Wow, those are great scores! (and they're FICO scores, pulled here, right?)
Anyway, I don't know if BofA would deny you because of the debt management thing, so I'll have to leave that for others.
I would definitely get with my CU, if they offer cards. I assume that earlier in the year, you did still have balances, and now that they're cleaned off, you're looking attractive to them again.
Your recent reports showing a November balance of $0 are reflecting that by the time your November statement dropped, your balance was back to $0, and that updated to the CRA's last month, probably at the time of your statement date. Had you pulled your reports before your November statement, they ought to have shown the balance.
It can be a little tricky with store cards, because many don't post statements unless you have a balance, but the rule of thumb for managing your util so that it reports $0 is to stop using your card 4-5 days before you think the statement is due to post again, and then pay your balance off online a few days later. Give it one more check right before the drop date in case something snuck in. In this way, you can use the cards, thus keeping them active, but not make it look as if you're carrying balances.
Most of us find that we do better with one card reporting a tiny balance, which we then pay off as soon as it's reported to the CRA's, but it's very possible that with only two open cards, you don't need to.
If one (or both) of your cards are issued by HSBC, be aware that they won't apply your online payment to your balance for two or three days later, unless you want to pay them 15 bucks or something to have them do the job right. This is why I occasionally have a balance report on my (HSBC) Best Buy store card.
I'm sure that other banks do this too, so become aware of their quirks. For instance, I think that it's Chase that makes you wait three days between payments (I wouldn't swear to this), and BofA will not credit Friday night and weekend payments, as if they have Bob Cratchit keeping the books with his quill pen.
But that's basically the angle with keeping reported util very low, while still using your cards.
Anyway, I don't know if BofA would deny you because of the debt management thing, so I'll have to leave that for others.
I would definitely get with my CU, if they offer cards. I assume that earlier in the year, you did still have balances, and now that they're cleaned off, you're looking attractive to them again.
usagichan wrote:
...Also, I'm quite confused about the whole UTIL thing. I don't want to carry any balance on my cards, but I do want to use them occasionally and then pay in full to keep my UTIL b/t 1 and 9%. What is the timing of that, and the timing of their reporting it to the bureaus? What should that look like on my report? In mid October I charged something on one of the store CC's and then paid it off after the statement came out. I just pulled all 3 scores today, and for that card, the balance says $0 with the last payment/activity in Nov 08.
Your recent reports showing a November balance of $0 are reflecting that by the time your November statement dropped, your balance was back to $0, and that updated to the CRA's last month, probably at the time of your statement date. Had you pulled your reports before your November statement, they ought to have shown the balance.
It can be a little tricky with store cards, because many don't post statements unless you have a balance, but the rule of thumb for managing your util so that it reports $0 is to stop using your card 4-5 days before you think the statement is due to post again, and then pay your balance off online a few days later. Give it one more check right before the drop date in case something snuck in. In this way, you can use the cards, thus keeping them active, but not make it look as if you're carrying balances.
Most of us find that we do better with one card reporting a tiny balance, which we then pay off as soon as it's reported to the CRA's, but it's very possible that with only two open cards, you don't need to.
If one (or both) of your cards are issued by HSBC, be aware that they won't apply your online payment to your balance for two or three days later, unless you want to pay them 15 bucks or something to have them do the job right. This is why I occasionally have a balance report on my (HSBC) Best Buy store card.
I'm sure that other banks do this too, so become aware of their quirks. For instance, I think that it's Chase that makes you wait three days between payments (I wouldn't swear to this), and BofA will not credit Friday night and weekend payments, as if they have Bob Cratchit keeping the books with his quill pen.But that's basically the angle with keeping reported util very low, while still using your cards.