AZEO Method

[Anonymous]

Hello all,

I hope this is the appropriate forum to ask this. Im curious of the AZEO Method. I'm aware of what it is:

-Have all cards except one report $0 balance and then have that card report at or below 8.9%

My quesiton is, I've always heard that having cards reporting $0 is bad for your credit due to lack of use, am I incorrect?

Also, wont they eventually close out the account if youre not using it?

Thanks

[Anonymous]

Use each card once every couple months to keep activity and pay it off by the statement date. That keeps it open while allowing it to report zero for purposes of AZEO.

[Anonymous]

I have just started the AZEO method, started January 1st, from all the forums I’ve read here, as long as you pop a $10 charge on them here and there they will not close, so I have all my cards at zero except 1 card and it is sitting at 6%, my plan is to pay that card off next month and put 6% on another card and keep rotating cards to keep them open and something going through each one instead of just the same card reporting, so far though my scores have increased about 10 points over 2 week period for a total of 20 points from each bureau, my Equifax wasn’t reporting properly until I called them and it finally went up 7 points the first week and then 13 the second week, Transunion went up 18 points all at once, Experian went up 17 points the first week and 2 points the second week, I still have a card that will report february 12th that will show true 6% uti, right now with that card reporting I’m around 18 to 20%, hope this helps, it does work if you stick to it

[Anonymous]

Make sure that your card with a balance is a bank card, not a store card. There are reports that using a store card won’t give the same boost. Long as it’s carrying a major network logo like Amex, Visa, or MasterCard, you’re good. A Target RedCard wouldn’t be good, but the MasterCard version would work.

[Anonymous]

Using a card every month, pay in full before the closing date, and doing that for years doesn't mean you haven't used the card from the issuer's standpoint, because obviously they have record of use. It will show as 0 on your reports, which may translate into non use on credit reports. 

[KLEXH25]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hello all,

I hope this is the appropriate forum to ask this. Im curious of the AZEO Method. I'm aware of what it is:

-Have all cards except one report $0 balance and then have that card report at or below 8.9%

My quesiton is, I've always heard that having cards reporting $0 is bad for your credit due to lack of use, am I incorrect?

Also, wont they eventually close out the account if youre not using it?

Thanks

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You can still use all your cards while doing AZEO. You just have to know when your lender reports your balance. USUALLY, it's the last day of your statement period (when your statement "cuts"), but not always. The trick is to make sure you pay off your cards before that date so when it reports, the balance is $0. Of course this can be tricky if charges are pending longer than usual (I'm looking at you Discover). Also, keep in mind that it's not practical to employ AZEO all the time. It should only be used if you're about to apply for something and want to squeeze every last FICO score points. 

[Anonymous]

@KLEXH25

So its not practical to do it all the time? My application for a mortgage will probably be around June or July, depending on how effective this method will be. I was planning on implementing it from now until then for the best results. Is that something I should avoid doing, in your opinon?

[Anonymous]

@CardNut

Can you be more specific in your last statement?

"It will show as 0 on your reports, which may translate into non use on credit reports."

It sounds like the first part of your statement was a positive and the second part is a negative, am I correct?

Thanks

[thornback]

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@Anonymous wrote:

@KLEXH25

So its not practical to do it all the time? My application for a mortgage will probably be around June or July, depending on how effective this method will be. I was planning on implementing it from now until then for the best results. Is that something I should avoid doing, in your opinon?

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AZEO offers a one-time score boost.   To keep the boost received from AZEO, you have to continue AZEO for each billing/reporting cycle; once you stop, any points gained from AZEO will be lost.   AZEO points do not compound month after month - in other words,  if you gain 5 points from the first month of implementation, you will not gain an additional 5 points for doing it a second month -- you will always only retain the first 5 points. 

That is why it's not 'practical' or necessary to do AZEO continuously but rather on occassion, prior to applying for something, to squeeze out every available FICO point so you may receive the best possible rate/terms. 

What you could do is implement AZEO now, just to see how it affects your scores since all profiles differ and, after testing, go back to letting your cards report as normal.   Then, re-implement AZEO for the billing/reporting cycle prior to your mortgage app (give yourself enough time to make sure all accounts are fully updated and AZEO is reflected).  Or - you can implement AZEO now and continue doing so until after your mortgage app so it's one less thing to think about between now and then.   Do whatever works for you. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

@CardNut

Can you be more specific in your last statement?

"It will show as 0 on your reports, which may translate into non use on credit reports."

It sounds like the first part of your statement was a positive and the second part is a negative, am I correct?

Thanks

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AZEO is a good short term way to boost scores. If you are applying for a mortgage in June or July, I would make sure all cards except one report 0 balances on the May statement and continue until the house closes. Mortgage lenders tend to SP during the purchase process up until closing to make sure nothing out of the ordinary shows up. 5 or 10 points might not make a difference if you abandoned AZEO after applying, but no reason to risk it.

Some scoring models, especially the newest ones may take into account  recent use of cards, which they can measure by reporting balances. All zeros all the time could be interpreted as cards not being used and lower score in the long term. 

This is what I would do just to safeguard scenarios in mortgage lender's score analysis we might not know about.