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I want to try and build as much of a payment history as possible on all of my cards. I have a few questions as how to best do this.
It seems like the consensous is that you should let a balance of 1-9% report one one credit card for best util score.
Now this leads to 3 different possibilities for payments.
1. Let balance post, pay card.
2. Use card and pay before statement cuts.
3. Don't use card, 0 statement balance.
Will all of these count towards your payment history? Just the first 2?
I don't think anyone cares as long as you're not late or maxed out!
An unused credit card does not show an active payment history. It will look better if you charge that candy bar or what ever each month and pay it off.
@bettercreditguy1 wrote:An unused credit card does not show an active payment history. It will look better if you charge that candy bar or what ever each month and pay it off.
What about paying the balance before the statement cuts? Will that count towards my payment history?
I care more about building a payment history than my utilization at this point.
@bettercreditguy1 wrote:An unused credit card does not show an active payment history. It will look better if you charge that candy bar or what ever each month and pay it off.
This is an interesting topic to me. I have been through a major rebuild the last two years. I have brought my scores up a lot, however now I am thinking I could have done better. Through much of this rebuild, I had a couple of credit cards at $0 - basically parked them and did not use them for many, many months. I guess I could have helped myself a bit if I used them and paid them, therefore showing a few more on-time perfect payments? Either way, I have so pleased to be about 700 area vs. the lower 500's two years ago!
There's no history if there's no use.
This is why we get a temporary 'ding' when using a dormant card. Not to mention; I've had a couple of cc company's actually force a hp to use a cc after being sock-drawered. I've found for me, that if I use mine every three months or so, I have no issues. YMMV
@unrlmth wrote:I want to try and build as much of a payment history as possible on all of my cards. I have a few questions as how to best do this.
It seems like the consensous is that you should let a balance of 1-9% report one one credit card for best util score.
Now this leads to 3 different possibilities for payments.
1. Let balance post, pay card.
2. Use card and pay before statement cuts.
3. Don't use card, 0 statement balance.
Will all of these count towards your payment history? Just the first 2?
I would suggest keeping the card active.
Whether you pay the balance before the statement date or not is typically driven by whether you wish to optimize reported utilization.