Was it smart

[Anonymous]

I received a discover and Barclays card 2 weeks ago. I charged on them for the past 2 weeks. Well I just pif both accounts. There was obviously no payment due yet. Was this a smart move?

Also I am subscribed to experian.com (I'm canceling now that I have my fico) I noticed a 10 point increase in my score on my experian.com, but no change to the my fico experian report. Should I be seeing these changes with the my fico experian?

[Anonymous]

For scoring the only time the balance on an account matters is when they report, typically right after statement cut. So for scoring  you just need to make sure all but one account reports $0 and the one reports 1%. If you are trying to show a lender (Discover and Barclays in this case) that you can manage your cards in hopes of a CLI many will say to charge the card up near limit and then pay off often. Some say this will show a lender that you can manage your CL and in fact need an increase so you don't have to make multiple payments in a month.

As for the scoring it can take time for all of the updates to propagate through to each of the services, and I am not sure how often myFICO updates, I believe it depends on which offering you subscribe to.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, I'm still paying off my rebuilder cards, almost there. When I get them paid, then I will charge almost to the limit. ☺️

[Anonymous]

If you are not actively looking for more credit I don't think you will see much advantage by making multiple payments. Also if you have a 0% interest on those new cards IMO I would worry about the older cards that have interest and pay them off first. Then come back to the new accounts. It may effect your score some while you revolve those balances but as soon as you pay off the score will come back. Personally I always focus on saving the most money, and I refuse to pay interest on things. The only caveat would be not to take the new accounts to max and leave them there with just minimum payments as the new creditors might get worried and do CLD's or other AA.

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much.

[takeshi74]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Well I just pif both accounts. There was obviously no payment due yet. Was this a smart move?

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It's not really such a black-and-white or "smart"/"dumb" matter.  It didn't hurt but there was probably no benefit either.  What was your intended goal?

If you want to reduce reported balances/utilization you just have to pay prior to report date.  You can make however many payments you want, subject to whatever limits on number of payments a creditor may have in place (though you may be able to get around that by using your bank's bill pay service to push, if applicable).

If you don't need to adjust a reported balance then there's not much advantage to paying prior to report date unless it just works for your account management style.  If you have no need to adjust a reported balance then all you need to do is pay the statement balance (make sure you understand the difference between statement and current balance) in full by the due date to avoid carrying a balance, incurring credit card debt, incurring interest and losing your grace period.

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@Anonymous wrote:
Also I am subscribed to experian.com (I'm canceling now that I have my fico) I noticed a 10 point increase in my score on my experian.com, but no change to the my fico experian report. Should I be seeing these changes with the my fico experian?

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You're probably just using the wrong words but myFICO doesn't offer constant report updates with their service.  However, they do monitor your reports and alert you to certain changes and provide score updates.  If you're relying on alerts make sure you understand the triggers.  Not all activity that impacts score triggers an alert or score update.

http://myfico.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/463/~/understanding-what-triggers-fico%C2%AE-3-bureau-credit-monitoring-and-fico%C2%AE-identity

[Anonymous]

From the research I've been doing, the smartest thing is to only charge 30% of your available credit, then make the monthly payments instead of paying it off. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

From the research I've been doing, the smartest thing is to only charge 30% of your available credit, then make the monthly payments instead of paying it off. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

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If you want to maximize scores you want to have one card report 1% of your total CL all others report $0. The only way I would make just monthly payments and not pay it off is under a 0% apr promotion, but it will not maximize scoring. Additionally if you want to pursue CLI's you will want to make more then the minimum payment each month to show the creditor you are not in too deep and can handle larger lines.

Since Util is a snapshot in time this really only matters if you are looking to get new credit. For me I don't worry about Util and focus on not paying interest and keeping my creditors happy with larger payments even if revolving a balance on 0% APR promotions.

If there is a particular thing you are trying to do let everyone know and you will get lots of information on how to accomplish that, give details on your current situation if comfortable and people here are very good at giving plan recomendations. If just trying to figure out how this whole credit game works keep asking questions and reading the tons of information here.

Edit: for example if I am looking for a new loan I would make sure I have one card reporting 1% then pay it off before due date for no interest. All other cards would be at $0 for reporting.

Another example: If I want to get a creditor to increase the CL on one of my cards I will focus as much spending as I can on that card each month and PIF before due date, I don't worry as much about score if I am going after CLI on just a given card.

So two different scenario's with two different approaches, similar but slightly different depending on the desired outcome.

[Anonymous]

Thank you