Time for my scores to take a hit when balances report

[Anonymous]

Typically I wouldn't recommend it, but I have my mortgage on autopay.  That's is the reason I have never late!

It's served me well these past 20 years

[masscredit]

I don't trust my money in banks so I usually don't keep much cash in my accounts. I keep track of when all of my payments are due (credit cards and utilities).  A few credit cards are due at the beginning of the month and the rest of my bills are in the middle. I jump online twice each month and work down the list. 

I'm sure autopay does work well for some. Don't have to worry about forgetting to make payments. Just make sure there is enough in the account or there is enough available credit to cover them.

Maybe I just have control issues  

[Anonymous]

Just for clarity. all NRB and I were saying is that Autopay should minimally be like the big net underneath the trapeze artists.  Sure, maybe a given performer is so skilled that they have never slipped up once.  But it's borderline crazy to not have it turned on, just in the 1 out of a million chance you do forget.

And then there's guys like me who just give up and get used to the net doing the work.  Either way, strongly consider having it turned on.

[Anonymous]

I should have mentioned that the autopay mortgage is from account that I normally only have enough for mortgage and one of 2 car payments. 

My day to day account is a totally different account with a different financial institution. 

[masscredit]

I forgot to mention my Target card in my first post. They closed the account because I had a few payments returned. I had the wrong bank account info when I set that up so 2 of them were bounced back then I forgot to transfer enough money to cover Target and my insurance payments so they pulled the plug. My fault.

This is what I have so far - 

November 13th -

Cap 1 - $636.00
Target - $236.00

November 17th -

Cap 1 - $636.00
Target - $236.00
Barclay Apple Rewards - $824.00

EQ04  -
10/30/15 - 723
11/28-15 - 723 - No change with 3 cards reporting

EQ08 -
11/13/15 - 696
11/14/15 - 693 - 2 cards
11/30/15 - 693 - No change with 3 cards reporting

TU08 -
11/10/15- 720
11/30/15 - 720 - No change with 3 cards reporting

EQ04 score from DCU

EQ08 score from MyFico

TU08 score from Walmart

[masscredit]

After reading some posts here, I'm starting to think that I should abort this mission and just let a couple cards report at once instead of most of them. Don't want to end up like this member - http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Capital-One-Just-Closed-All-4-of-My-Cards/td-p/4362242  . Updated details for that start at post 185. 

In a way I shouldn't be worried but I'd hate to CLDs or closed accounts because lenders see a bunch of balances shooting up and scores going down.

Thoughts?

[NRB525]

Going from "all cards but one at zero" to "everyone out of the SD!" counts as a shock to the score, yes. It does not guarantee AA, but as a shock, it is a possible trigger.

Going slowly, gradually letting the statements see the light of day two at a time, over several months, is a reasonable approach.

ETA: However, the particular thread you are referencing had CapOne taking issue with a series of large cash advances on a CC. A different situation than you have here. The Barclays card has to report a balance, since that is the largest of your bunch, and Barclays knows about it. Bringing one other card to a small balance, geez, I'd hope that's not an issue for Barclays, but with Barclays in your mix, keeping the new balances under control is advisable.

Full disclosure: I don't have any Barclays cards, was denied for the Arrival+ in 2014, and it's probably for the best.

[masscredit]

I think I'll continue with my plan for now but I'm going to keep the Barclay and Merrick statement balances under 50%.  I just paid Barclay down to 48%. Next month I'll pay most of the cards off. Both Barclay balances have a 0% promotion so I'll let both of them report for a little while. Courious to see what that does to my scores. I might even find a sweet spot that is higher than what I've been allowing to report. 

[masscredit]

New update -

December 19th -

Cap 1 - $1322.00/$9000.00 - 14%
Target - $159.00/$3000.00 - 5%
Barclay Rewards - $5108.00/$10,500. - 49%
Barclay Apple Rewards - $712.00/$4400.00 - 16%
Walmart - $251.00/$10,000 - 2%
JCP - $9.00/$6500.00 - <1%

Total - $7558.00 - Total utilization - 14%

EQ08 -
678 - minus 15 points - minus 18 points total

TU08 -
717 - the new balances might not have hit this one yet - minus 3 so far

[masscredit]

Last update before I start paying my cards off -

Cap 1 - $1322.00 / $9000.00 - 14%
Cap 1 - $0.00 / $12,000.00 - 0%
Target - $159.00 / $3000.00 - 5%
Barclay Rewards - $5108.00 / $10,500. - 49%
Barclay Apple Rewards - $712.00 / $4400.00 - 16%
Walmart - $251.00 / $10,000 - 2%
JCP - $9.00 / $6500.00 - .001%
Merrick- $778/00 / $1600.00 - 49%

$8339.00 - Total utilization 15%

Total points lost -

EQ04
723 - 718 - minus 5 points

EQ08
696 - 678 - minus 18 points

TU08
723- 717 - minus 6 points then up to 728 - strange

EX08
690 - 683 - minus 8 points

I don't know about the TU score. It from 723 to 720 and then to 717 which was fine. I checked the score this morning and saw that it went to 728 which is the highest that it's been so I started rebuilding. Pulled up the report and don't see any changes. The last IIB account fell off a few months ago and I still have 3 liens and a BK reporting. Maybe the score liked the higher utilization. I'll see what happens when I start paying accounts off next week. I'll just have two accounts reporting balances the end of this month. Both of my Barclay cards have promotional offers so I'll continue to let the balances report on them. The rest will go back to zero. Seeing that there wasn't a huge change in my scores, I'll probably start letting more accounts report balances starting next month.