Does rounding apply for the all-zero penalty?

[JonahK]

Obviously, for FICO Score 8, there is a penalty for having all cards reporting a zero balance. For the purposes of calculating this penalty, is there a balance that is low enough to be rounded to zero? Or does having a balance of even a single cent on a card prevent the penalty from being applied? 

[SouthJamaica]

---

@JonahK wrote:

Obviously, for FICO Score 8, there is a penalty for having all cards reporting a zero balance. For the purposes of calculating this penalty, is there a balance that is low enough to be rounded to zero? Or does having a balance of even a single cent on a card prevent the penalty from being applied? 

---

IMHO it's risky for it to be less than $10 or so.

[Kforce]

---

@JonahK wrote:

Obviously, for FICO Score 8, there is a penalty for having all cards reporting a zero balance. For the purposes of calculating this penalty, is there a balance that is low enough to be rounded to zero? Or does having a balance of even a single cent on a card prevent the penalty from being applied? 

---

I do know some issuers report zero for balances that are less than a threshold.

Many report zero for < 1 dollar and some have reported on the forum < 5 dollars.

If doing AZEO and wanting a card to report non zero, I would use at least 5 dollars.

As long as it is > 5  .and. < 0.9% CL you should be gold.

As @SouthJamaica  said I just put  ~10.

Pick a card and every month leave a little less.

Become our all zero threshold tester.  

[Anonymalous]

---

@JonahK wrote:

Obviously, for FICO Score 8, there is a penalty for having all cards reporting a zero balance. For the purposes of calculating this penalty, is there a balance that is low enough to be rounded to zero? Or does having a balance of even a single cent on a card prevent the penalty from being applied? 

---

I don't know if there's a minimum dollar threshold, but I can definitively say that on the FICO scores I have access to, I see a penalty when all my cards report $0, but not when there's a positive balance that rounds down to 0%. (I do it fairly frequently.)

[OmarR]

I've rotated a $1 with at least half of the cards in my signature.  They have always reported and never a penalty. 

[mgood]

---

@Anonymalous wrote:I don't know if there's a minimum dollar threshold, but I can definitively say that on the FICO scores I have access to, I see a penalty when all my cards report $0, but not when there's a positive balance that rounds down to 0%. (I do it fairly frequently.)

---

Thanks. I've wondered if it rounds to 0% if you'd get the penalty even though it is not $0.

Not that I have that problem to worry about right now, lol, but for future reference.

[FranknBeans]

I have had small balances of a few dollars get paid by the credit card company. (Discover). 

[HalFarmer]

Thanks for the info, I didn't know it.

[FalconSteve]

---

@JonahK wrote:

Obviously, for FICO Score 8, there is a penalty for having all cards reporting a zero balance. For the purposes of calculating this penalty, is there a balance that is low enough to be rounded to zero? Or does having a balance of even a single cent on a card prevent the penalty from being applied? 

---

Cards report in whole dollars, but if the card reports $1 balance, it doesn't round beyond that

[FalconSteve]

---

@mgood wrote:

---

@Anonymalous wrote:I don't know if there's a minimum dollar threshold, but I can definitively say that on the FICO scores I have access to, I see a penalty when all my cards report $0, but not when there's a positive balance that rounds down to 0%. (I do it fairly frequently.)

---

Thanks. I've wondered if it rounds to 0% if you'd get the penalty even though it is not $0.

Not that I have that problem to worry about right now, lol, but for future reference.

---

It does not. I have ~$200k in available credit and I would be screwed if had to keep 5-10% utilization every month.