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Fico score question

CreditBob
Established Contributor

Fico score question

Last month 2 out of the three credit cards had a zero balance. The third one had a $ 13 balance of when it reported with 0% utilization due to extremely low balance. If I increase the balance a little more to reflect a 1% utilization if let's say $ 100, will my score go up? Or should I keep it at $ 13? I know if everything gets paid off it dings you for no recent revolving activity. 

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SouthJamaica
Mega Contributor

Re: Fico score question


@CreditBob wrote:

Last month 2 out of the three credit cards had a zero balance. The third one had a $ 13 balance of when it reported with 0% utilization due to extremely low balance. If I increase the balance a little more to reflect a 1% utilization if let's say $ 100, will my score go up? Or should I keep it at $ 13? I know if everything gets paid off it dings you for no recent revolving activity. 


A $13 balance is sufficient to avoid the all zero penalty, so long as it's on a bank card. It doesn't matter if the website you're looking at rounds it down to 0% in the consumer-facing interface.


Total revolving limits 749700 (631200 reporting) FICO 8: EQ 698 TU 711 EX 678

Message 2 of 4
mgood
Valued Contributor

Re: Fico score question


@SouthJamaica wrote:

@CreditBob wrote:

Last month 2 out of the three credit cards had a zero balance. The third one had a $ 13 balance of when it reported with 0% utilization due to extremely low balance. If I increase the balance a little more to reflect a 1% utilization if let's say $ 100, will my score go up? Or should I keep it at $ 13? I know if everything gets paid off it dings you for no recent revolving activity. 


A $13 balance is sufficient to avoid the all zero penalty, so long as it's on a bank card. It doesn't matter if the website you're looking at rounds it down to 0% in the consumer-facing interface.


Thanks. I've wondered that myself. Does one need at least 0.5% so it rounds up to 1% instead of down to 0%? Or is any amount ok? I wasn't sure if they were looking at all zero percentages or all zero dollars. I never got around to asking, so thanks to both of you.



Starting Score: EQ8 680, TU8 713, EX8 701
Current Score: EQ8 762, TU8 752, EX8 768 as of June 8
Goal Score: EQ8 780, TU8 780, EX8 780

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AZE9 - 6% Utl - New Accts: 3/6, 4/12, 6/24
Message 3 of 4
SouthJamaica
Mega Contributor

Re: Fico score question


@mgood wrote:

@SouthJamaica wrote:

@CreditBob wrote:

Last month 2 out of the three credit cards had a zero balance. The third one had a $ 13 balance of when it reported with 0% utilization due to extremely low balance. If I increase the balance a little more to reflect a 1% utilization if let's say $ 100, will my score go up? Or should I keep it at $ 13? I know if everything gets paid off it dings you for no recent revolving activity. 


A $13 balance is sufficient to avoid the all zero penalty, so long as it's on a bank card. It doesn't matter if the website you're looking at rounds it down to 0% in the consumer-facing interface.


Thanks. I've wondered that myself. Does one need at least 0.5% so it rounds up to 1% instead of down to 0%? Or is any amount ok? I wasn't sure if they were looking at all zero percentages or all zero dollars. I never got around to asking, so thanks to both of you.


The rounding doesn't matter. It doesn't affect the scoring algorithm.

 

I didn't say any amount is ok.  It should be a balance of $10 or greater.  Balances of less than that on occasion get reported to the bureaus as zero.  I have seen reports in this forum that Discover actually drops very small balances.


Total revolving limits 749700 (631200 reporting) FICO 8: EQ 698 TU 711 EX 678

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