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$20 is no big deal. What's really important is everything else on your CR - total UTL, inq, aaoa, baddies, etc. $20 bal isn't going to make or break you on your spree if everything else is good to go.
The balances reporting on both cards will lower your credit score somewhat, but its only one factor and I do not think its going to result in any sort of significant point drop (it probably will not make a difference in your apps) as long as your overall util is within the appropriate range and everything else in your profile is in good shape.
If you have a handful of credit cards already, 1 card vs 2 cards reporting a small balance will make no difference. The "exactly one card" thing is a simplified generalization that was created because it is not hard to explain to beginners. In actuality, the major FICO factors you are concerned with are utilization percentage (both total and per card), the percentage of total revolving credit reporting balances, and you want to show some revolving credit usage in general. In order to show usage, you need at least one card reporting, but to keep the percentage reporting low, you also want this percentage of cards reporting to be at least below 50%. If someone had only 3 cards, this aspect would only be achievable with one card reporting a balance. But with more than a few cards, it becomes trivial. It doesn't have to be only 1 card.
If we just tell everyone to have 1 card at less than 10%, this is a very easy way to make sure that generally everyone will have a small percentage of cards reporting a balance (1) and they will also have both per-card and total util that is very low (less than 10%), plus they will be showing revolving credit usage by showing a used card on the report.
You can achieve this same scoring effect with 2 of 5 cards reporting low balances. You could even let more cards report if you had more cards to balance the ratio.
EDIT: I just re-read OP and realized that you only have 2 cards. In that case, if you think you are borderline for approval, you would gain a few more points if you paid it to $0 since you are at 100% reporting right now. I would pay it and wait until the BoA reports again. Or, if you are in a rush, change your address online and BoA will update with your current balance.
@Jchuthemyth wrote:
I will start my credit app spree on this coming monday or tuesday, as soon as the balance updated.
I only have 2 cards now, boa and us bank. I purposely left 320 for us bank to report and make boa 0. But, I checked my boa today, it has 20 dollars on the statement due to the automatic payment that I submitted months ago that I totally forget. So, the situation now is us bank reporting 320 and boa 20.
So, does it make a big different to my credit score if compared to the scenario of us bank reporting 320 and boa reporting 0?
I have seen my FICO drop 15 points or more from a $7 to $12 balance reporting on a card w/ $2500 to $3k CL. Also taking into account that you only have 2 CCs, having them both reporting balances will affect your FICO more.
I don't know if it would make a difference in your being approved or not, but it could affect the CL and/or interest rate you get. All those factors really depend on the card(s) you're apping for, your AAoA, and other factors.
If you're not in a hurry (I know, we all want the new card NOW! ), it would be better to wait until next month when the balance is zero. If you really need the card this month, then go ahead. But keep in mind that you may not get terms as good as you could otherwise.
@bichonmom wrote:
@Jchuthemyth wrote:
I will start my credit app spree on this coming monday or tuesday, as soon as the balance updated.
I only have 2 cards now, boa and us bank. I purposely left 320 for us bank to report and make boa 0. But, I checked my boa today, it has 20 dollars on the statement due to the automatic payment that I submitted months ago that I totally forget. So, the situation now is us bank reporting 320 and boa 20.
So, does it make a big different to my credit score if compared to the scenario of us bank reporting 320 and boa reporting 0?I have seen my FICO drop 15 points or more from a $7 to $12 balance reporting on a card w/ $2500 to $3k CL. Also taking into account that you only have 2 CCs, having them both reporting balances will affect your FICO more.
I don't know if it would make a difference in your being approved or not, but it could affect the CL and/or interest rate you get. All those factors really depend on the card(s) you're apping for, your AAoA, and other factors.
If you're not in a hurry (I know, we all want the new card NOW! ), it would be better to wait until next month when the balance is zero. If you really need the card this month, then go ahead. But keep in mind that you may not get terms as good as you could otherwise.
First time i had two balances reporting was inadvertant, but it raised my score by about six points. Then just recently i went from 0% util .. there was a small balance but rounded to zero...just went to 3% and my eq fico went from 787 to 813.