@omgitsMatt wrote:
@Anonymous wrote: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%!
I'm interested to read how others reigned themselves in and let go, that's what I'm trying to figure out now.
I'm about to let two smaller cards report a balance over 50% but under 68.9%.
685/1000 - 68.5% - Will wittle down over 13 months and make 1.5x to 2x min payment, then PIF just before 0% promo ends.
2055/3000 - 68.5% - Will wittle down over 14 months and make 1.5x to 2x min payment, then PIF just before 0% promo ends.
I'll adjust the payments accordingly to stretch this out for the entire duration, I'll figure that out after the first payment posts however. I don't want to over think it, I've done that enough and got a good plan I think. The idea is to endear myself to the lenders and grow the accounts with CLIs while actually not having to swipe the cards, I think it's a good plan.
That'll put me at 2/8 revolvers reporting a balance over 50% but under 68.9% (which I felt was prudent) for awhile with an aggregate utilization of 8% when things settle by January.
By January I can set up bill pay to make the exact payments I want when I figure that out. Stretching out the balance being paid off for the duration of the entire promo like I plan. Then I can throw all my cards in a 2nd wallet except debit card and my daily driver, then throw the wallet in my filing cabinet.
That'll leave me with 1 card to manage and a few days before it's statement posts on it, I'll still _keep_ making charges and paying them off a day or two later. Not worrying wheter I carry a nominal balance on it just as the statement cuts anymore, which I was compulsive about not wanting to happen.
That's about as close as I think I can get to reiging in the micromanaging, which I think is a good compromise in relation to the way I obsessed over it the last year. I'll be honest, I'm looking forward to it. I'm tired and bored of it, I need a break.
I'm not going to pretend that isn't still obsessing to a large degree, but that's the best I can do for now. I'll set it up, then let it go on auto pilot. A micromanaged plan to auto pilot is good, right? Right??? :-D
I really don't have any experience with transitioning like this, because up until about 4 years ago, I wasn't even aware that you can pay early, or make multiple payments online. Back when it would have mattered to me, we were still on paper statements, and I didn't know my balance until the statement was mailed to me, and I thought the payment coupon was required for payment.
Anyway, if I were in your shoes, and without knowing what CLs are on your "larger" cards were (assuming they are > 3K CL each) and your scores, I would want to be sure those larger cards had very small balances (or 0). Then I would look at what my total utilization would be if I report some with utilization > 50%. If its < 7%, I'd probably be OK with it assuming my scores are high (your scores will be hammered when reporting high util on a single card or more). If you have a decent score, it shouldn't hurt as bad. Be prepared to lose a chunk of points.
I can't see lenders freaking out about a total balance of $2,500 on a total CL of 40K, and scores that tanked 50 pts as a result of high util on 2 cards. But again, I have no experience with that.
Another thing I'd do is pay all revolving balances off as I do this, then I'd be more comfortable reporting more cards with balances. Once your limits increase, it becomes easier to report balances, because the total util goes lower.
For the record, I report all 9 of my cards with balances every month, but my total util is only about 2%, and they are all PIF each month. I've maxed out cards and reported as high as 99.99% on one card, but my total util was around 6 or 7%, and my scores still were excellent (~800). I've never had an issue doing that.