Which card to show balance on for score maximization

[Anonymous]

Been working hard on mine and my wifes credit. We recently paid all cards to $0 except her Amazon store card reporting $742 balance. All my cards are paid down to $0 and was told not to use them until our mortagage is finalized(2 weeks). My scores dropped 4-14 points and not all $0 balances have reported yet. Hers dropped 15-20 points also not all $0 balances reporting yet. Should we expect more of a drop when the rest of the $0 balances report? What accounts and how many should I let report balances from normal use each month.

My accounts and scores

Current Fico 8 EQ 686 \ TU 716 \ EX 724

Penfed PCR $10000 / $0 

Chase FU $4500 / $0

Marshland FCU $5000 / $0

Amex Everyday $1000 / $0  Joint

Capital One Secured $500 / $0 AU

Capital One Secured $500 / $0  

Amaxon Store Card $5000 / $0

Walmart Store Card $6000 / $0 AU

Walmart Store Card $6000 / $0  

JC Penney $6000 / $0  AU

Wayfair $1500 / $0

Wife Accounts

Fico 8 EQ 737 / TU 726 / EX 740

Penfed PCR $10000 / $0 AU

Chase FU $4500 / $0 AU

Marshland FCU $5000 / $0 AU

Amex Everyday $1000 / $0  Joint

Capital One Secured $500 / $0

Capital One Secured $500 / $0  AU

Amazon Store Card $5000 / $742

Walmart Store Card $6000 / $0

Walmart Store Card $6000 / $0  AU

JC Penney $6000 / $0

Victoria Secret $1550 / $0

Kohls $2500 / $0

Wayfair $1500 / $0

[Anonymous]

You should just let a small balance report from one of your major bank cards (Amex, Capital One, etc) rather than a store card.  That's it.  $0 reported on everything except one major bank card on your report as well as 1 on hers.  If you have AU (shared) accounts, I would omit those as being your "one balance" card.  By doing this both of your scores will be maximized.

[Anonymous]

I plan to put my monthly bills on my Penfed once we close on our house. I can let that report and PIF shortly after. With Amex being joint would that work for hers or would it be better to get her a card from say Navy Federal once we close? I am in with Navy but have no cards from there and just realized besides Capital One and Amex all her cards are store cards.

[HeavenOhio]

Are you sure that AMEX is a joint account, or is one of you the primary user and the other an authorized user? I ask because it's really unusual to see truly joint credit card accounts these days.

As BBS mentions, all cards reporting zero will ding your score, often to the tune of about 20 points. The score drops in your cases were predictable and within the expected range. Also, as mentioned, it's best to report a small balance on a major card (Visa, MasterCard, AMEX, or Discover) rather than a store card, as some scores are dinged a little if a store card is the only one reporting a balance. And it's best that the card reporting a balance be a card in which one is the primary user rather than an authorized user.

In your wife's case, if all she has is store cards, the best she can do is report a small balance on one of them with the rest reporting zero.

After the mortgage closes, it's not so important that your scores be maximized. That gives you some flexibility. But if you want to be able to maximize your scores, it's best that any AU cards report a balance of zero.

[Revelate]

There shouldn't be much problem with the mortgage process even with an AU of a national bank card for your wife; I'd probably just drop a balance on the FU or Penfed cards and call it good.

FICO 8 optimization is different and if I really had to optimize both accounts I'd airstrike each other's AU's on the Cap 1 secured cards and then use those to report a balance... though once the mortgage is done probably won't be that many other common applications anyway and last I checked auto loans took the higher of the two signers' FICO scores, unlike mortgages.

Too many AU's aren't necessarily a good thing; in general I'd look at paring some of them back from a longer term optimization perspective as it gives you some more flexibility in reporting a non-trivial balance on one report while the other needs to make an application or similar.