@HarleyGirlInDallas wrote:Thanks to myFICO and the info I've been learning in these forums, I've been watching my score steadily rise. I didn't pay that much attention to my credit score and only carried "for emergency" cards with lower limits because I like cash; however, when my Mom passed away on 9-2-20, I found myself maxing out what cards I had and tapping out my savings to pay for her funeral.
Maxing out the cards hurt my score as you can imagine and I've got everything paid off with the exception of 2 cards -- a NFCU with a $2k limit that is currently at $1900 and an AmEx Hilton card that's at $800 on a $1k limit.
Due to a second full-time seasonal job which is blessing me with serious overtime, I'm in a position to pay everything off. However, I'm curious if it looks better to lenders -- or when requesting a CLI -- to carry a balance less than 30% or to simply have everything paid in full?
Thanks in advance!
Better to pay everything off.
Only thing to watch out for, be sure one of the cards reports a small balance each month before you pay it off.
It looks better to PIF on all your cards. You do want one card to report a small balance of under 30% (ideally under 10%) but that just means you should pay that card after the statement closes & posts. And PIF on the other cards before the statement closes. The statement balance is the only thing that your credit report & score will show.
I think some clarification needs to be made here. Carrying a balance implies letting an unpaid balance roll over into the next month and incurring interest. There is zero need for that. *Reporting* a balance means just letting whatever you run up for the month post, letting your statement cycle, and then paying that entire balance in full by the due date. No interest needs to be paid.
All that to say that you can allow a balance to report, but make sure said balance is under 28.9% (yes, 28.9, not the 30% that's touted around the internet) before the statement cycle closes. Once the cycle closes and the balance posts, you can then immediately pay it in full if you wish. Or you can wait a bit, but just make sure to pay it in full before the due date.
My condolences @HarleyGirlInDallas
You got through the thick of it (having high utilization without any AA) fine it seems.
Game plan is simple -- Pay any and all amount due on time, as your situation warrants.
Outside of that, unless you want to watch and micromanage your score for some reason, IMO it's easier to just pay attention to the statement balance and due date and forget about the score noise.
Letting the statements close with balances and using the time allowed to borrow the money provides activity for your reports which all the creditors can see and know that you use the credit you have... this is good too and perhaps more useful than the score of the day.
If you want a buffer for unexpected high utilization you might consider an Amex NPSL charge card for those situations.
Like the one poster said above, make sure to keep a small balance. This month I mistakenly paid everything off, and my scores dropped 15-20 points 
