People believe that showing use, building a history, and making payments every month is what you're supposed to do. People just aren't informed.
I can definitely see how one may come to this conclusion. Even score trackers and simulators give this impression.
For example, I sub'd for one month of myFICO tracking and used the simulator. It showed if I paid down my $105 utilization at $10 per month (which is impossible due to minimums being higher) over a year, my scores would theoretically rise by a significant amount. However, when I changed it to $40 per month, my scores ended up dropping in the same time period due to no actual usage.
As long as not carrying a balance across your entire portfolio drops your scores, there will be more people holding onto this belief. It seems counter-intuitive but so many resources lead one to believe it's true.
I really think that if you have at least one loan of any kind and you have $0 balances across everything else, your scores shouldn't drop at 0% utilization. Or if they have to, not for at least 1 year.
Must garden until 2/1/2022 to hit my goal AAOA. 
@Anonymous I do know that some Banks/Lenders like to see payment over time for "Responisbly being able to make a payment for extended periods" Typically it's 6 months, 1 year "threshhold" but I definitely wouldn't unless you want to have it longer, have it longer, I just do it that way of course for my Car (and well my house) ((unless it's on a specific pay plan)) so it can show I can make the payments for extended periods of time longer than 1 year. It is seen as a positive and a lot of places will extend credit if they see you can make over your payment but still keep some balance for longer periods of time because they like that they receive fees on their end lololol. What bank/lender wouldn't be happy about receiving fees if you still made your payments properly 
Is it better on your end to keep them longer no it's always best to pay it off rather quickly especially so you DON'T pay interest butttttt from the banks side they want to see long term use
@iced wrote:
@Remedios wrote:It's not a myth, it's a product of articles not differentiating between reported balance and carried balance.
If your friend was to pay off the entire amount, then not use his card next month and they all report $0.00, points are lost.
For anyone who does not hangout on a credit card forum, that would get interpreted as "no balance, lost points, carry balance"
On the surface, it does appear as if a person is being "punished" for having no balances, which ends up equating debt with balances.
If I only had a dollar for every "paid off all cards, score dropped", I'd be able to take @Anonymous out for dinner.
Just tell your friend to be a transactor.
This seems like the closest answer I agree with, though I don't know why one would need to distinguish between a carried and reported balance. A balance is a balance in the eyes of a score; the only difference is one accrues interest charges and the other doesn't. It feels to me like PIF is the concept most people don't get rather than balances. Maybe that concept and its benefits are what articles need to drive home more often: get balances reported AND pay no interest -- a win/win.
The one possible exception I see to this is the very occasional card user, though I'm not sure they exist anymore. Does anyone really go a month without swiping, inserting, or tapping a card somewhere anymore? Even as a PIF'er, I find it nearly impossble to not have at least 2 cards report a balance each month, and I only need one to keep my score happy.
The difference is someone on these forums vs someone that doesn't know they can let a balance report and then pay it off before interest hits. The average person just charges a large amount and pays every month.