topic Re: PIF every month a bad thing?? in Credit Cards

PIF every month a bad thing??

Anonymous — Sun, 02 Apr 2017 16:18:43 GMT

This might sound like a stupid question, but I have a few cards and I always PIF every month. Is this bad? Should I ever let a balance post on them for fico purposes? I only have 1 penfed promise card that I occasionally have a balance carry on, otherwise my disco, citi, b of a, everything is always paid before statement cuts and never shows a balance on CRAs. Just wanna make sure this wasn't a bad thing. Thanks guys!!

Re: PIF every month a bad thing??

AverageJoesCredit — Sun, 02 Apr 2017 16:23:17 GMT

Pif is a great policy , really helps control ones debt. It wouldnt hurt to let some stuff report at times but ill leave how correctly to the experts.

Re: PIF every month a bad thing??

SouthJamaica — Sun, 02 Apr 2017 16:24:14 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
This might sound like a stupid question, but I have a few cards and I always PIF every month. Is this bad? Should I ever let a balance post on them for fico purposes? I only have 1 penfed promise card that I occasionally have a balance carry on, otherwise my disco, citi, b of a, everything is always paid before statement cuts and never shows a balance on CRAs. Just wanna make sure this wasn't a bad thing. Thanks guys!!

1. If you define "pay in full" as pay in full before the due date.... no it's a great thing.

2. If you define "pay in full" as pay before the statement cuts... it's a great thing to do that with all but one of your cards, and to let one card report a small balance. You will actually get better FICO points with 1 account reporting a small balance, than with 100% zero balances.

Re: PIF every month a bad thing??

Anonymous — Sun, 02 Apr 2017 16:55:31 GMT

I think it's personal preference. If I'm not going to app for any cards, loans, mortages, etc. Then I just let my balances post and pay it off before the due date. However, If I know im going to be apping for something, I'll def pay before the statment cuts so that I can control and show little to no balance on my credit report. So it really depends.....if youre not going to be applying for anything I wouldn't go crazy over micro mananging it.

Re: PIF every month a bad thing??

Anonymous — Sun, 02 Apr 2017 17:03:02 GMT

Occasionally let your PenFed report then you can kind of see the patterns for your personal profile how it goes up a couple points and down a couple points. We can quote philosophy but you are the only one who is going to be spot-on with your data and how it affects what youre running with. The most important thing is saving money. If you are not paying out any interest you're doing it right. you only need to worry about FICO scoring if you are ready to apply for something or ask for increases with existing accounts. Otherwise to stay the course and just pay something off by the due date is just fine and build history exactly the same

Re: PIF every month a bad thing??

Anonymous — Sun, 02 Apr 2017 18:11:50 GMT

Thanks everyone! Only credit I intend on seeking are SP cli. I wasn't sure if I should take turns letting my different accounts post a balance or if that didn't matter. I woke up in a small panic this morning as my discover statement is due to cut in a couple days and I have a balance on it. I immediately paid it off and wrote up this post as I wasn't sure if it was a huge deal or if I was hurting myself by not letting any accounts close with a balance. I've come a long way in my rebuild and I wanna make sure I do it right this time around.

Re: PIF every month a bad thing??

AverageJoesCredit — Sun, 02 Apr 2017 18:16:25 GMT

Great question though, great replies

In regards to Disco, i dont think anyone way would please them you're either on their " IT" list for cli or your not. Monkeys and keyboards

Re: PIF every month a bad thing??

ls2016 — Sun, 02 Apr 2017 18:19:33 GMT

No, it is not a bad thing. I pay in full every month simply because I can't afford to pay interest on credit cards (8.74- 25% on all 20 cards). This mortgage and student loan interest is already tough, to add credit card interest on top of that...I can't handle it. I do let the statement cut and the balance report before I PIF by the due date. It works for me. Now, if I was forced to carry a balance, then I wouldn't have a choice but to pay interest, but right now, I don't have to.
Best Wishes to you!

Re: PIF every month a bad thing??

HeavenOhio — Sun, 02 Apr 2017 18:31:55 GMT

It's not being suggested that anyone pay interest.

PIF (pay in full) means to pay the full statement balance by the due date. That will avoid interest.

Some people like to go beyond that and pay to zero. That's when one pays all charges before the statement cuts, resulting in a statement balance of zero.

FICO likes lots of zero balances, but it prefers to see a positive balance appear on at least one card. But it likes positive balances on less than half of one's cards.

For best results, pay all cards except one to zero before the statement cuts. That'll avoid any quirks that may slightly ding one's score. Make sure that balance is on a major card and is at least $5.

As mentioned above, it isn't necessary to do this all the time. But trying it out provides good practice so you know what you need to do when it might be beneficial to eek out every point you can.

Re: PIF every month a bad thing??

Blackswizz750 — Sun, 02 Apr 2017 21:05:33 GMT

Good for keeping things clean and if you are preparing to app for a beneficial cause. Good habit to have.

Re: PIF every month a bad thing??

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Apr 2017 04:54:46 GMT

For scoring purposes it's best to follow the one card under 9% reporting rule. I usually have my apps planned out ahead of time so most of the time when I'm not doing any apping I let my cards report their balances so the full balance and payment history shows on the reports.

Re: PIF every month a bad thing??

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Apr 2017 17:03:41 GMT

You've received some very sound advice that I'll echo. It's a great thing to pay in full each month and avoid interest when possible. That said, always paying before the statement cuts can be slightly counterproductive from a credit score perspective. It makes it look like you're not utilizing your credit at all. I've actually fallen victim to this recently and lost a few points specifically because no activity was being reported. I'm trying to force myself to rememeber to let a small balance post each month. Preferably a card that reports to all 3 bureaus.

Re: PIF every month a bad thing??

HeavenOhio — Mon, 03 Apr 2017 17:06:37 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
You've received some very sound advice that I'll echo. It's a great thing to pay in full each month and avoid interest when possible. That said, always paying before the statement cuts can be slightly counterproductive from a credit score perspective. It makes it look like you're not utilizing your credit at all. I've actually fallen victim to this recently and lost a few points specifically because no activity was being reported. I'm trying to force myself to rememeber to let a small balance post each month. Preferably a card that reports to all 3 bureaus.

The report always shows your latest payment. And the detailed reports show your payments on a month by month basis. All of this shows usage. That's not enough?

Re: PIF every month a bad thing??

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Apr 2017 17:25:39 GMT

Paying in full is great. However, make sure to not pay until the statement posts and of course pay before the due date. I believe that IF you pay before the statement even cuts then you won't get the rewards points on some cards.

Re: PIF every month a bad thing??

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Apr 2017 17:51:59 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Paying in full is great. However, make sure to not pay until the statement posts and of course pay before the due date. I believe that IF you pay before the statement even cuts then you won't get the rewards points on some cards.

Not true at all.

Re: PIF every month a bad thing??

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Apr 2017 19:58:42 GMT

I've been watching my scores rise in the garden by doing this:

2 days before statement: pay down to 1% util

2 days after statement: PIF

Seems to work pretty well. Discover seems to like it too.

Re: PIF every month a bad thing??

sarge12 — Mon, 03 Apr 2017 20:14:45 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
This might sound like a stupid question, but I have a few cards and I always PIF every month. Is this bad? Should I ever let a balance post on them for fico purposes? I only have 1 penfed promise card that I occasionally have a balance carry on, otherwise my disco, citi, b of a, everything is always paid before statement cuts and never shows a balance on CRAs. Just wanna make sure this wasn't a bad thing. Thanks guys!!

Best to pay every card in full before the statement cuts except 1, and pay that 1 in full a couple of days before the due date. The optimal is 1 card reporting <9% of total credit limits. No card should be reporting over 29% of that cards limit. Credit utilization is a point in time metric and matters most prior to applying for new credit.

Re: PIF every month a bad thing??

sarge12 — Mon, 03 Apr 2017 20:16:47 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Paying in full is great. However, make sure to not pay until the statement posts and of course pay before the due date. I believe that IF you pay before the statement even cuts then you won't get the rewards points on some cards.
Not true at all.

+100...if it post's you get the reward on every card I've seen.

Re: PIF every month a bad thing??

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Apr 2017 20:18:26 GMT

I have one card that I aIways pay to z. I didn't realize til last month it was not reporting. I let if and another one report small balances and got 15 points in the process.