Should I pay off CC for one point?

[Anonymous]

I need a 640 to get the banks approval on my mortgage. We are in the middle of underwriting and hit a wall with this. All my CC's report a 0 balance except Capital One. Currently it is at 1220/1500. My LO wants me to pay it in full which is fine, however I am concern having a 0% utilization will actually drop my score! Should I PIF or leave a small balance?
Thanks!

[pizza1]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I need a 640 to get the banks approval on my mortgage. We are in the middle of underwriting and hit a wall with this. All my CC's report a 0 balance except Capital One. Currently it is at 1220/1500. My LO wants me to pay it in full which is fine, however I am concern having a 0% utilization will actually drop my score! Should I PIF or leave a small balance?
Thanks!

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If you pay your only card reporting a balance off, your score will tank. Pay it to $10, and your LO should know better ! 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the response. Did I mention my current score is 639 so all this for one point.....grrrrr FICO.

[pizza1]

Pay it down to $10, and you should get that 1 pt..much luck to you

[takeshi74]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Should I PIF or leave a small balance?

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Keep in mind that the recommendation is "allow only one balance to report at 10% or less".  Report and carry are not the same thing.  You can have a balance report and PIF.

If it is reporting 1220/1500 then you're at 81% which is very high.  Get it reporting 10% or less and you should see at least a 1 point gain.

[Anonymous]

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@takeshi74 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
Should I PIF or leave a small balance?

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Keep in mind that the recommendation is "allow only one balance to report at 10% or less".  Report and carry are not the same thing.  You can have a balance report and PIF.

If it is reporting 1220/1500 then you're at 81% which is very high.  Get it reporting 10% or less and you should see at least a 1 point gain.

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Agreed. PIF refers to paying before the due date. Carrying a balance is anything that you didn't pay off by the due date. 

In this case, if the 1225 is your statement balance, you should pay that amount in full, and then charge something small to make sure there is something on the next statement. If the 1225 is what is showing when you log into CapOne's website, you should pay it down to $15 or so, letting it cut the statement with 1-2% of the CL reporting. You will probably get a few points boost, not just your one point.