I could just kick myself!!! :/

[AutoBot]

I am trying my best to stick with 10% or less utilization reporting for the next 6 months.

[bsal]

So hold up I'm sorry if this is a stupid question I'm rebuilding my credit as well. So my credit score will drop if I pay my cards to zero????? So let me ask yall this I currently have a Navy Federal credit card with a balance of 3k but here is the problem navy fed closed it a year go do to my many lates ( lost my job) but left the balance it was at 20k at the time I know have it down to 3k so if I pay the account off my credit score will drop? Even if it's a close account?

[Anonymous]

I believe that's going to be a YMMV thing. Everyone's a little different. In your case, wouldn't you rather get out of debt than worry about a few point drop?

I don't believe your credit would drop but really need more information.

The best scores are in the 1-9% utilization range they say.

IMO, you never want to carry a balance, it's a cardinal sin on a credit card. I'd pay it off asap. Worry about the rest later

[Anonymous]

UPDATE: MY SCORES ARE BACK!! YAAAYYYYY Lesson learned! I won't do that again!

[Anonymous]

Do what?  Accidentally drop your scores down a bit, or panic?  

[Anonymous]

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@bsal wrote:
So hold up I'm sorry if this is a stupid question I'm rebuilding my credit as well. So my credit score will drop if I pay my cards to zero????? So let me ask yall this I currently have a Navy Federal credit card with a balance of 3k but here is the problem navy fed closed it a year go do to my many lates ( lost my job) but left the balance it was at 20k at the time I know have it down to 3k so if I pay the account off my credit score will drop? Even if it's a close account?

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If zero cards report balances, your score will be less than if one card reports a small balance (small is generally thought to equal less than 9% of your limit). Also remember that the balance that the card reports to the CRAs is what's on the statement. You can pay it in full after you get the statement and it will still report that balance (which is a good thing for one card and a less good thing for multiple cards).

Regarding your Navy Federal card: do you have any other open cards? If so, and if a small balance reports on them, then paying off the Navy Federal card definitely can't hurt. If you don't have any other cards, you would likely benefit in more than one way by getting a card, using it sparingly, paying all but a small balance off before the statement closes each month, and then paying it in full after the statement closes.

I should add, though, that much of the score benefit to this is on a month to month basis. If you skip paying off the most of your balance before the statement closes every month, and then do so only in a month when you need your score to be maximized, you'll have the same score that month as if you were doing it all along.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So..... I paid off all my credit cards and each have reported a zero balance. TU score dropped 18 points to 700; EQ dropped 13 pts to 673 and EX dropped 23 pts to 673!! *sigh* (I actually had to sit down when I received the alert -just mind blowning) I was hoping to raise my score and it ended up doing the complete opposite. I do not know what I was thinking. Thankfully I have one CapOne card that is about to report  a small balance of $15 in the next couple of days, so hopefully that will help regain SOME of the points I lost. Can someone please come punch me in the face?? LOL this is a true lesson learned. This obsession I have with my scores is crazy. I need therapy.

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I'd gladly do it - but you would have to sign a waiver!  Where do you live??????????????