@Anonymous wrote:Hello ,
This is my first post and this looked like the best site to ask my questions.
I know that it is ideal to keep the balance on a single credit card 9% or below but greater that 0% . and i also know that the same rule applys for your overall utilization across all cards. My question , if i have 5 credit cards , Is it better to use each card every month and have each card report a balance of 1 to 9% or is it better to just have 1 card report a small balance and the others report a zero balance? Which scenario is best for increasing credit score? Do they like to see you are using all cards reponsibily? or does it not matter?
in my mind i would think that if they see im using 5 cards repsonsibly and less than 9% and paying in full each month it would be better than using just 1 card. Am i wrong?
It all depends on what you are trying to accomplish. If higher FICO score is your goal so it impresses how FAIR ISAAC thinks of you, then the consensus seems to be that you should allow only one card report 9% balance or less, while the rest of the cards reporting a $0 balance. Now if you are planning to grow your credit portfolio (get approved for more cards or get more CLIs), in my opinion, if you use all of your cards and show responsible use and pay it off while leaving very minimal balance should be the way you go. As someone has already said on another post (I tried finding it, and had no luck), Fair Isaac does not issue cards, however.
So ask yourself what your goal is.
@Anonymous wrote:Thank you for the quick replies. My goal is to purchase a home 1 year from now and get the best interest rates. I curently have a 724 fico score acording what myfico (experian socre) my goal is to get in the 760's.
So just so i understand, you are saying that i should use only 1 card a month, use 1 to 9%, and pay it in full for maximun fico score? and it doesnt matter which card i use? i could just pick 1 of the 5 as long as the others are at zero balance? Not quite. For Maximum FICO, you can use all cards if you want, just leave one to report a balance of 9% or less. Everything else should report a $0 balance. So if you use more than one card (which is fine), PIF all but one of them.
Correct me if i am wrong please . It is my understanding that its better to have the credit card company generate a statement with a low balance and report it . compared to buying somthing on the credit card and paying it off before the statement is generated . you want the credit card company to report a small balance each month. and they report it on the statement closing date. This is the difference. Credit Card companies WANT you to use your credit card (and if you carry a balance on all of them - they will like you even more). That is how they make money (swipe fees and interest). So the more cards you use, the more the credit card companies will like you. But since the goal is to buy a house and increase the FICO score, stick to this formula: Use ANY/ALL cards if you want, but make sure you pay all but one in full before they report. The one you allow to report a balance, should be nore more than 9% of its credit limit.
@user5387 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Thank you so much for the replies. I now understand much better on what i should be doing.
My payment due date is 15th and the closing date is the 20th on my American Express card
So if my Credit Card statement closing date is the 20th. I can buy somthinga few days before ( lets say the 16th i buy something) , let that blance be reported on the 20th and pay it in full on the 22nd. that way i used the card , the small balance got reported a few days later and then paid off in full a few days after that. then just repeat the cycle every month.
The way I'd say it is this.
1. Closing / statenent date is the 20th, due date is 15th of next month (25-day grace period).
2. Paying statement balance before the due date avoids interest.
3. Whatever the balance is on the statement date shows up on your reports.
4. To optimize scoring, you want all reported balances at $0 except for one.
5. You can use all your cards as much as you wish, but to control utilization, pay them off or down before the statement date.
+1
i couldn't have said it better myself! 
You can use all of your cards. This "utilization game" does not have to be done all the time. Just do it before you want to apply for something to get your scores in best shape. It does not matter the rest of the time as your score does not need to be in perfect shape all the time. At least to me it would be way too much hassle to PIF before statement cut the full year. I am doing it every 6 months just before an app to boost the score for that only reason. I know I can get about 40 points higher by doing this but do not see a reason to have my best possible score all the time. I am also not sure if the 0 balance reporting will be contraproductive in terms of CLI... 
But that is me as a lazy person..lol
@lg8302ch wrote:You can use all of your cards. This "utilization game" does not have to be done all the time. Just do it before you want to apply for something to get your scores in best shape. It does not matter the rest of the time as your score does not need to be in perfect shape all the time. At least to me it would be way too much hassle to PIF before statement cut the full year. I am doing it every 6 months just before an app to boost the score for that only reason. I know I can get about 40 points higher by doing this but do not see a reason to have my best possible score all the time. I am also not sure if the 0 balance reporting will be contraproductive in terms of CLI...
But that is me as a lazy person..lol
Another point here is to be sensitive to AA risk.
For example, if I'm not applying for anything, but the reported balances on my CCs are very high, then I can still get into trouble, in that lenders may consider me a risk, and start cutting CLs and closing accounts.