Advice - CC Utilization Reporting for April

[Anonymous]

I recently experienced a score drop of 4 points for letting my CapOne secured card have a $0 reporting balance. I would like advice on how much of a balance I should have the card report in April. For my February CapOne statement, I had a reporting balance of $51. 

Here's how my current report looks: 

Good Accounts - 

1. CapOne $500 limit - March showed a reporting balance of $0 - Bill due March 16th, will report on credit Mar 20

2. NFCU $1000 limit - New card - First statement is due April 4th 

Bad Accounts

1. Comenity(TU/EX/EQ) - $751 Charge-off from Jan 2017 - settled for $469; account now reporting as paid and closed

2. BB&T(TU/EX/EQ) - $1,411 Charge off from 2011 - settled on 3/24 for $705 - was told it could take 10-15 for update on credit report

3. Fair Collections & Outsourcing(EX/TU/EQ) - $1,668 Collection from 2011 - settled for $166.80; account now reporting with $0 and open

4. National Credit Systems(EX) - $4,161 collection from 2011; reporting on Experian only and can get early exclusion on May 29, 2017

5. DeVry(EX) - $1,300 Defaulted loan - applied for consolidation and amount will absolve into this and be deleted from Experian - still waiting for processing to be done

6. Berks Credit (EX) - $545/$683/$724 - reporting on Experian only and can get early exclusion on July 29, 2017

[Anonymous]

Bump...anyone??

[Anonymous]

Have one card report $0 and one card report a balance that is 1%-9% of it's limit.

You lost a few points for not having any balances report one month. Don't stress. Utilization has no cumulative impact on your score and can be corrected the next month

[Anonymous]

Ideally what you would do is pick only one card to report a small balance (under 10%) and have the other report a zero balance. Sometimes you get dinged if all cards report 0.

[Anonymous]

What SteelerNYC said with the additional reminder that it really does mean >1.0000000% and <9.0000000% (could have added mute zeros but you get the point).

But keep in mind that it's just a temporary boost with those numbers. Those of us rebuilding often like to keep it there so we see maximum scores in reward for our rebuilding efforts. People with established scores typically only only think about it when they are going for a mortgage or car loan (or not at all).

You may also consider adding a 3 card for the maximum boost. And do you have any loans? FICO likes to see a mix of credit types.