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craziemazies wrote:
"You do not need to carry a balance to improve your credit. In fact, if you do, you are hurting yourself because you have to pay finance charges to the bank. If at all possible, PIF or pay as much as you can afford to." masdeocho is only half right. Yes, you are paying finance charges to the bank...that is the down side. It is a win/lose situation really. And YES you need to carry a balance to improve your score. Primary example... I've kept track of my credit scores for the past few years. I had a balance of around $13,000 at one time on a combination of 2 cards. I paid them all of. So, I had a total of over $30,000 in available credit. Everytime I charged, I would pay it off in full at the end of the month. So, you would think my score would go up, right? wrong... Before I paid off the $13,000, My scores through all three lenders were 747, 780, and 757. Now? After paying the balances off, they became 685, 754, and 747. Now...check this out...I started taking out student loans, making the payments on my credit card. My balance is now around 8000 on my credit. Only one of my scores went up...757, still 757, and STILL 747. So, you need to have a balance...it's like saying you can bake bread. But, how is anyone going to know that if you don't bake the bread and show them? They have to SEE you are responsible with credit and they won't be able to see that if you aren't using it. BUT, you also have to make sure you aren't using TOO much. Someone posted around 1-9%. I would agree with that figure. Hope my experience helps!
@Anonymous wrote:
747, 780, and 757. Now? After paying the balances off, they became 685, 754, and 747.
Because the balances are now zero, utilization on those tradelines is zero. Before they were paid off, s/he had probably fairly low util which now has been lost. We don't know what other credit craziemazies has. If there's no other credit, then zero utilization across the board could drop the scores.
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
747, 780, and 757. Now? After paying the balances off, they became 685, 754, and 747.
Something doesn't sound right.
Sorry, I didn't re-read the post. Craziemazies has new student loans. But the history of payment on those loans is short. It will take some on-time payments before that credit helps boost the score. It's all heading in the right direction.
@Anonymous wrote:Because the balances are now zero, utilization on those tradelines is zero. Before they were paid off, s/he had probably fairly low util which now has been lost. We don't know what other credit craziemazies has. If there's no other credit, then zero utilization across the board could drop the scores.
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
747, 780, and 757. Now? After paying the balances off, they became 685, 754, and 747.
Something doesn't sound right.
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
747, 780, and 757. Now? After paying the balances off, they became 685, 754, and 747.
Something doesn't sound right.
@Anonymous wrote:Sorry, I didn't re-read the post. Craziemazies has new student loans. But the history of payment on those loans is short. It will take some on-time payments before that credit helps boost the score. It's all heading in the right direction.
@Anonymous wrote:Because the balances are now zero, utilization on those tradelines is zero. Before they were paid off, s/he had probably fairly low util which now has been lost. We don't know what other credit craziemazies has. If there's no other credit, then zero utilization across the board could drop the scores.
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
747, 780, and 757. Now? After paying the balances off, they became 685, 754, and 747.
Something doesn't sound right.