@Anonymous wrote:I always pay everything off before the posting date so i wasnt sure if it was better for my credit to let some post or best to have 0%
Thanks in advance for any info!
This is a widely debated topic around here. Like was already mentioned, first make sure at least one card is reporting usage to the bureaus so you do not get hit by the all zero penalty. Most people like to use their cards for their normal spending patterns, let the balance of whatever they have spent on it that month post as their monthly statement balance, then pay it off in full before the next due date. This would be essentially how these cards were originally designed to be used. Where it gets a bit more tricky is when you have a card with a lower limit, and you are spending close to the card's maximum, as you do not want to report a card with a high util. % as it will cause both a temporary dip in your FICO scores, as well as potentially have the chance to spook your lenders if it is a continued trend, even if you are still paying the balance off. All of your lenders can still see all of your spending patterns and card usage for their own respective cards regardless of how much you let post when the statement cuts, so if you are worried about them not feeling you are utilizing your CLs due to not letting large balances post on your statement, that is not the case. (Although there have been anecdotal posts about certain lenders going off actual statement balance for CLI requests) You'll get different opinions from different folks, but my advise would be to do what ever makes YOU feel the most comfortable, because in the end it does not matter to the FIs wether they get their money before or after they have to print your balance on a piece of paper and send it to you. Just remember the 2 rules mentioned: Do not let all cards report in at 0, do not let your cards report with high utilization %.
