Which card to let report? AZEO

[Blu617]

Hello all,

I've been lurking in the forums for the last several months soaking up all of the information that this community has to offer. It's been great. I have managed to bring my FICO score from a 490 in January to a 663 currently. (Just took a 18pt hit which I'll explain in a moment) I went from owing a good bit of debt and having an abundance of collections accounts on my report to having little debt and most were PFD. I have two medical collections on Experian that are a PFD and I'm just waiting for those to fall off. I also have an Auto Loan which was a repossession and has a $5,988 balance. I've been reluctant to make payments on it Bc I don't want to wake a monster. It hasn't reported since January and I'm not in the position to pay it in full so I'm going to wait until my credit is high enough and take out a small loan to pay it in full and also get the payment history on that loan.

Unfortunately, my credit just took a 18pt hit which based on my review of my reports I can only associate with taking a penalty for having all cards report a zero balance with the exception of a card that I'm a Authorized User on. I have 7 credit cards (excluding the AU), which I've been good about only letting one report a less than 5% balance on monthly. The card that I letting report was Credit One which has a $300 CL. I was carrying a small balance on it and this month it requested the full amount as the minimum payment. I paid it and decided to switch which card I allowed to report. Credit one reported a zero balance and Capital One ($1000 CL) hasn't reported yet so now all my cards are zero. I was wondering if it mattered which card I let carry a balance, the cards that I have are listed below with their credit limit..

Credit One - $300 CL

First Premier - $300 CL

OpenSky - $200 CL

USB Harley Davidson Secured - $300 CL

Capital One Secured - $1000 CL

Amex Delta Gold - $1000 CL

Synch Care Credit - $975 CL

Self Secured Loan - $501 balance

I have intentions of growing my USB, Capital One, Amex and Care Credit cards. Credit One, First Premeir and OpenSky I will eventually close and only used as starter cards.

Any recommendations on which card I should let report? Does it matter? Any other suggestions on how to best grow my credit?

I appreciate any feedback! Thank you

[ItsCASHual]

Amex or Capital One is what I'd choose to carry a $5 balance. You have a lot of cards so I wouldn't apply for anything else. Head to the garden. We'll welcome you there.

[Blu617]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking as well. I actually froze my reports and plan on gardening my credit for a while now.

[Blu617]

One thing I have also been wondering is I have a checking/savings account with NFCU and I've heard nothing but good things about their credit cards and loans. Is it worth adding another card to the collection and getting a Navy secured card?

[Anonymous]

@Blu617 

Conventional wisdom, when following the AZEO (All Zero Expect One for those that are not familiar with this 'term') is to let a Bank Card be the one with the small balance.  Additionally, and I will have to plead ignorance with this point, it has been stated in this forum that allowing a 'Store Card' (such as Lowes or Target, for example) can be a bit problematic with AZEO.

For those not familiar with AZEO, or All Zero Except One, this is a "credit game" tactic that makes use of the FICO Algorithms to slightly improve one's FICO Scores.  Furthermore, I believe that the underlaying concept (as per FICO's algorithms) is to have more that 50% of your resolvers (thus the need to have three credit cards in the beginning to be able to make use of this - should you decide to do so) show a $0 balance (as per the Statement Date - not the 'Bill Due Date').

I am going to investigate - and will share my findings - as to why a Bank Card is "better" than a Store Card for this.