Pay-In-Full vs Revolving Balance of <10%?

[Anonymous]

Sunrise...

-Buckle CC is my only CC
-I have a personal loan that my grandparents co-signed for that is paying for my car. I'm paying $245/month over 2 years and have never missed a payment. (It will be paid off in August)
-I had a $400 medical bill I just paid last month...which my ER visit was in October 2013...so that was pretty late - but it's finally paid.

I was denied a Speedway CC last month unfortunately. I wanted to use it for gas and pay it off...basically another tool to build my credit but that's not happening lol

[tonyjones]

It sucks that FICO dings you for not having a balance but leaving a balance will cause you to pay interest, lose lose scenario!

[SunriseEarth]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Sunrise...

-Buckle CC is my only CC
-I have a personal loan that my grandparents co-signed for that is paying for my car. I'm paying $245/month over 2 years and have never missed a payment. (It will be paid off in August)
-I had a $400 medical bill I just paid last month...which my ER visit was in October 2013...so that was pretty late - but it's finally paid.

I was denied a Speedway CC last month unfortunately. I wanted to use it for gas and pay it off...basically another tool to build my credit but that's not happening lol

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Since the medical bill is a paid collection, I highly recommend that you go over to the Rebuilding forum and get information about GW (goodwill) removal.   Unfortunately, collections, paid or unpaid, are a negative.   

I think you'll see score improvement once Buckle starts reporting, even if you do have a zero balance.   Since you were denied Speedway, did they provide you with a score?   Did you use that denial to get a free credit report?

[Revelate]

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@tonyjones wrote:

It sucks that FICO dings you for not having a balance but leaving a balance will cause you to pay interest, lose lose scenario!

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No, interest is charged for anything not completely paid by the following due date (edit: mostly, some deep subprime issuers don't have a grace period and some balance transfers  and all cash advances to my knowledge charge interest beginning immediately as counter examples); there's no need to pay interest or carry a balance when it comes to revolving utilization and FICO scoring.

@Anonymous: careful on the $1 and other small amounts, it's possible not all lenders will report it based on some user reports though it worked with me for the few lenders I tried it with.

[Anonymous]

The denial letter said my score was 608. I didn't realize I could get a free report with it. I'll get it tonight.

I'll look into the details of goodwill tonight. Could you cliff me on it?