What happens if I don't "Pay in Full"?

[Anonymous]

Hi Everyone!

Just a quick question as I am getting used to credit:

I made a substantially large purchase on my credit card and let's so for example my bill is $1,000 (not exact lol)

What happens if I decide to only pay $500 then the next statement I pay the remaining balance of $500.

I do not play on having it on longer then 3 billing cycles I am going to make large payments.

Will this hurt my credit score?

Will this ruin my chances of a CLI?

How will this look to the credit card companies and creditors?

[Sandman771]

I'm going through a simlar issue, and I know it will hurt my scores as fragile as they are, but the payment will show pays as agreed and your utilization will be the problem you'll take a temporary hit from. once you pay it back down below the threshhold (50%, 30% or 9%) then you will recoup those losses mostly. Hope that helps. I really planned on paying mine down more this month, just didn't get it done. And scores aren't good enough to get another card to offest some UTI use. Oh well, it's a crazy game we play. 

[Anonymous]

We obsess over utilization here, but this kind of usage is what credit cards were designed for.  Don't sweat it.  Your score will dip some for the higher balance reporting, then rebound back to where it is now as you pay it down.  

[LadyJEsq]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi Everyone!

Just a quick question as I am getting used to credit:

I made a substantially large purchase on my credit card and let's so for example my bill is $1,000 (not exact lol)

What happens if I decide to only pay $500 then the next statement I pay the remaining balance of $500.

I do not play on having it on longer then 3 billing cycles I am going to make large payments.

Will this hurt my credit score? possible but it'll only be temporary

Will this ruin my chances of a CLI? doubtful

How will this look to the credit card companies and creditors? you're just the kind of customer that htey're looking for. you carry balances for short periods of time and then pay them down. When we pay in full, it only benefits us, not the CCC. 

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Hello and welcome to the boards! See my answers in purple above. 

[HeavenOhio]

FICO doesn't care if your utilization is the result of carrying a balance or if it comes from current charges. For scoring purposes, it's the percentage of your limit that's being used that matters. How you get there is irrelevant.

Card companies like responsible use of credit. That's generally defined as using 28.9% of your credit limit or below, although there's some leeway with that. Underwriters like paying in full, although if your track record is good, carrying an occasional balance isn't likely to do harm.

One thing to watch out for that isn't scoring-related is trailing interest. Once you pay to zero, there'll likely be a small amount of interest charged to your following statement. Make sure you catch that. Of course, if you happen to be in an introductory 0% interest period, that issue is moot.