Pay your credit card balance each month

[Anonymous]

I had the same exact conversation with a coworker during lunch today who told me there is no point in PIF every month as it doesn't help your credit when it reports as a zero balance.

I then asked her could she check her report for last June to see what the balance on the card? Nope. It only shows that an on time payment was made.

We have so much to learn when it comes to credit and finances, myself included..

[Anonymous]

Most people have no clue how credit scoring works or even the real cost of interest.  It is sad that kids are not taught anything about these subjects in most high schools, as a parent I have sat down with my kids and gone over in great detail these subjects so hopefully they can make good decisions.   

[elim]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I had the same exact conversation with a coworker during lunch today who told me there is no point in PIF every month as it doesn't help your credit when it reports as a zero balance.

I then asked her could she check her report for last June to see what the balance on the card? Nope. It only shows that an on time payment was made.

We have so much to learn when it comes to credit and finances, myself included..

COMPANY	Chase Card	Chase Card	-
LOAN TYPE	Credit Card	Credit Card	-
ACCOUNT NUMBER	XXXXXXXXXXXX	XXXXXXXXXXXX	-
ACCOUNT HOLDER	Individual	Individual Account	-
DATE OPENED	Feb, 2016	Feb, 2016	-

STATUS DATE	Jan, 2017	Jan, 2017	-
CONDITION	Open	Open	-
LAST ACTIVITY	Jan, 2017	Jan, 2017	-
BALANCE	$1,507	$1,507	-
STATUS	Pays account as agreed	Paid or paying as agreed	-

LATE 30 DAYS	0 times	0 times	-
LATE 60 DAYS	0 times	0 times	-
LATE 90 PLUS DAYS	0 times	0 times	-
WORST DELINQUENCY	None Reported	None Reported	-
HIGH BALANCE	$3,066	$3,066	-
TERMS	-	-	-
SCHEDULED PAYMENT	$38	$38	-
CREDIT LIMIT	$14,100	$14,100	-
REMARKS	-	-	-

My reports always show the balance during the last statement cut. But, after a month it is just a green mark.

ETA: We don't know what data lenders keep while soft pulling monthly. 

[HeavenOhio]

If you check your full reports from annualcreditreport.com, you'll find that the structure is present to be able to tell if you're paying in full or not. EQ and EX keep this information for 24 months; TU keeps it foir 30. Card issuers may or may not report all of this information, though. CapOne and Chase don't. But Wells Fargo, Barclays, and Synchrony do. My AMEX account is new, so I don't know what they do. I haven't pulled a full report since opening that account.

You'll also see your balances relative to your limits over the past 24/30 months. That's available on all cards.

[Revelate]

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@elim wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
I had the same exact conversation with a coworker during lunch today who told me there is no point in PIF every month as it doesn't help your credit when it reports as a zero balance.

I then asked her could she check her report for last June to see what the balance on the card? Nope. It only shows that an on time payment was made.

We have so much to learn when it comes to credit and finances, myself included..

COMPANY	Chase Card	Chase Card	-
LOAN TYPE	Credit Card	Credit Card	-
ACCOUNT NUMBER	XXXXXXXXXXXX	XXXXXXXXXXXX	-
ACCOUNT HOLDER	Individual	Individual Account	-
DATE OPENED	Feb, 2016	Feb, 2016	-

STATUS DATE	Jan, 2017	Jan, 2017	-
CONDITION	Open	Open	-
LAST ACTIVITY	Jan, 2017	Jan, 2017	-
BALANCE	$1,507	$1,507	-
STATUS	Pays account as agreed	Paid or paying as agreed	-

LATE 30 DAYS	0 times	0 times	-
LATE 60 DAYS	0 times	0 times	-
LATE 90 PLUS DAYS	0 times	0 times	-
WORST DELINQUENCY	None Reported	None Reported	-
HIGH BALANCE	$3,066	$3,066	-
TERMS	-	-	-
SCHEDULED PAYMENT	$38	$38	-
CREDIT LIMIT	$14,100	$14,100	-
REMARKS	-	-	-

My reports always show the balance during the last statement cut. But, after a month it is just a green mark.

ETA: We don't know what data lenders keep while soft pulling monthly. 

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Need to pull a report directly from the bureau through annualcreditreport.com to get the trended data.

The rest are just third party presentation which strips out non-trivial amounts of data.   Trended data is there on all 3 bureaus at this point though not all lenders participate in furnishing it... but for those, I could walk your historical balances back by hand without even trying hard.\

As for FICO, I'd make the argument it's a risk and profitability index both, but that's just my opinion having worked for some less than prime lenders in the past.

[HeavenOhio]

I forgot to add that while the trended data is present in your reports (depending on whether the lender reports it), current scoring models don't take it into account. But lenders can get their hands on it and use it as they see fit.