You actualy do not want a $0 Balance - a $0 Balance also means a 0% Utilization - if you don't "utilize" your credit there is no data for the agencies to use to determine your credit risk. It may sound odd, but it's actually logical - if you use your credit and pay it off it shows the agencies that you can use credit responsibly. If you don't use your credit at all, well, they have no idea if you are responsible with credit becuase there is no data and in the case of utilization no data is not good data.
A lot of people will say many different things on utilization but let's just take it straight from the horse's mouth:
"As for a zero balance, FICO consumer affairs manager Barry Paperno says, "The idea here is the lower, the better, in terms of the utilization percentage, but something is better than nothing." How low should you go? In a recent interview, FICO spokesman Craig Watts said, "If your utilization is 10 percent or lower, you're in great shape as far as utilization goes.""
796 TU FICO 08 (08/2018)
758 TU FICO 08 (01/12/2016)
753 TU FICO 08 (11/21/2015)
740: EQ Score Power (Beacon 5.0) FICO 04 (01/23/2015)
755 TU FICO 08 (01/21/2015)
652 TU Lender Pull (06/10/2014)
665 TU FICO 08 (05/21/2014)
Goal: 800+
Hopefully someone more knoledgeable can join the discussion. 
