What do you recommend?

[s_haliz]

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@MT936 wrote:
I pay my balances after the statement ends, if you want you can make payments on the balance before the statement ends so your overall utilization % lowers in time for the statement end date which would help your score more but I don't

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Thank you for your response. 

[B335is]

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@s_haliz wrote:

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@B335is wrote:

Scenario #2 has always yielded higher scores for me.  I'm getting worn out micro-managing every 2 point fluctuation on my credit report though, so I just pay when the statement cuts.  I'm also not in the market for a house or car so maybe my attitude towards utilization will change then.

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Thank you for your response. Do you pay in full before statement cuts on all cards or on some card(s) you will leave balance? 

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Lately I just let balances post and those with interest are PIF.  I rotate a few cards with small ticket items (like a bottle of water) and always pay those immediately - just to keep everything somewhat active.  I generally let balances post to 6-8 cards out of around 50 total.  Last month I let a balance of $8k report on a $10k limit and was really nervous about it, but like I said I'm done letting that give me grey hairs.  If it bothers 1 lender I have others I can go to.

[s_haliz]

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@--HighHopes-- wrote:

Last month I had my Chase card report a balance of $565 and that was the only balance I had at all, in the previous months though I had reported a balance of less than $50 across the board.  Of course I paid in full before due date, but the balance did report and my scores went down on EQ 2 points , TU None, EX 1 points.  This month I had $5 report on a different card $0 balance on Chase and the $5 was overall nothing else and my scores went up EQ 5 points, TU None, EX 2 points.  So pretty much I regained what I lost plus one additional point on EX and 3 additional points on EQ with no change either way to TU.  I know this isn't exactly what you're looking for and I am by no means an expert on it, but this may help a little  Just from this scenario it looks like a lower balance helps some ie..1-3 points, but not really anything drastic.

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Thank you for your response. Actually I am looking for experiences like yours. It helps. Every bit of score is going to be of a help for sure.  

[s_haliz]

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@B335is wrote:

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@s_haliz wrote:

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@B335is wrote:

Scenario #2 has always yielded higher scores for me.  I'm getting worn out micro-managing every 2 point fluctuation on my credit report though, so I just pay when the statement cuts.  I'm also not in the market for a house or car so maybe my attitude towards utilization will change then.

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Thank you for your response. Do you pay in full before statement cuts on all cards or on some card(s) you will leave balance? 

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Lately I just let balances post and those with interest are PIF.  I rotate a few cards with small ticket items (like a bottle of water) and always pay those immediately - just to keep everything somewhat active.  I generally let balances post to 6-8 cards out of around 50 total.  Last month I let a balance of $8k report on a $10k limit and was really nervous about it, but like I said I'm done letting that give me grey hairs.  If it bothers 1 lender I have others I can go to.

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Make perfect sense. In a way you are managing this like a corporations. Corporations just keep rolling their short term debt to longer term and in-between. And they also do take adavantage of lower rates. I am impressed with your overall management. 

[--HighHopes--]

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@s_haliz wrote:

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@--HighHopes-- wrote:

Last month I had my Chase card report a balance of $565 and that was the only balance I had at all, in the previous months though I had reported a balance of less than $50 across the board.  Of course I paid in full before due date, but the balance did report and my scores went down on EQ 2 points , TU None, EX 1 points.  This month I had $5 report on a different card $0 balance on Chase and the $5 was overall nothing else and my scores went up EQ 5 points, TU None, EX 2 points.  So pretty much I regained what I lost plus one additional point on EX and 3 additional points on EQ with no change either way to TU.  I know this isn't exactly what you're looking for and I am by no means an expert on it, but this may help a little  Just from this scenario it looks like a lower balance helps some ie..1-3 points, but not really anything drastic.

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Thank you for your response. Actually I am looking for experiences like yours. It helps. Every bit of score is going to be of a help for sure.  

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You are welcome and I will add to my response that both scenario's were less than 10% of my available credit so that may be why it didn't make a big change in mine, but the $565 balance was around 2% and then of course the $5 would be less than 1%.  The strange thing is that at one time I carried a balance for about 5 or 6 months on a 0% promo that was around 15% overall util and my scores actually were higher then than they are now:/  Of course I've added a few inquiries and CL's too so I'm sure that is the difference.

[takeshi74]

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@s_haliz wrote:

When you have any particular credit card, which of the following scenario would boost your credit score maximum

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Generally speaking lower utilization is better regardless of the minutae of how the lowered utilization is achieved.  Simply get the balance lowered prior to reporting if that's what you intend to do.  How one manages utilization is really a matter of preference.  For scoring purposes the "how" doesn't really matter as FICO doesn't have access to the activity details for your accounts and can't consider them in scoring.  Creditors can't review such activity details for accounts that are not their own either.  Both rely on what shows up on your credit reports.

That said, I personally don't micromanage my utilization since my limits and spend place me at 10% or less.

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@s_haliz wrote:

When you have any particular credit card, which of the following scenario would boost your credit score maximum, or rather which senario is significantly better than others if you are in a market to get another credit card(s) or to increase your existing credit limit (CLI)...? 

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Again, these specifics don't matter as none of this is reflected on one's reports.  One or the other may help a bit with CLI's for a given creditor that can review your usage history on accounts that you hold with them but I have yet to see any evidence that usage details like this are a significant factor compared to the usual suspects:

http://www.myfico.com/crediteducation/whatsinyourscore.aspx