@Sandman771 wrote:
I would get all those cards to zero except one and let that report a balance of less than 9% in order to boost your score the most and just garden for two reporting cycles. You should get a nice boost from that to get you into prime lending territory. I believe it is the AZEO principle and there are numerous threads about it in the forums.
I'm glad that AverageJoesCredit noticed the US Bank card. It reports to the bureaus differently than most cards. Most banks, such as Capital One, report the statement balance on the statement date. US Bank reports on the first of the month.
To achieve AZEO (all zero except one), all cards except one need to report a zero balance to the credit bureaus. Just before the statement cut date (or just before the first of the month in the case of US Bank), pay your balance down to zero and let the card sit until after the statement has cut.
On the card that reports a small positive balance, pay it down if necessary, but don't pay to zero. Note that you don't have to pay interest to do this. Your statement balance should come from charges made during the current statement period.
Most people don't have to do AZEO all the time. Generally, it's something that's done before applying for important credit, especially a mortgage. However, if your scores are on the low end, it's probably desirable to try to maintain AZEO as much as possible.
