One question..about bouncing credit score

[Anonymous]

Hello,  I wonder whether a negative balance would increase the credit score? Is it better than a balance of no more than 1/3 of the credit line?

Thanks.

[MidnightVoice]

Usually a negative balance posts as $0.  But it is better than a positive balance!

[Anonymous]

Does the 0$ balance mean zero credit activity to the financial bureaus?

[haulingthescoreup]

As MV said.

Welcome to the forums, by the way!

Also, if you're going to have a balance report, it's better that it be under 10%, as in 9% or less, not under 1/3.

And if you really like to torture, er, fine-tune your scores, most of us have found that the best of all is allowing only one card to report under 10%, and all the rest $0. You can use all the rest of the cards (and you should to keep them active), but pay them off online before your statement drops, which is when almost all creditors report to the credit bureaus.

You have to be a bit obsessed (like me!) to do this regularly, though. But it's very helpful if you're going for a big credit application like a mortgage, and you want to shine everything up as much as you can.

[MidnightVoice]

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Paulga wrote:

Does the 0$ balance mean zero credit activity to the financial bureaus?

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The CRAs know if you have used the card (I think)

Message Edited by MidnightVoice on 07-04-2008 03:11 PM

[Anonymous]

Thanks for sharing.

BTW, only one payment in a cycle is always better than paying several times(including bill pay), right?

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for sharing.

BTW, only one payment in a cycle is always better than paying several times(including bill pay), right?

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No, no reason that that would matter at all. We've had members who started out with a relatively low CL on a card who have pumped 3-4X the CL through it every month, just by paying weekly.

I have a 0% BT on a Bank of America card that I pay down by $250 every two weeks. They seem delighted with this, and in fact, I just got another CLI online with them.

I think that with legitimate CC's, in other words, not the horrible credit recovery cards that charge you one fee for breathing in, and another for breathing out, they wouldn't mind you carrying a balance so that they can make a little interest off of you. But all my cards seem happy that I pay them off every month and sometimes more often, because I use them for everything, and so that get their money via transaction fees from the vendors on my purchases.

[Anonymous]

I see,

thanks a lot.

[smallfry]

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@MidnightVoice wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Does the 0$ balance mean zero credit activity to the financial bureaus?

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The CRAs know if you have used the card (I think)

Message Edited by MidnightVoice on 07-04-2008 03:11 PM

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Yes they do. I put a few hundred on my Walmart card this past month and paid before the statement dropped. I got an EQ CWG Alert for a dormant card reporting use. Last payment column showed the payment I had just made. So they do know if you use the card even if you do not let a balance report.

[marty56]

2 of my 3 CCs have a credit and they both report as 0.  It would be kinda fun to see what would happen to your FICO score if a CCC did report a negative balance.