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Hey gang---just learned that some credit cards will give small balance credits when the statements cut because it's not worth processing a payment for small balances. For me they credited two dollars which I had purposely left to maximize my credit scores and keep my DTI super low for a mortgage application I'm planning in the very near future. So now all three of my credit cards have zero balances yet the most recent zero has yet to be reported to the Credit bueras to my knowledge.
Current scores: 765-772-784
How much should expect my scores to drop going from one card reporting a small balance (3 dollars) to all cards reporting zero?
My next card to have the statement cut is the 24th so I suppose I will just wait and leave a small balance on that one and then wait for them to report to all three bueras. I'm thinking I will leave a five dollar bill on that one to avoid this again.
@Gardenhand wrote:Hey gang---just learned that some credit cards will give small balance credits when the statements cut because it's not worth processing a payment for small balances. For me they credited two dollars which I had purposely left to maximize my credit scores and keep my DTI super low for a mortgage application I'm planning in the very near future. So now all three of my credit cards have zero balances yet the most recent zero has yet to be reported to the Credit bueras to my knowledge.
Current scores: 765-772-784
How much should expect my scores to drop going from one card reporting a small balance (3 dollars) to all cards reporting zero?
My next card to have the statement cut is the 24th so I suppose I will just wait and leave a small balance on that one and then wait for them to report to all three bueras. I'm thinking I will leave a five dollar bill on that one to avoid this again.
Interesting, which lender did this?
I'd heard of others giving $1.50 credits previously but $2 was considered safe previously. You're looking at 20ish points or so I think for all $0's, yeah just let $5 or $10 report... my usual report when I'm managing my reported balances is usually on the order of $35 but lower than that from testing is fine but I haven't found a creditor who issued me a credit yet but I haven't tried $1 with all of them.
Thanks for the info---it was Discover that got me the free coffee this morning. After this I've read up that they will credit 1.99 or less but they gave me the full two dollars. Now I know haha
I'd be careful about doing this on a regular basis especially if you start to assume it'll happen.
See this tread: http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/General-Credit-Topics/Help-I-left-3-dollar-balance-on-my-credit-card...
Thanks for the tip. I have an automatic payment set up as a safety net just in case I space a payment like this. It's set up to pay the statement balance in full before the due date however I manually pay it as soon as the statement cuts. That would really be a bummer tho.
I scored 7¢ off Cap One in January.
Old scores: 766-772-784
After All Os 749-760-768
Im looking for a bounce end of month after my next card reports :/
@Anonymous wrote:I scored 7¢ off Cap One in January.
I scored $0.64 off Citi in October, then they used the autopay anyhow ( set up for $100 per month ) to do a $0.64 autopayment.
I still got the $0.64, they haven't clawed it back yet. And I wasn't late on paying the $0.64 Statement Balance. That would have really been bad.
@Gardenhand wrote:Old scores: 766-772-784
After All Os 749-760-768
Im looking for a bounce end of month after my next card reports :/
Those scores will bounce back nicely for you next round.