What is max amount I should let it report on my CR's

[Red1Blue]

I have close to about $100+K in Credit limits may be close to 140K personal lines and probably another $150 in Business lines. I have to go back and look for exact amounts that is rough what I think I have now. I pay in full and never revolve balance. I spend about $8k-10k/ month both on business and personal cards. In order to keep the balances low for fico scores I have been doing PIF before the statment cuts and keep balances low. I am getting bit tired of having to keep track of the statement dates and pay ahead before they post. I am thinking of paying some accounts after they post and before the statment due date. What is the max amount I should let it report before I get into too much debt category? What is the safe amount to let it post on my CR's. By the way my scores are EQ 692 and TU 715. Any ideas what amount I should let it report?

[Anonymous]

Personally, I make sure to not only use my cc's, but to report a balance and even pay over a couple months occassionally.

I don't want it to be "out of character" should I ever want / need to do a balance down the road and have it "interpreted" as out of trend and flag of financial distress.

I think treating all credit as a charge card is a good financial plan, but may make you more susceptible to AA should you change that pattern for whatever reason.

This is just my opinion, and many may disagree.  But I know CC's track spending and payment patterns and if they change they can have consequences.

[Red1Blue]

txj, I understand. It is a two edged sword. If we show too much balance that can trigger AA and CLD's. As long as we pay it I am sure the CC's know about it. I got at least CLI's on at least 9 biz+personal cards in the last 3-4 weeks. I think I'll start leaving balance of about $1500-2500 / month on the cards and make sure they are less than 10% of CL. For instance I have $20K cl on one of  card and I dont think they would mind if I let $2k balance post on my CR and pay it before the statement due date.

[Watchmann]

I very seldom pay before the statement cuts.  In my view that is over managing the situation and is letting a FICO score rule your life.  I refuse to let some mythical score dictate my behaviour.  I know when each account cuts off and when I get notification that a new statement is available I go online and PIF.  I run no more than 5-8% total of my available lines at any one time, but once in awhile I may have a large charge on AMEX (say, $10k to $20k).  No matter, when the statement drops I go in and pay it off.  The money is due when they ask for it, not before.  It defeats the whole purpose of credit to pay before the statement drops.  Other people with lower credit limits may find it helps the score a bit, but in the end it really doesn't mean much in the scheme of life.  And if you are not looking to buy a house or an expensive car in the foreseeable future what do you really care if your total use of your lines are a few percentage points higher than you could make them if you were super digital and PIF as soon as you come home from the store?  I will not let FICO dictate a change from common sense behavior.  Credit is there to make my life simpler, not complicate it.  In my view there is way too much over managing of the almighty FICO score.

YMMV.  But I've had credit for over 33 years, have never been CLD'd or refused credit for any reason.  My method works for me. 

Message Edited by Watchmann on 07-26-2009 07:24 PM

[smallfry]

I have 5 cards plus a small store card. I use 2 cards each month and let them both report. PIF before the due date but not much before. I might use another card for a few small charges but make sure to pay that one before the statement drops.

[Anonymous]

If you want the greatest possible FICO score you will allow 0 < UTIL < 1% to report on one card. If you want a minimal FICO score ding you will allow 0 < UTIL <= 9% to report on one card. Beyond that you are getting into a lot of thinking again which you seem to want to avoid. (And I don't blame you!)

I have three revolving accounts out of nine open revovling lines I carry balances on and those are constantly being whittled down. As long as I hold to that I have a fairly controlled environment and the changes are fairly predicable. I also know that as those balances come down (UTIL now 9%) I should expect a slow score rise. I doubt there would be much of a score difference if the UTIL remained at 9% and only two accounts reported. By the time two accounts report my UTIL should be less than 8%.

Message Edited by creditwherecreditisdue on 07-26-2009 09:09 PM

[Anonymous]

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@Watchmann wrote:

I very seldom pay before the statement cuts.  In my view that is over managing the situation and is letting a FICO score rule your life.  I refuse to let some mythical score dictate my behaviour.  I know when each account cuts off and when I get notification that a new statement is available I go online and PIF.  I run no more than 5-8% total of my available lines at any one time, but once in awhile I may have a large charge on AMEX (say, $10k to $20k).  No matter, when the statement drops I go in and pay it off.  The money is due when they ask for it, not before.  It defeats the whole purpose of credit to pay before the statement drops.  Other people with lower credit limits may find it helps the score a bit, but in the end it really doesn't mean much in the scheme of life.  And if you are not looking to buy a house or an expensive car in the foreseeable future what do you really care if your total use of your lines are a few percentage points higher than you could make them if you were super digital and PIF as soon as you come home from the store?  I will not let FICO dictate a change from common sense behavior.  Credit is there to make my life simpler, not complicate it.  In my view there is way too much over managing of the almighty FICO score.

YMMV.  But I've had credit for over 33 years, have never been CLD'd or refused credit for any reason.  My method works for me. 

Message Edited by Watchmann on 07-26-2009 07:24 PM

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I think that works well because you "run no more than 5-8% total of my available lines at any one time."  However, for those who use credit more heavily prefer not to have those amounts of debt report, not just for FICO sake, but for the sake of appearing over extended to creditors who like to pull soft reviews on a regular basis.

[Watchmann]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I think that works well because you "run no more than 5-8% total of my available lines at any one time."  However, for those who use credit more heavily prefer not to have those amounts of debt report, not just for FICO sake, but for the sake of appearing over extended to creditors who like to pull soft reviews on a regular basis.

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I'm sure you are right.  But back before you could even take a peek at your credit report or FICO score people just didn't worry about all this stuff and everyone got on fine, financially.  People bought cars and houses with loans, and even had a few credit cards to make life simpler.  But it seems the more we know on credit issues the more we seem to have gotten ourselves into financial hot water.  It seems counter intuitive.   

[Anonymous]

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@Watchmann wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

I think that works well because you "run no more than 5-8% total of my available lines at any one time."  However, for those who use credit more heavily prefer not to have those amounts of debt report, not just for FICO sake, but for the sake of appearing over extended to creditors who like to pull soft reviews on a regular basis.

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I'm sure you are right.  But back before you could even take a peek at your credit report or FICO score people just didn't worry about all this stuff and everyone got on fine, financially.  People bought cars and houses with loans, and even had a few credit cards to make life simpler.  But it seems the more we know on credit issues the more we seem to have gotten ourselves into financial hot water.  It seems counter intuitive.   

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Of course CR's and CRA's didn't have such real time info, nor did creditors obtain info in such real time. 

Generally your ability to get credit was related to initial credit review, finances and then by your use and history on that account.

Now you have creditors who obtain all of your CR data every month:  Scores, total debt, balances, accounts, inquiries, new accounts and any potential derogs such as lates etc.

The "digital" and information age has made everything move much faster and in much higher definition.

[haulingthescoreup]

Concorduser, with your total CL, I don't think you need to be concerned about the dollar amount that reports. You might want to look more at the number of cards with balances.

How many open CC's do you have? * braces for reply * You might want to divide the number of CC's you have by 4, or possibly 3, and let that number report each month. So 15 cards --> let 4 or 5 report a balance. So in other words, use those 4 or 5 and pay them off after the statement drops.

I would aim at keeping it under 5%, though. (I would say under 10% if your total CL was more like $50-60K.)

You'll get a one-time score ding when an account reports a balance for the first time in a while, even if you've been using it, but that will go away the next month.

This is why I'm trying to cull a couple of cards from my collection. I'm getting tired of keeping them all amused, especially these days. It's like Scheherazade for credit, telling a new story every night to keep from being executed.