Help ! need advise with credit card/

[haapril]

hello, everyone. To make a long story short I have a new CC that I recieved at the end of NOV. I started using it and paying off the next day. Well right before BOA report balance of CC i left a low balnce of 114 with a limit of 500. I thought by leaving a low balnce instaed of paying the balance to $0 is better. My score dropped by 3 points. Any suggestions?? Should i keep always keep a balance, if so what is consider to being a low balance? Or should I always pay balance of to $0. Which is best to increase score. Thanks to everyone with their time and advise.

[cobaltnv]

haapril,

  A 3 point drop is not terribly large and could be due to many things (like a new card reporting on your CR). The $114 you left on the card may be a "low balance" to you, but to a $500 limit card it represents a 22.8% utilization which is not low. If you wish to let a balance report (note the difference between letting a balance report and leaving a balance month to month) make sure it is less than 10% of the credit limit (<1% even better).

Cheers 

[haapril]

thank you  fro your advise.