Letting my first card report >50%...

[Anonymous]

I decided to not pay down my Rewards+ before the statement cuts. It will report around $1050 out of $1900 when it shows up presumably when my first cycle closes on the 10th and then I'll make a $300 payment in November. 

This is going to be the highest percentage I have let a card report since my BK. I am trying to relax and stop micromanaging balances so much and it would be better for me to send the money towards my NFCU card since that's actually charging me interest (it's not much, about $7 a month but that's still money out the window) while the Rewards+ has 0% but when you get in the habit of score optimization, it's a really hard habit to break. 

Those of you who have also optimized your score for a while... how do you get yourself comfortable with letting things report organically? It's got me all kinds of stressed thinking about a card at 55%! 

[Girlzilla88]

I get stressed but that's part of my OCD as well I don't think anyone is comfortable or ok with it being 50 or higher tho tbh

[calyx]

I feel ya.  After micromanaging everything, it is so hard to let it go.
I was doing the obsessive AZEO thing... so first, I just started not AZEOing by developing a payment plan/strategy that worked for me naturally.   Since I'm paid once/month, I just started paying my stuff once a month after my paycheck.   That doesn't work for everyone for obvious reasons.

After I came up with my "stop obsessing over AZEO" I let it ride for a while before worrying about the next step (utilization).    I STILL kept my UTI below 30% by overpaying on my monthly payment binge or doing one extra payment before cut date, but eventually just stopped with the extra payments, too.

This month was the first month since March (that was an accident) where I let something post >30%.  It posted at 42%.  Not the end of the world and was only that much because that card has low limits, but it was still kind of jarring to see the high utilization on that one.    I still stare at it periodically, but I've learned to love it.    Besides, maybe that lender will give me an auto increase (it's Chase, they won't, but still - hope springs eternal!)

I do have fun by keeping logs of data, so I can maybe watch my score wobble with the little changes in my profile - it gets me more into a "what if" and researching mindset than worrying about the maximization of points.   I have no intention of taking my 'what if's' to an extreme (I'm not maxing anything out intentionally and I'm certainly not going to get a derogatory to see how bad it'll hurt).

[Anonymous]

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@Girlzilla88 wrote:

I get stressed but that's part of my OCD as well I don't think anyone is comfortable or ok with it being 50 or higher tho tbh

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I dunno, there are plenty around here who have no problem even going past 80% whereas I would have a heart attack. 

Right now my highest reporting card is 20%, 55% is going to be a decent score penalty since it's two thresholds that I'll have crossed, 28.9% and 48.9%. I'll probably lose the increase I got for my SSL reporting but I'm gardening anyway so I'm trying to tell myself it doesn't matter. 

[Anonymous]

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@calyx wrote:

I feel ya.  After micromanaging everything, it is so hard to let it go.
I was doing the obsessive AZEO thing... so first, I just started not AZEOing by developing a payment plan/strategy that worked for me naturally.   Since I'm paid once/month, I just started paying my stuff once a month after my paycheck.   That doesn't work for everyone for obvious reasons.

After I came up with my "stop obsessing over AZEO" I let it ride for a while before worrying about the next step (utilization).    I STILL kept my UTI below 30% by overpaying on my monthly payment binge or doing one extra payment before cut date, but eventually just stopped with the extra payments, too.

This month was the first month since March (that was an accident) where I let something post >30%.  It posted at 42%.  Not the end of the world and was only that much because that card has low limits, but it was still kind of jarring to see the high utilization on that one.    I still stare at it periodically, but I've learned to love it.    Besides, maybe that lender will give me an auto increase (it's Chase, they won't, but still - hope springs eternal!)

I do have fun by keeping logs of data, so I can maybe watch my score wobble with the little changes in my profile - it gets me more into a "what if" and researching mindset than worrying about the maximization of points.   I have no intention of taking my 'what if's' to an extreme (I'm not maxing anything out intentionally and I'm certainly not going to get a derogatory to see how bad it'll hurt).

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Sounds like we did it similarly. 

I also get paid once a month, on the 3rd, so I make all of my payments at that time. 

I only did AZEO for a month and didn't get much benefit but I paid off many of my cards before they reported so they always reported $0 and now I have stopped paying any of my cards before the statement cuts. The next logical step is letting full balances report so that's what I am doing. 

The Citi is one of my lowest major credit cards, with only DCU lower at $1K, so I would like to have them increase it but I'm not going to be paying it in full until December so I am not betting on this helping me much. 

There is one thing I hate more than high utilization though and that's paying interest so I would rather knock the NFCU card out faster. 

[Remedios]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I decided to not pay down my Rewards+ before the statement cuts. It will report around $1050 out of $1900 when it shows up presumably when my first cycle closes on the 10th and then I'll make a $300 payment in November. 

This is going to be the highest percentage I have let a card report since my BK. I am trying to relax and stop micromanaging balances so much and it would be better for me to send the money towards my NFCU card since that's actually charging me interest (it's not much, about $7 a month but that's still money out the window) while the Rewards+ has 0% but when you get in the habit of score optimization, it's a really hard habit to break. 

Those of you who have also optimized your score for a while... how do you get yourself comfortable with letting things report organically? It's got me all kinds of stressed thinking about a card at 55%! 

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No clue. For me first step was allowing more than one card to report. That was slow and painful process. I waited for sky to fall each month. When it did not, add one more, then one more ...etc 

Balances, I've allowed more than 49% to report but only on Chase cards, because once those are paid, they report again. I just wanted to see what happens, and again nothing happened. Yet, i'm still hesitant to do it with other cards that report monthly 

After I started thread about CLI on AR, I've decided to throw my cards in the air and wave them like I dont care.

So, no additional payment was made and now i feel exactly like you. 

I'd imagine it will be the same...sky wont fall, you'll get more comfortable and eventually it will be a non event. 

[Anonymous]

The key to it is reserves in your Checking account.  As long as you have the cash availabel to just let things be organic and autopay the balance each month it's less stressful.  You already have the good habits of not letting balances report which assumes you have the $ on hand if you had to anyway.

Just take a deep breath and grab an edible.

[wasCB14]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Girlzilla88 wrote:

I get stressed but that's part of my OCD as well I don't think anyone is comfortable or ok with it being 50 or higher tho tbh

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I dunno, there are plenty around here who have no problem even going past 80% whereas I would have a heart attack. 

Right now my highest reporting card is 20%, 55% is going to be a decent score penalty since it's two thresholds that I'll have crossed, 28.9% and 48.9%. I'll probably lose the increase I got for my SSL reporting but I'm gardening anyway so I'm trying to tell myself it doesn't matter. 

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When I just had Freedom and Discover I had a few months of 80% or 90%. No AA.

I've done 300% on BBP (which doesn't report personally). No AA and my head did not explode, but I did get what was in effect a "you're gonna pay this...right?" call a few days before the big payment was due.

I like AZEE (All Zero Except Eight). I like getting to hold onto my cash a little longer.

[Anonymous]

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@Remedios wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

I decided to not pay down my Rewards+ before the statement cuts. It will report around $1050 out of $1900 when it shows up presumably when my first cycle closes on the 10th and then I'll make a $300 payment in November. 

This is going to be the highest percentage I have let a card report since my BK. I am trying to relax and stop micromanaging balances so much and it would be better for me to send the money towards my NFCU card since that's actually charging me interest (it's not much, about $7 a month but that's still money out the window) while the Rewards+ has 0% but when you get in the habit of score optimization, it's a really hard habit to break. 

Those of you who have also optimized your score for a while... how do you get yourself comfortable with letting things report organically? It's got me all kinds of stressed thinking about a card at 55%! 

---

No clue. For me first step was allowing more than one card to report. That was slow and painful process. I waited for sky to fall each month. When it did not, add one more, then one more ...etc 

Balances, I've allowed more than 49% to report but only on Chase cards, because once those are paid, they report again. I just wanted to see what happens, and again nothing happened. Yet, i'm still hesitant to do it with other cards that report monthly 

After I started thread about CLI on AR, I've decided to throw my cards in the air and wave them like I dont care.

So, no additional payment was made and now i feel exactly like you. 

I'd imagine it will be the same...sky wont fall, you'll get more comfortable and eventually it will be a non event. 

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It's crazy how much stress it can actually be. I don't have any reason to believe anyone is going to get sketched out but it still stresses me out. 

It took me months to get to the point where I let all cards report a balance rather than paying them first. I don't want to get used to high balances reporting but it would be nice to not be so worried about it when I have to let it happen. 

Sync is really the only lender that I have that gets happy with AA and I don't think 55% is on a single card is going to do it. It's just my OCD freaking out. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

The key to it is reserves in your Checking account.  As long as you have the cash availabel to just let things be organic and autopay the balance each month it's less stressful.  You already have the good habits of not letting balances report which assumes you have the $ on hand if you had to anyway.

Just take a deep breath and grab an edible.

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I actually don't have the means to pay it all off right now (my situation doesn't allow me to have more than $2K in the bank at any given time anyway) which is why it's a necessary evil at the moment. I have been really careful to only work with one lender that is really prone to AA though, Synchrony, and even if all my other cards went poof, Capital One and NFCU certainly wouldn't think anything of it except more cash for them. Losing some cards to AA would probably be a good thing for me since I'll never close them on my own anyway but it's not going to happen from this for sure. 

And yes, generally I have the money in the bank to pay my cards and do so every month. Helping my roommate out with hiring a lawyer set me back and then I got a bit too happy with the in app purchases for a game I was playing which set me back a bit more, now plumber is being added. I'll get caught back up quickly, it's just short term stress. 

I think once I see the sky hasn't fallen, like Remmy said, I won't be bothered about it going forward.