PIF Credit cards - NO GOOD for me

[Anonymous]

Hi Guys,

Here my thing;

I have been reading and following advices from others folks here about how well i need to take care of my cards (thank you to all of you for that) but i think something is not working for me as its been working for many here in this community, so i am changing/modifiying my game plan a little to see what happens.

As many here, i have been using my cards and PIF and only one card reports balance, i currently have over 160K of total credit and my Util is 1%, my cards are from 30K to 1K CL and never let them report over 2.5% of the total limits (5K limit card only report $125 balance), well here is the things, my score have been the same for the last 3 months (718-713-712) and yesterday my TU drop from 735 to 712 (FICO8), i have 3 cards that are not beeing reporting to the CB because lack of use, i have 6K in one of them and in my report it has just 4K so anyways, here my new plan;

I will use all my cards and i will let them to report 2.5% of the total CL and PIF after, that will bring my total util to 5-6% (doing this i still will be bellow 9% of total Util).

So what do you think guys?, just to add, i combined 2 BOA cards in one and asked for CLI and as you know was a HP (that can explain my TU drop), also i combined 2 capital one cards but i was told that no HP was necessary for this, the others changes were: Closed AMEX PRG, JCrew, Auto CareOne, and Macys.

I will update this as the cards start reporting and lets see what happens.

Thank you guys.

[Gmood1]

Good deal, let us know how it goes. For me the purpose of building CLs was so I could let my usage report. And that is exactly what I do. Everything reports except Blispay. For me it's about building a strong track record over just optimized scores. I want the lenders to see how I handle my bills and what I spend. Tough to show that if you're paying it off before it even reports. Lol

[RonM21]

Lets see how it goes. You'll have some data you can then compare and go from there.

[Anonymous]

I was under the impression that only letting 1 card report was ideal for those with 3-4 total credit cards.  I thought that for people with more, they should let more report a small balance.  I don't recall you saying how many cards you had, but with $160k in total credit with some with low(er) limits, I'd imagine you have a bunch.  From what I've read on here, people with more cards usually let 2-3 of them report, depending on the numbers.  Some of the more experienced members can probably offer some better advice on this.  But, if the idea with 3-4 cards to let 1 report, that's 25-33% of your cards reporting... so if you have 15 cards maybe 3-4 should report a minimal balance?

[elim]

I use plenty of cards and when the statements cut, I pay the bills.  Works pretty well for me.  I have 4-5 cards reporting every month. If For some reason I have a bunch of cards reporting or high utilization, I'll knock some stuff out before the cut.

I don't sweat the utilization game and it fluctuates between 2% and 7%

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi Guys,

Here my thing;

I have been reading and following advices from others folks here about how well i need to take care of my cards (thank you to all of you for that) but i think something is not working for me as its been working for many here in this community, so i am changing/modifiying my game plan a little to see what happens.

As many here, i have been using my cards and PIF and only one card reports balance, i currently have over 160K of total credit and my Util is 1%, my cards are from 30K to 1K CL and never let them report over 2.5% of the total limits (5K limit card only report $125 balance), well here is the things, my score have been the same for the last 3 months (718-713-712) and yesterday my TU drop from 735 to 712 (FICO8), i have 3 cards that are not beeing reporting to the CB because lack of use, i have 6K in one of them and in my report it has just 4K so anyways, here my new plan;

I will use all my cards and i will let them to report 2.5% of the total CL and PIF after, that will bring my total util to 5-6% (doing this i still will be bellow 9% of total Util).

So what do you think guys?, just to add, i combined 2 BOA cards in one and asked for CLI and as you know was a HP (that can explain my TU drop), also i combined 2 capital one cards but i was told that no HP was necessary for this, the others changes were: Closed AMEX PRG, JCrew, Auto CareOne, and Macys.

I will update this as the cards start reporting and lets see what happens.

Thank you guys.

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Having most of your cards reporting a balance will probably suppress your scores somewhat.

[Aahz]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I was under the impression that only letting 1 card report was ideal for those with 3-4 total credit cards.  I thought that for people with more, they should let more report a small balance.  I don't recall you saying how many cards you had, but with $160k in total credit with some with low(er) limits, I'd imagine you have a bunch.  From what I've read on here, people with more cards usually let 2-3 of them report, depending on the numbers.  Some of the more experienced members can probably offer some better advice on this.  But, if the idea with 3-4 cards to let 1 report, that's 25-33% of your cards reporting... so if you have 15 cards maybe 3-4 should report a minimal balance?

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You're misunderstanding the optimization rule.  Simplest utility rule - One card reporting under 1%.

This is the "rule" that's shared because it optimizes utilization points on every single profile - thick or thin, dirty or clean.  People with clean, thick files can get the same bump with more than one card reporting, but they don't get a better bump as a result.

However, if the OPs cards are not reporting at all due to lack of use, then they're actually hurting his utilization because their lines aren't being considered.  The answer is simply to use them for one charge on a regular basis and then pay off that charge before the statement cuts/card reports.  This keeps all of those cards active on one's credit file without losing any utilization points.

[Anonymous]

Same happened to me.  I changed things up a bit and now my scores are rising very well.  I will eventually have to pay down to 1% as I don't want to owe much when I'm done decorating/improving my home.  But will use the cards as I would normally do.  And hopefully when my scores are well over 800, they won't drop back down.

[Anonymous]

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@Aahz wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

I was under the impression that only letting 1 card report was ideal for those with 3-4 total credit cards.  I thought that for people with more, they should let more report a small balance.  I don't recall you saying how many cards you had, but with $160k in total credit with some with low(er) limits, I'd imagine you have a bunch.  From what I've read on here, people with more cards usually let 2-3 of them report, depending on the numbers.  Some of the more experienced members can probably offer some better advice on this.  But, if the idea with 3-4 cards to let 1 report, that's 25-33% of your cards reporting... so if you have 15 cards maybe 3-4 should report a minimal balance?

---

You're misunderstanding the optimization rule.  Simplest utility rule - One card reporting under 1%.

This is the "rule" that's shared because it optimizes utilization points on every single profile - thick or thin, dirty or clean.  People with clean, thick files can get the same bump with more than one card reporting, but they don't get a better bump as a result.

However, if the OPs cards are not reporting at all due to lack of use, then they're actually hurting his utilization because their lines aren't being considered.  The answer is simply to use them for one charge on a regular basis and then pay off that charge before the statement cuts/card reports.  This keeps all of those cards active on one's credit file without losing any utilization points.

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I know there are several members on here that have tested data points of letting 1, 2, 3 etc. cards report a minimal balance every month and some have reported no score change in dropping from say 3 to 1.  From what I recall, these are people with a healthy deck of cards (say 10+).  I remember reading that some called letting 2 or 3 cards report a small balance was their "sweet spot" based on their portfolio, which I took as them saying they actually squeezed a few more points out of that scenario rather than just having 1 report.  Perhaps scores for these people are simply the same if 1-3 report.  I'm not quite sure.  I guess what I'm getting at is that depending on profile one doesn't HAVE to only let 1 card report in order to achieve maximum points.  Again, from what I've read from multiple people on here that have tested the different data points.

[Anonymous]

Ok guys, thank you for your input, really appreciate it.

Well the game started for me today ,here the cards that reported yesterday/today:

Chase SW 11K (2.5% = $275) - Reported - $271.27

Barclaycard A+ 7.5K (2.5% = 187.5) - Reported - $268.36

Stash 20K (2.5% = $500) - Reported - $60

Chase IHG 5K (2.5% = $125) - Reported - $50.

I already PIF the balances on all cards so let see what happen, i already checked and i see my total utilization went up to $1512 and still i am at 1% and the score still @ 718 (EX), also paid in full SAM's ($361) so now will be $0 balance.

Here next:

Paypal MC 10K (2.5% = $250) will report $39.86

Amex BCE 1K (2.5% = $25) will be around 5% ~ $50.

As a side note, i'm taking very seriously my credit so when i say the word "game" that is nothing to do with taking this as a game, well hope you get it lol.

I will keep updating this post.

Thank you guys.