I go ahead and leave a little balance and eat the small interest charge? or will paying PIF hurt my overall credit score over time?  What are your thoughts and advice.  Thanks in advance. 

---

It's completely fine for your credit score to have some cards report a $0 balance; you just don't want all of your cards to report a $0 balance.

Also, you don't have to pay interest to have a card report a non-zero balance. You can let a small balance report, then PIF before the due date during the interest-free grace period. I do this all the time. I PIF all my cards weekly and sometimes they report a balance and sometimes they don't. I honestly don't really worry about it unless I notice they're all going to report $0 or that they're all going to report a balance. But regardless the balances they're hypothetically reporting aren't from the previous month, they're new charges from this month.

So for example say you start the cycle with a balance. Pay that off fully before your next due date. Then you can let anything new that you charge that cycle report without being charged any interest.

[Pway]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

I dont see how a $0 balance could possibly hurt your score. I have PIF on every card, for 8 years now. Dont waste money paying interest. Save the interest for car or home loans. Also you can still PIF and the card can still report a balance. 

---

That is not what one is saying.  Having all cards report a zero balance causes a ding in FICO scores.  Having a card report a balance each month is good because you want to maximize FICO scores.  No one like to pay interest if they don't have to.  Remember, as long as you PIF each month there is no interest charges being occured.  It is when one is carrying a balance that interest begin to accure unless it is a zero percent interest promotion for a given period of time.

If one pays the card off before the statement cut, what balance is being reported to the cb's?  When there is a zero balance, a zero balance is being reported.  They do not report charges made in the month and that card has been paid to zero before that statement has been cut.  They report the balance that was left on the card after the statement has cut.  

[longtimelurker]

One key thing is to distinguish between "Reporting a balance" and "carrying a balance"

Generally, the issuer reports the balance when the statement cuts (US Bank/Elan is an exception which always reports around the end of the month).

If you have PIF by the due date the previous cycle, you will have around 21 days between statement cut and due date to pay off the balance and not incur interest.

So it's fine to say let your statement cut with $100 balance on May 1st, and pay that $100 off by say May 15th, and you get the balance reported to the CRAs, but also avoid paying interest.   In contrast, if you pay less than $100 by the due date, you are carrying a balance and will pay some interest.   There is really no good reason to do this if you can in fact pay the bill.

Of course, there really aren't that compelling reasons to micromanage your accounts every month.   Unless you are going to apply for something, AND you are very near a border (approval/denial, or rates for something like a mortgage) it's fine not to bother, and just set autopay to PIF on due date.   That way, you maximize any interest you can earn on your money.

[Anonymous]

In my experience it's always been best to PIF.  If you can afford to PIF, you should.

[noobody]

There is different PIF
Regular people's PIF means pay the statement balance before payment due date.

MyFICOer's PIF means pay the whole balance before the statement cut.

Neither will resault interest charge, but using 2nd method properly will maximize your fico score

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Greetings,

     Like the title states...what are you guys opinion?  I got my new Amazon Store Prime Card ($5,000) SL. I get 5% on all purchases using Prime.  They have a high APR, so I plan to PIF to avoid the interest charges; but last time I had no balance it hurt my credit score bad.  So do I go ahead and leave a little balance and eat the small interest charge? or will paying PIF hurt my overall credit score over time?  What are your thoughts and advice.  Thanks in advance. 

---

There are two relevant dates: the statement date and the due date. PIF means that you paid the balance as of the statement date by the due date.

Here's an example. You spend $1000 on your card. The statement cuts on the third of the month and reports $1000 to the credit bureaus. You then spend another $500, bringing your balance to $1500. Right before the due date, you pay $1000. You then spend another $700 before the third of the next month, bringing your balance to $1200. $1200 then gets reported and you woud have to pay it by the due date. Repeat.

So long as you paid the statement balance by the due date, you will not trigger interest charges. This is what most people refer to "Paying in full," even on this site.

Some people have decided that it means that you pay everything by the statement date, so that you have a $0 balance report to the credit bureaus. This is a specific subsection of MyFico that min-maxes their credit scores by having at least three credit cards, all but one of which report at $0, with the third reporting a balance of between 1% and 9% utilization. Note that if you have ALL of your cards report a 0 balance, then you will take a big credit hit. 

[Anonymous]

Just pay the statement balance every single month. Its a synchrony allstar. that limit will grow and your scores will come up nicer than 9% vs 0% statistic blurb. AmazonStore card offers no interest on the $150 purchase so it's quite easy to stay on budget and have constant use. As you have added a new card you can make everything else report a zero and the Amazon show your activity