Paying less than owed really hurt credit score?

[UKTone]

http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/my-money/2012/05/09/7-weird-ways-to-hurt-your-credit-score

(6th bolded text down_

I have never kept a large balance on a credit card that I had to pay interest on yet... unfortunately I will be paying interest soon on my citi card. This has me a little worried since I have only had to pay interest once. I have never missed a minimum payment.

Also does paying interest on a credit card hurt your credit score?

Thank you.

[Rhaeny]

---

@UKTone wrote:

http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/my-money/2012/05/09/7-weird-ways-to-hurt-your-credit-score

I have never kept a balance on a credit card that I had to pay interest on yet... unfortunately I will be paying interest soon on my citi card. This has me a little worried since I have only had to pay interest once. I have never missed a minimum payment.

Also does paying interest on a credit card hurt your credit score?

Thank you.

---

No, paying interest on your credit does not hurt your score at all, only your pockets.  As long as you make at least the minimum payment due by the due date on your cards there is no credit score penalty.   The CC report to the bureaus if you go over 30 days.  However, if you pay between say 1 and 29 days late you may be subject to their internal scoring.

EDIT:  I should add that the internal scoring may prevent you from getting CLI's, change the APR or even result in CLD.

[tcbofade]

No, paying interest on your credit card balance won't hurt your credit score...you're just paying the CC issuer a percentage for borrowing their money.

[Rhaeny]

BTW, that article is referring to those who have already missed payments and are in financial trouble.  Not to current cardholders who are just paying their debt over time.

[pizzadude]

Some of advice in this article is bad and not valid for FICO scores;  the mention of paying less than owed is in context of settling debt.

The author states that closing credit cards lowers AAoA which is not true for FICO scores:   "If that card is older than most of the other cards you have, the average age of existing accounts will also fall (bad)."

Also he is incorrect regarding cards with $0 limits ( signature / charge cards ) factored into revolving utilization  "would make your credit utilization artificially higher, which hurts your score. If the only credit card you had was one of these limitless credit cards, your credit utilization would be infinite."