Score Drop

[User5103]

I paid off all cards to a 0 balance and my scores dropped!!! What happened? 

[User5103]

I think I found what I need to do.

Thoughts??

Here's how to manage CCs: Keep your balance above zero, but less than 10% of your credit limit. There. That's all there is to it. There's no insider's magic formula. No secret handshake. FICO likes to see you living well within your means, but managing and not sockdrawering your credit. Having a credit card in your sockdrawer zeroed out for a year doesn't show you can manage credit, and won't help your score or improve your standing with the CC company. Using the card but keeping low balances tells FICO you can manage credit superbly, and gets the CC company to thinking that a CLI might draw you out and encourage you to get daring. You can do this even on low-limit cards...just charge small items.

[NRB525]

+1000 for asking the question and then answering it yourself!

Yes, at least one card should report something, else FICO does not have anything to use to measure your use of credit.

[Datdamwuf]

You nailed it. My score has hovered around 810-830 for years, it went up to 860 about a year after I took out a home equity loan (FICO® Score NG 2, based on Equifax data). The only other debt I have is the mortgage itself.

BTW, you can charge large amounts every month so long as you pay them off. I charge every single thing I buy, mostly to AmEx so I get my points, then pay it off every month. I have been doing this since 2001. It makes budgeting so much simpler because I can review what I spent money on very easily without keeping a huge spreadsheet.