Fico goes down every time I pay off balances

[newhis]

---

@Thomas_Thumb wrote:

---

@newhis wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Thank you for your feedback, this is obviously the problem.  I will carry a small balance on one card.  Is there a card that works better for the balance than another?  I normally use my Chase Visa and My Macy's with AMEX.  I have had the Chase Visa for much longer, but both are "seasoned" cards.

---

Hey geisler, maybe you don't know but Chase will report your card again if you pay to zero.

Let's say you buy something with the card and have a $10 balance and it closes on the 15th, you let that report on the 15th but pay it to zero on the 20th, Chase will report again your card on the next few days with $0 balance. If your other card is $0 too, then your score will drop around 20 points.

You need to use it for something, let it report, use it again and pay last month's balance before due date to not pay interest. This is no carrying a balance, just reporting a balance. Carrying a balance is when you do not pay the last statement balance in full by due date.

---

Interesting - so Chase reports mid cycle. I don't have a chase card. Do other banks such as Citi or BOA do this?

I generally pay balances a few days before due date and don't recall having this happen but, I admit I don't watch that closely.

---

I think Chase is the only lender that do this automatically. I read a couple of posts that say that you can ask Discover for a mid cycle report, but you don't need to pay to zero.

I don't know if other lenders will report mid cycle.

[kuku4koco]

---

@Thomas_Thumb wrote:

---

@newhis wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Thank you for your feedback, this is obviously the problem.  I will carry a small balance on one card.  Is there a card that works better for the balance than another?  I normally use my Chase Visa and My Macy's with AMEX.  I have had the Chase Visa for much longer, but both are "seasoned" cards.

---

Hey geisler, maybe you don't know but Chase will report your card again if you pay to zero.

Let's say you buy something with the card and have a $10 balance and it closes on the 15th, you let that report on the 15th but pay it to zero on the 20th, Chase will report again your card on the next few days with $0 balance. If your other card is $0 too, then your score will drop around 20 points.

You need to use it for something, let it report, use it again and pay last month's balance before due date to not pay interest. This is no carrying a balance, just reporting a balance. Carrying a balance is when you do not pay the last statement balance in full by due date.

---

Interesting - so Chase reports mid cycle. I don't have a chase card. Do other banks such as Citi or BOA do this?

I generally pay balances a few days before due date and don't recall having this happen but, I admit I don't watch that closely.

---

BOA does NOT.  Don't know about Citi.

[Anonymous]

---

@kuku4koco wrote:

---

@Thomas_Thumb wrote:

---

@newhis wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Thank you for your feedback, this is obviously the problem.  I will carry a small balance on one card.  Is there a card that works better for the balance than another?  I normally use my Chase Visa and My Macy's with AMEX.  I have had the Chase Visa for much longer, but both are "seasoned" cards.

---

Hey geisler, maybe you don't know but Chase will report your card again if you pay to zero.

Let's say you buy something with the card and have a $10 balance and it closes on the 15th, you let that report on the 15th but pay it to zero on the 20th, Chase will report again your card on the next few days with $0 balance. If your other card is $0 too, then your score will drop around 20 points.

You need to use it for something, let it report, use it again and pay last month's balance before due date to not pay interest. This is no carrying a balance, just reporting a balance. Carrying a balance is when you do not pay the last statement balance in full by due date.

---

Interesting - so Chase reports mid cycle. I don't have a chase card. Do other banks such as Citi or BOA do this?

I generally pay balances a few days before due date and don't recall having this happen but, I admit I don't watch that closely.

---

BOA does NOT.  Don't know about Citi.

---

I have cards from Chase, BOA, Citi, Barclay, AMEX, Discover and only Chase does 2 reportings - one on Statement closure and another when I PIF

[EdMan63]

Just got caught up in this today. My EX score dropped 16 pts due to no cards reporting a balance. I recently had a home equity account show up and its shows as a revolving line of credit and it pushed my utilization way up. I thought I didn't need to let a credit card report with LOC balance reporting but I do. 

[Anonymous]

Correct, you always want one revolver (credit card) to report a small balance to ensure you don't lose those 16 points.