They report increases, but never zero balances? ARRGH!

[Anonymous]

So I've not got several credit cards, with only the purpose of gaming the silly FICO scoring system.

Discover, limit is $3000

Amex, limit is $1500

BofA Visa (was secured, it unsecured): limit is $5300

One month I use only amex, and pay it off in full.

Next month, I use only discover, and pay it off in full.

I carry no balance ever.

My score keeps declining because Amex is reporting these balances.

I'm going to pay it off and try to keep it at zero for a while, but it still irks me that I don't seem to get credit for having a zero balance. 

When credit card companies report this stuff to the (horrible) FICO system, I'm assuming it's a snapshot as the current $$ amount, not the data that shows it's paid in full every month? 

 Makes me want to cancel all credit cards and go to cash only, so the evil banks don't get a percentage!

[MidnightVoice]

Most CCCs report the staement balance to the CRAs every month.  So Piffing does not give you a zero balance. To get a zero balance, you need to PIF before the statement date and then not use the card untill the statement cuts

Amex tends to do this a month behind

[haulingthescoreup]

Are you paying your balance off before the statement drops?

It's the balance on your statement that is reported to the CRA's. If you want a $0 to report, you'll need to pay early to make sure that $0 is on the statement. This is how you control reported util.

Also, AmEx updates 4 weeks later, so there's always a two-month lag, staring at that balance. If you PIF only one card before the statement date, make it the AmEx.


eta: Mr. Man-of-Few-Words beat me to it!

Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 12-18-2008 12:31 PM