@Anonymous wrote:I am trying to rebuild my credit so I joined MYFICO and the lerts
Last month my score went down because I charged more then 30% on a new card
So I paid the card in full
It just went down again because the card was reduced by that amount
How does the score go down becasue you pay off the balance ?
Welcome to the forums!
Two questions: are you getting your alerts from Scorewatch? Secondly, how many cards do you have and do they all report $0? Well 3, how much drop are we talking about?
In general paying of credit cards is a good thing FICO wise, though if all your cards are at $0, FICO sees that as a straight and non-trivial penalty. Temporary issue, just let a small balance report on a card next month and the points will come back.
Regarding the drop, hate to say this but get comfy during your rebuild as there will be a lot of little ups and downs (and some big ones too potentially); don't sweat the short-term small stuff, focus on the long-term goal of building good credit as that's what's important. Short-term things can generally be addressed by next month, long-term improvement is where the real payoff for the effort is.
@Anonymous wrote:Similar problem here so you may have answered it already, Revelate.
My score went up after getting a CLI on my one and only card (from 735 to 750) and now two weeks later, it dropped back to 735, at the same time that I received an alert that my balance was reported as $0. I simply paid my card down, no new statement was cut. Will this fluctuate all the time until I have more cards?
Hi there,
Just wanted to jump in and give you an idea as to why this may be happening. When no card reports a balance ($0 balance reported on ALL your cards), FICO scoring model may see this as "not using your credit" and a penalty may ensue. If you have just one card, it is always a good idea to allow it to report 1- 9% balance - but not to exceed the 9% for score optimization purposes.
If you have multiple cards, then I would allow only one of them (take your pick - maybe rotate each month) to report anywhere between 1-9% balance. This seems to be the best optiization method out there.
Hope that helps!
Thanks a lot, IamB2. My issue is that I always let it carry a small balance when the statement was cut but then paid it in full. I actually PIF several times a month to make sure I don't use any money that's not really mine. 
@Anonymous wrote:Also, I thought "carrying a balance" meant that your card reports some balance when your statement is cut, which is also important beacause of utilization. Am I wrong?
Carrying a balance is if you don't pay off the statement balance within the grace period and interest starts getting charged: typically used in description over several months.
Reported balances are simply typically what the balance was when the statement gets cut, while that does matter for FICO utilization calculation, it's a different beast: most people outside of myFICO and similar places have a statement cut, and then make some payment amount to the lender - if they're paying-in-full (PIF), that's not carrying a balance... if they're paying less than the statement balance, paying the mininmum as an example, that is carrying a balance.
@Anonymous wrote:I see, thanks, Revelate. So people here would suggest that I should carry a small balance on at least one card and pay interest on that to maximize my score?
I believe Revelate is stating thathay if you PIF multiple times a month, make sure you leave a small balance (1%-9%) for best utilization. Once the statement cuts it will show your small balance. If you pay that balance in full by the due date you will not accrue any interest.
