always leave alittle on the balance...around 5-10% owing on the account. CRAs only get that snapshot when your card reports. If you always show a 0 balance the CRAs might think that you aren't even using the card. The want you to use the card but responsibly and leaving that small amount helps.
As far as leaving a balance on your card it will increase your utilization. This will in turn casue your CS to take a hit....usually only 5-10 points. I have been playing with my score recently. I left $1350 on my $2500 CL CC on purpose. My score took a hit of only 6 points. After it reported and I took the hit I paid it off and left about $20 owing. When the card reported that my util fell something like 40% my score went up about 35 points.
I stared this journey in Nov '12 at 584 and my score now is 728 so I can afford to play with it. I have a house. When my credit improved we bought us a car for our 36th anniversary. That caused a hit but that quickly not only recovered but raised my score by adding an installment loan. Just last week I went my bank which turned me down 5 months ago and they gave me not only a CC with a $5000 CL but also a LOC. And the icing on the cake is the CC is 0% for the first 12 months. I have never qualified for one of those deals!
Good luck on you r journey but sometimes it seems to help to shake it up and leave a larger amount and take the hit for a greater reward later! Hope this helps!
Starting Score: Just wanted to update, I must have cut it too close. Credit One just reported today, but they did not report my current balance. They reported my balance as of several days ago, 350/450. My score just tanked to 626... ugh. I'm pretty annoyed after paying the $9 fee to have the payment post immediately, all for nothing.
I hope I'll be back at 647 or better next month 
@signguy17 wrote:always leave alittle on the balance...around 5-10% owing on the account. CRAs only get that snapshot when your card reports. If you always show a 0 balance the CRAs might think that you aren't even using the card. The want you to use the card but responsibly and leaving that small amount helps.
As far as leaving a balance on your card it will increase your utilization. This will in turn casue your CS to take a hit....usually only 5-10 points. I have been playing with my score recently. I left $1350 on my $2500 CL CC on purpose. My score took a hit of only 6 points. After it reported and I took the hit I paid it off and left about $20 owing. When the card reported that my util fell something like 40% my score went up about 35 points.
I stared this journey in Nov '12 at 584 and my score now is 728 so I can afford to play with it. I have a house. When my credit improved we bought us a car for our 36th anniversary. That caused a hit but that quickly not only recovered but raised my score by adding an installment loan. Just last week I went my bank which turned me down 5 months ago and they gave me not only a CC with a $5000 CL but also a LOC. And the icing on the cake is the CC is 0% for the first 12 months. I have never qualified for one of those deals!
Good luck on you r journey but sometimes it seems to help to shake it up and leave a larger amount and take the hit for a greater reward later! Hope this helps!
I think you meant FICO see's it as a snapshot 
Fico does not like seeing cards at a $0 util every month. It shows them the cards are not being used. Rule of thumb if you have multiple cards, keep all but one at $0 util and the one between 1-9 % util. You can play around with the % for a few months to see where your sweet spot is at for maxnium scoring. Once you know where it's at then you can start rotating those cards.
Community Leader,
DaBears 