Cards in the Sock Drawer

[dumaine]

If you have not used a couple cards in a while and you wish to show activity, do you need to let them report? Or just charge a lil something something and pay it off when it posts?

[dragontears]

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@dumaine wrote:

If you have not used a couple cards in a while and you wish to show activity, do you need to let them report? Or just charge a lil something something and pay it off when it posts?

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Depends 

What is your definition of "show activity"?

If you just want the lender to see activity on the account so they don't close it, you don't need to wait to pay it off. 

If you want the card to be active on your credit report then you generally need to have a statement balance, especially if it is with a lender that doesn't report unless the card generates an actual statement. 

[dumaine]

Then let me rephrase the question since all my cards report even if a statement is not cut....

Is it an issue for, lets say another creditor to pull a report and see a few cards with alot of consecutive months with $0 even though I know that the card was used, just paid off before statement date. Or is that nothing to worry about since there is a Check mark or an OK for all the months?

[OmarGB9]

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@dumaine wrote:

Then let me rephrase the question since all my cards report even if a statement is not cut....

Is it an issue for, lets say another creditor to pull a report and see a few cards with alot of consecutive months with $0 even though I know that the card was used, just paid off before statement date. Or is that nothing to worry about since there is a Check mark or an OK for all the months?

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I don't think it'd be an issue. The other lenders wouldn't know the difference between you not using the card at all or you using the card up to the limit and paying it down to zero before statement cut. So as far as showing activity goes, you can just charge something and pay it off to keep that particular lender "happy."

[Iusedtolurk]

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@dumaine wrote:

If you have not used a couple cards in a while and you wish to show activity, do you need to let them report? Or just charge a lil something something and pay it off when it posts?

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Your main concern with sock drawer cards is to not let them sit too long without use due to creditors closing accounts for non-usage.

Time spans differ with creditors and most suggest using the cards at least within a 6 month period to be safe but I've seen a few post where people have gotten accounts closed from some creditors for non-usage in a shorter amount of time (maybe due to a strained economic enviroment). Personally I would charge and payoff within a 3 month cycle but that's scary me.

It's pretty much an internal activity for each personal creditor they know what you are doing regardless of zero balances reporting.

[dumaine]

Thank you all for the responses...

[Yasselife]

I understand your question and from what I've noticed is that accounts report the last time a payment was made regardless if a balance posted or not, this can be a way that other lenders could see there was activity in the account. Also, let's say you stopped using a card for +3 months Fico will warn you that a card has been inactive for that time, but if you use the card without letting the balance post(after statement) Fico won't consider it as inactive +3mo. I hope this answers your question.

[SouthJamaica]

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@dumaine wrote:

If you have not used a couple cards in a while and you wish to show activity, do you need to let them report? Or just charge a lil something something and pay it off when it posts?

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You can use it, and pay it off. Can be before or after it "posts".

[SouthJamaica]

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@dumaine wrote:

Then let me rephrase the question since all my cards report even if a statement is not cut....

Is it an issue for, lets say another creditor to pull a report and see a few cards with alot of consecutive months with $0 even though I know that the card was used, just paid off before statement date. Or is that nothing to worry about since there is a Check mark or an OK for all the months?

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No that is not an issue. They can see that it's been used.