Should I rotate the card reporting?

[Anonymous]

First, love this place!

I have 3 cards. At the end of last month, I only had one card, and it was reporting 30%. I hadn't found this forum yet. (:

So now with three cards, I'm making sue two will be reporting 0, and one at 1%.

Should I rotate which card is reporting at 1% each month, or should it always be the same one?

Thanks, all!

[Appleman]

I would say you could let it report up to 9% and likely still have the same effect.

I would encourage you to occasionally use all three and not worry too much about which card reports, just letting one report with <9% utilization.

YMMV

[Appleman]

And welcome to myFICO!

[Anonymous]

In terms of scoring it doesn't matter which one reports, but I personally like to rotate it so that the different creditors ever few months see that it's there card that reports.  Just a personal thing that doesn't matter in the least, but something I simply like to do.

[RonM21]

I agree. For me personally, I.also try to rotate the reporting becajse each lender is different in what triggers them to increase your limits. Some may like to see you csn.carry a balance then pay off.

[LuckyBird]

I think it's a good idea to rotate the one reporting so that Fico doesn't see any of them as inactive.  I've gotten a (minor) score drop before with an alert that said something to the effect of "Previously inactive card now reporting balace."  It wasn't much, as I recall, just a few points...but still...

I'll see if I can find that alert & report back...

[Themanwhocan]

Get a Bank of America Better Balance Rewards. Then that one wil always be the one that reports.

Problem solved, and you gain $100 a year.

[CluelessJohn]

I would suggest that there is no complelling reason to micromange utilization and # of cards reporting a balance on a month to month basis.  Keep your cards active by using them and PIF by the due date.  That type of behavior over the long haul is what opens the door to credit.  If there comes a time to tweak what reports in order to maximize your FICO score (i.e. mortgage), there a plenty of threads on these boards that can provide solid guidance.

[takeshi74]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Should I rotate which card is reporting at 1% each month, or should it always be the same one?

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Doesn't matter for scoring purposes.  Notice that there's nothing on the chart for which card(s) is/are reporting.

http://www.myfico.com/crediteducation/whatsinyourscore.aspx

You don't need to constantly optimize.  You may want to do so when applying for new credit. requesting, CLI's etc.  At other times just keep it under 30%.  Monitor your scores so you understand the impact.   My spend and limits put me at about 3%.  Most of my cards report balances but my FICO 8's are in the low 800's so I don't worry about number of balances reporting or squeezing out the additional points that I might be able to get by worrking over a 2% decrease in utilization.

That said, there are those who choose to do so constantly.  It's your time and your call.  However, if you really want to improve your scores then identifiy the major deficiencies and work on addressing them.  The scores in your scores indicate to me that there are probably other items that you could work on.

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@RM21 wrote:
I agree. For me personally, I.also try to rotate the reporting becajse each lender is different in what triggers them to increase your limits. Some may like to see you csn.carry a balance then pay off.

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Underwriting criteria can vary but which card reports a balance isn't going to be significant if it matters at all.  The other known factors are.  Don't rely on usage.  It's not just the one account that matters.  One's entire credit profile and income are the primary considerations for a CLI with any creditor.