Too many accounts with balances. New discussion.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
if you rack up a balance on your cards, be sure that it's not over 10%--better yet, make sure it's not over 5%. If it is over 10%, then pay it down to almost nothing BEFORE YOUR STATEMENT is generated. I find that credit card companies typically report the balance at the time your statement is generated.

Example of what I do:

I use only AMEX blue cash and Citi Dividends now because they give me cash back

I charge everything I can to these cards.

A week before the statement is generated I pay down the balance on these 2 cards to under $10.00.

Once I see the cards report a balance under $10 to the credit agencies, I start using them again and repeat the cycle.

It is working very well for me so far--my utilization has stayed under 10% for the last 4 months and this past month it was less then 1%. You get max points for having lowest utilization possible.

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Interesting................

I'm learning so much from people here. lol

Thanks y'all!

[Anonymous]

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Redamagon wrote:

I am not following this???!!?? What are you saying? I don't get it? From now on I am charging everything that I buy on my credit cards and and paying off before the 25 days before charge. So, I guess this is the best waay to improve credit right? Or there is a better way? I only have 3 credit cards. Should I get more to improve my credit score or what?

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unless your having problems with too many accounts with balances then I would just make one payment and let the current cycle's charges take their free ride to the next statement, or if your applying for credit after your upcoming statement, you might want make a extra payment to ensure your balance will be under 10% of your Cl for MAX fico points.

other wise you have to use credit to get credit and if your CCs are always reporting $0 it doesn't appear your using credit even you are, your just paying it off before it gets reported to CRA

[MidnightVoice]

Sometime soon I should know the effect of having all 5 of my CCs reporting a zero balance.

According to perceived wisdom, this should hurt my scores 

[fused]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@fused111 wrote:

Too many accounts with balances = FICO scores of 792, 785, 734. I'm not buying what you're saying!

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How many accounts do you have Fused? I envy you. lol

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My TLs:

6 open CCs (revolving), 1 PIF Amex Gold card, 1 closed and paid auto $0 balance, 2 open installment loans, 1 closed AU account with a long history. All accounts are in good standing, 0 derogs. Util is 3-4% on all revolving accounts. EX is inaccurately reporting my Amex Gold card and does report two other POSITIVE accounts, thus the lower score.

[Anonymous]

So, if I let my card with 0 balance it will hurt my credit score? Which are the best cards to have credit limit Increased, because my Capitalone is paying in the ass, when it comes to credit increase. They say I can ask, and they revise my account once a year. I have 2 capitalone with one 800 and the other 5000. Does anyone, know the best way for them to increase my credit limit. I have the 5000 for more than 5 years and the 800 for more than 3 years. I have been in the 500s for most of my credit history, and just now that I am above 650. Two months from now will be above 700.

[Anonymous]

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@fused111 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@fused111 wrote:

Too many accounts with balances = FICO scores of 792, 785, 734. I'm not buying what you're saying!

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How many accounts do you have Fused? I envy you. lol

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My TLs:

6 open CCs (revolving), 1 PIF Amex Gold card, 1 closed and paid auto $0 balance, 2 open installment loans, 1 closed AU account with a long history. All accounts are in good standing, 0 derogs. Util is 3-4% on all revolving accounts. EX is inaccurately reporting my Amex Gold card and does report two other POSITIVE accounts, thus the lower score.

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That's pretty close to what I have. Only my util is higher. Way higher. I'm trying really hard to pay off the LOC I have. But everything else is good.

By the way, how do you like the Amex PIF Gold Card? How does it benefit you? Do you use it all the time? Is there a certain card that is always in your wallet?

[Anonymous]

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MidnightVoice wrote:

Sometime soon I should know the effect of having all 5 of my CCs reporting a zero balance.

According to perceived wisdom, this should hurt my scores 

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I now have 8 cards reporting 0 balances and 1 reporting at $16. TU went up 18 points, EQ went up 21 points and EX is up 21 points.

[fused]

Pizza:

I have read similar arguments at CB and CIC, but again I'm not buying it. The reason I have not hit 800 across the board is age and EX. Most of my accounts are less than 2 years old. Besides I will be dead before EX gives me a score over 775.

[MidnightVoice]

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fused111 wrote:

 Besides I will be dead before EX gives me a score over 775.

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I think I will be retired before I get to 700 from EX (and the others will be 800 plus way before then )

[Anonymous]

other wise you have to use credit to get credit and if your CCs are always reporting $0 it doesn't appear your using credit even you are, your just paying it off before it gets reported to CRA

I almost always pay off my cc before next statement cycle. Yes, it does report as $0 balance, however they MUST report to CRA because there has been activity on my account that month. Had there been no activity whatsoever and $0  balance then they are not obligated to report, which is why they show date of last activity. My scores average 780 so apparently it hasn't hurt me