keep balance under 1%?

[Anonymous]

hello to everyone that reads my message and especially to those that reply! my situation: i have four credit cards with limits at $1k, $500, $500, and $200. they all have zero balances (finally!!). but from my readings on these forums, i'm confused now. i should have some balance on the cards? under 1% of the limit? i have already established credit history so will the 1% advice help me out? thanks in advance for any help.

[Anonymous]

You do need to keep the cards active and they stop being considered as such by the score after 4 mos of inactivity.  I would recommend using all for alternately to pay one or two bills with the limits you've mentioned, say the cable or cell phone then PIF every month with the cash you would have used to make the payment.  That way you establish a good payment history and maintain low utilization.

[Anonymous]

thanks for the reply/advice! here's another question i have: when i am shopping for the lowest interest, as i go bank to bank and apply for the loan, how many inquiries can i make until it adversely affects my credit score? thanks again for your help.

[Anonymous]

The very first inquiry will adversely affect your score. Just additional ones may affect it more. However, if you do all your rate shopping in a close timespan (generally something like a several days to a week) the formula accounts for this as rateshopping (meaning typically these multiple inquiries get counted as one, but this in a few ways depends how the inquiries are coded) and you won't have anywhere near as an adverse effect as if you say had a hard inquiry every week for a month or the like.