topic Re: Paying Down Reported Balances in Credit Cards

Paying Down Reported Balances

webhopper — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 16:18:39 GMT

I did my cash flow worksheet and here's what I can do in July:

Reported Balance for June 12

NFCU Balance: 5108 > 273

Amazon Visa: 1086 > 0 (already done)

Amex: 5186 > 0 (will PIF before statement cuts I let this report last month since the balance was high)

Discover: 4100 > 4000 (Pay minimum because this is on 0% interest, Plan to PIF next month)

So in August I can pay on discover, but the question is, how much balance should I let report on Discover? My available credit is 33,000. I'm at 30% utilization and I was just wondering what the sweet spot would be to have optimum utilization on the Discover, which is my oldest tradeline.

Re: Paying Down Reported Balances

Anonymous — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 16:26:09 GMT

Between 160 and 400 on Discover only. That puts you between 1-9% on utilization for both your total utilization and Discover's utilization. Max FICO is somewhere in there.

Re: Paying Down Reported Balances

webhopper — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 16:50:22 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Between 160 and 400 on Discover only. That puts you between 1-9% on utilization for both your total utilization and Discover's utilization. Max FICO is somewhere in there.

Thanks for the input. I haven't played with reported util% enough yet to know all of these things!

Re: Paying Down Reported Balances

MarineVietVet — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 17:10:28 GMT

@webhopper wrote:
I did my cash flow worksheet and here's what I can do in July:

Reported Balance for June 12

NFCU Balance: 5108 > 273
Amazon Visa: 1086 > 0 (already done)
Amex: 5186 > 0 (will PIF before statement cuts I let this report last month since the balance was high)
Discover: 4100 > 4000 (Pay minimum because this is on 0% interest, Plan to PIF next month)

So in August I can pay on discover, but the question is, how much balance should I let report on Discover? My available credit is 33,000. I'm at 30% utilization and I was just wondering what the sweet spot would be to have optimum utilization on the Discover, which is my oldest tradeline.

There is no set in stone answer to this. You might have to play around with the percentages for a few months to see what works best for you. Some people say that 1-3% utilization helps the most. For others it might be 5-9%. This is definitely YMMV.

Re: Paying Down Reported Balances

Anonymous — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 03:38:54 GMT

Hum hey wait a minute it sounds like you guys are saying that utilization is a combination of all your available credit and not just that card? I for some reason had always thought utilization was broken down by card and by total card being more important! From the look of it that may not be true. I mean for me it's no big deal for the time being because my CC utilization is 0% yay me. I do have 3 loans though truck, car, and toyhauler but I have a plan to pay off my truck and car with in the next 12 months before I retire!

Re: Paying Down Reported Balances

webhopper — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 03:49:27 GMT

Congrats on getting it paid off this yr. Me and joey paid off two cars and we are working on the third. The.wedding and.honeymoon expenses.are.first to.go

Re: Paying Down Reported Balances

Anonymous — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 03:59:11 GMT

Yea I think i remember seeing that somewhere on here where you guys went on a nice honeymoon that sounds awesome! Thank you on the congrats I'm really trying hard to pay them off becasue I'm scared about the whole retirement thing I mean I'm excited but I'm scarred too ya know. I need a job!! I mean I'm setting myself up so I won't have any really extra bills and i have a good woman to take care of me she is my suggar mama, but still crazy to think about!

Re: Paying Down Reported Balances

MarineVietVet — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 04:47:11 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hum hey wait a minute it sounds like you guys are saying that utilization is a combination of all your available credit and not just that card? I for some reason had always thought utilization was broken down by card and by total card being more important! From the look of it that may not be true. I mean for me it's no big deal for the time being because my CC utilization is 0% yay me. I do have 3 loans though truck, car, and toyhauler but I have a plan to pay off my truck and car with in the next 12 months before I retire!

I'm not quite sure what you're asking/saying. FICO looks at both overall and individual revolving account utilization. I'm not sure one can say with certainty which is weighed more heavily in scoring.

Utilization of installment accounts is looked at for scoring but it's such a tiny part of the formula you can basically ignore it.

I guess the bottom line is try to manage revolving utilization as best you can and your scores will thank you for it.

Re: Paying Down Reported Balances

Anonymous — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 05:58:58 GMT

Well either way then I guess 0% utilization is the winner! and that is what I currently have so no worries. I still want to get my truck and car paid off before I take the scarry retirement plung next summer! I mean I'll only be 38 and of course I'm still going to work but I'm scared about finding a job in SoCal, Murrieta to be exact!

Re: Paying Down Reported Balances

MarineVietVet — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 19:10:16 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Well either way then I guess 0% utilization is the winner! and that is what I currently have so no worries. I still want to get my truck and car paid off before I take the scarry retirement plung next summer! I mean I'll only be 38 and of course I'm still going to work but I'm scared about finding a job in SoCal, Murrieta to be exact!

That's always a good move. Being debt free should be the #1 priority for all of us.

Re: Paying Down Reported Balances

Anonymous — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 19:39:51 GMT

Congrats on paying down so far. I missed a payment on my CC by 1 day from the statement balance to when my payment posted, so I will be watching over the next month the difference myself