Balance for only one CC?

Anonymous · ‎12-31-2008

I have only one CC at the moment - should I let it report a balance? I have under 3% util on it anyway, but I wonder if it'll be benefit my score more to pay it off before my statement comes around. Thanks much

haulingthescoreup · ‎12-31-2008

We really don't know much about this. Would you be willing to be our guinea pig?

I can see how it would go either way.

If you're not in a hurry to app for something, you could try one month with a $0 balance and the next month with a $5 balance, and see what happens. As long as you don't have anything else going on --something turning a year old or two years old or whatever, this would be the best way to find out for sure.

* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007

Anonymous · ‎12-31-2008

I would be happy to, but I just turned 18 and this is my first card - so I don't have a score to reflect any changes

Is there any other way I can test it?

Anonymous · ‎12-31-2008

Hey Aupumn, when I got my 1st card, I revolved less than 5% of the CL. Over 3 months I paid it over time and got a few points for balance decrease and more points for paying it down to 0. You might get a tiny ding or you might not, but you will recover all of it and maybe even extra pts after the 0 balance. I wouldnt worry about revolving a balance as long it doesnt exceed 10% of utilization. But for your age, you can recover points fast and you have plenty of opportunities to enhance your credit history down the road.

Junejer · ‎01-06-2009

Wanted to revive this thread, because I missed it before and wanted to weigh in. Last year this time, I had one active CC and accidentally allowed it to report high util (over 75%) and my score went from 768 to 719. I then allowed it to report 5% util and 4% util for consecutive months and got 790 out of it. I was afraid to take it to $0.