Even $1 will count in my experience, but the minimum payment will remain $15 for a DTI calculation as I understand it.
As for micromanging over time: there are some lenders which don't update unless there's a balance reported, and as such the tradelines can become stale and potentially be flagged as inactive. I don't worry about my report being pretty at the moment on balances, but I do try to cycle through my various cards reporting a balance every couple of months to avoid that.
@CreditDunce wrote:
@Gardenhand wrote:I'm trying to understand how to get the best scoring results out of my credit cards. I have read that letting a balance report between 1 and 10 percent on one card and having all other cards report zero is ideal for scoring purposes. I have three credit cards,
td bank secured 2500 limit
sdfcu secured 500 limit
open sky secured 300 limit
Now if I let 25 dollars report on my td card and zero report on my other two cards that will be one percent of my td card limit BUT less then one percent of my total credit card limit. Will I still recieve the best results this way? My reasoning for wanting to let the bare minimum report instead of let's say 50 dollars, is because when I apply for a mortgage I want my minimum payments to be as low as possible for DTI reasons.
I understand that micromanaging isn't necessary until it comes time to apply for credit but will micro managing hurt me in the long run by never letting my two cards report a balance? I'm not worried about the credit cards being closed due to non activity because the cards I am not using are secured cards with no chances of graduating to unsecured. I don't think they will close a secured card. But if I'm not receiving all of the scoring potential in the long run out of these cards because I'm not letting them report then I may adjust my plan. I do use them occasionally but immediately pay them off before the statement date hits.
Any insight is appreciated.
You will have to experiment to find what combination will provide your best credit score. However, please note, your mortgage will probably use FICO 04/98 scoring. FICO 08 scores may not optimize the same. Also, note that a couple of points will not make a difference unless you are on a borderline. For example, if your middle score is 719 your may get a worse rate than if your score is 720. Anything over 760 will almost guarantee the best rates.
Activity is defined as any purchase or payment during the month. Even if you pay off the balance before it reports, there is still activity. Therefore, I wouldn't worry about micromanaging your cards. It won't help or hurt in the long run. The one thing I would check is to make sure all three CC's are reporting regularly to all 3 major CRA's.
If you are at least 6 months (ideally more than 1 year) out from applying for a mortgage and do not have any installment loans, I would think about adding a $500 shared secured loan. The nice thing about them is you get your security deposit back as part of the loan and they do not hurt DTI much.
I don't know your financial situation. However, I believe you are on the right track thinking about DTI and down payment. Banks won't budge when it comes to DTI. A lower credit score may get you approved with a higher rate. But you can always refi later to get a better rate.
Amex, BOFA, Walmart among others would disagree with you on that point. Not all lenders report the same information even if theoretically they should.
@CreditDunce wrote:
@Revelate wrote:
@CreditDunce wrote:
@Gardenhand wrote:I'm trying to understand how to get the best scoring results out of my credit cards. I have read that letting a balance report between 1 and 10 percent on one card and having all other cards report zero is ideal for scoring purposes. I have three credit cards,
td bank secured 2500 limit
sdfcu secured 500 limit
open sky secured 300 limit
Now if I let 25 dollars report on my td card and zero report on my other two cards that will be one percent of my td card limit BUT less then one percent of my total credit card limit. Will I still recieve the best results this way? My reasoning for wanting to let the bare minimum report instead of let's say 50 dollars, is because when I apply for a mortgage I want my minimum payments to be as low as possible for DTI reasons.
I understand that micromanaging isn't necessary until it comes time to apply for credit but will micro managing hurt me in the long run by never letting my two cards report a balance? I'm not worried about the credit cards being closed due to non activity because the cards I am not using are secured cards with no chances of graduating to unsecured. I don't think they will close a secured card. But if I'm not receiving all of the scoring potential in the long run out of these cards because I'm not letting them report then I may adjust my plan. I do use them occasionally but immediately pay them off before the statement date hits.
Any insight is appreciated.
You will have to experiment to find what combination will provide your best credit score. However, please note, your mortgage will probably use FICO 04/98 scoring. FICO 08 scores may not optimize the same. Also, note that a couple of points will not make a difference unless you are on a borderline. For example, if your middle score is 719 your may get a worse rate than if your score is 720. Anything over 760 will almost guarantee the best rates.
Activity is defined as any purchase or payment during the month. Even if you pay off the balance before it reports, there is still activity. Therefore, I wouldn't worry about micromanaging your cards. It won't help or hurt in the long run. The one thing I would check is to make sure all three CC's are reporting regularly to all 3 major CRA's.
If you are at least 6 months (ideally more than 1 year) out from applying for a mortgage and do not have any installment loans, I would think about adding a $500 shared secured loan. The nice thing about them is you get your security deposit back as part of the loan and they do not hurt DTI much.
I don't know your financial situation. However, I believe you are on the right track thinking about DTI and down payment. Banks won't budge when it comes to DTI. A lower credit score may get you approved with a higher rate. But you can always refi later to get a better rate.
Amex, BOFA, Walmart among others would disagree with you on that point. Not all lenders report the same information even if theoretically they should.
Even if it doesn't report, wouldn't the CCC still consider the card active? It is still being used.
In any case, won't they have to at least issue you a statement if you have made a purchase but paid it off before the statement cut? I have pre-paid my Amex and BoA cards to a zero balance, and they reported as normal. The one issuer I have had problems with not reporting when there is no activity is Discover. However, even they generate a statement and report to the CRA's as long as I either make a purchase or payment that month (assuming no CLI).
I don't have Wally or any Commenity(?) cards. They indeed may be different.
Maybe it is just I don't have enough experience with this matter. I am in the camp of taking advantage of the grace period. I normally let whatever I charge report as a statement balance, then PIF before the due date. I only play the util games right before app'g.
It will be active from the lender's perspective, it may not be seen as such from everyone else's. When we're talking credit reports and date of last activity / date of last update, we care about everyone else 
.
Pull your report at some point after regular use, and see which tradelines have updated activity fields and which don't... I was near horrified when I saw mine on cards that I use regularly we're listed as inactive for 4+ months on the credit report.
@Revelate wrote:
It will be active from the lender's perspective, it may not be seen as such from everyone else's. When we're talking credit reports and date of last activity / date of last update, we care about everyone else
Pull your report at some point after regular use, and see which tradelines have updated activity fields and which don't... I was near horrified when I saw mine on cards that I use regularly we're listed as inactive for 4+ months on the credit report.
You have a lot more experience than I do. I will have to take your word for it. I don't have a whole lot of data to look at. This spring I had 1 open CC (and a few closed TL's about to drop off) on my CR. I added 5 more CC's almost 6 months ago. I haven't had them long enough to see any patterns when I look at my CR's. On my Experien CR, the only CC that shows inactive is my old Smith Barney/Cit CC. I haven't used it since 1998. Citi closed it in 2008. I can't really blame them for saying it is inactive.
All of my of the "Last Reported Date" and "Recent Balance" shows 09/2014. Apart from one CC I didn't use or make a payment to last month. The dates have been updating every month even in the past two months when I was paying before the statement cut for all but one CC.
The Balance History is not correct in Amex and Chase. Chase doesn't even show the dates I had a statement balance report. I will have to do some experimentation to see if it is related to me pushing the payment instead of paying on Chase's website. BoA reports everything exactly correct, but I am paying everything for BoA's website.
I used my Quizzle EQ CR pull earlier this year to verify all of the new accounts were reporting to EQ properly. It was too soon after I added the accounts to see inactivity.
When I first pulled my TU report via CK, it said all of my CC's were inactive. However, I am sure that was a bug. I was letting them all but two report balances at the time. And I don't see the inactive accounts anymore in CK. I will not be able to pull my official EQ and TU reports until next year (unless I was willing to pay or use the decline backdoor). I might be willing to use the decline backdoor, but the only thing I have been declined for was a pre-approval for Credit1 and that was on EX.
Once I get more history and can pull the other two CR's I will be sure to check it out. Thanks.