Will paying more than balance help raise FICO score and also prevent account from being closed?

[acercode]

If I have a $100 balance and I pay $105, making my account positive by $5, will this increase FICO score more? And if I don't use my card for a long time will the bank be less inclined to close it for non-use since it has a positive balance? 

[SouthJamaica]

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@acercode wrote:

If I have a $100 balance and I pay $105, making my account positive by $5, will this increase FICO score more? And if I don't use my card for a long time will the bank be less inclined to close it for non-use since it has a positive balance? 

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No. It is reported as a zero balance. 

Zero balances are a good thing for one's FICO scores, except that there is a penalty for having ALL zero balances.

[Horseshoez]

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@acercode wrote:

If I have a $100 balance and I pay $105, making my account positive by $5, will this increase FICO score more? And if I don't use my card for a long time will the bank be less inclined to close it for non-use since it has a positive balance? 

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I concur with what @SouthJamaica wrote, I've pushed payments to my accounts any number of times which temporarily resulted in a credit balance; each time the account gets reported as a zero balance; having a credit balance will not help your FICO scores.  If you were to leave that credit on your account and stop using the card, most (all?) financial institutions will simply send you a check after a given period for the balance and zero out the account.

[MT64]

From my experience, I would receive an instant payment error for trying to pay anything more than the full balance remaining stating something along the lines of your payment is 110% of balance and cannot be processed.

[Horseshoez]

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@MT64 wrote:

From my experience, I would receive an instant payment error for trying to pay anything more than the full balance remaining stating something along the lines of your payment is 110% of balance and cannot be processed.

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Some financial institutions do that when you "pull" payments, but when you "push" from your banking accounts, you can push as much as you want.

[Zoostation1]

Capital One is the only I've dealt with recently that lets you pay even a penny more than the posted balance at any given time (up to 10% over) without calling in.  Discover told me over the phone you can go up to 10% over the posted balance when paying on the website or the app, but my experience trying it says otherwise.  I don't typically pay over but when I did I had to do it via phone.  Amex doesn't allow it at all as far as I know.  Not currently dealing with other lenders so I can't speak to that.

[Horseshoez]

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@Zoostation1 wrote:

Capital One is the only I've dealt with recently that lets you pay even a penny more than the posted balance at any given time (up to 10% over) without calling in.  Discover told me over the phone you can go up to 10% over the posted balance when paying on the website or the app, but my experience trying it says otherwise.  I don't typically pay over but when I did I had to do it via phone.  Amex doesn't allow it at all as far as I know.  Not currently dealing with other lenders so I can't speak to that.

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The point I was trying, and apparently failing, to make is if you do a push payment, either by manually writing out a check and mailing it, or executing a push payment from your bank, you can pay any amount you want, including significantly above any outstanding balance.  In my case I like to keep my accounts baselined at $0.00 every month, so as the due date approaches I check my balance as well as any pending charges, add them together, and push a payment for the full amount; it matters not whether it is CapOne, PenFed, Chase, or any other financial institution, when money comes in, they apply it to your account, credit balances included.

[FireMedic1]

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@acercode wrote:

If I have a $100 balance and I pay $105, making my account positive by $5, will this increase FICO score more? And if I don't use my card for a long time will the bank be less inclined to close it for non-use since it has a positive balance? 

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One question not asked. You do have more than 1 card right? Nothing in your siggy.

[Thomas_Thumb]

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@Horseshoez wrote:

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@MT64 wrote:

From my experience, I would receive an instant payment error for trying to pay anything more than the full balance remaining stating something along the lines of your payment is 110% of balance and cannot be processed.

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Some financial institutions do that when you "pull" payments, but when you "push" from your banking accounts, you can push as much as you want.

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True. I wrote a check for a few thousand over balance. I wanted to cover a purchase that would not hit my account until it shipped. The check was cashed and showed as a large positive statement balance.

My experience with positive balances is they need to get used up by the next statement date. If not, I was mailed a check for the positive amount.

Credit utilization for the account is zero whether balance is zero ot positive.

[Kforce]

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@Thomas_Thumb wrote:

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@Horseshoez wrote:

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@MT64 wrote:

From my experience, I would receive an instant payment error for trying to pay anything more than the full balance remaining stating something along the lines of your payment is 110% of balance and cannot be processed.

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Some financial institutions do that when you "pull" payments, but when you "push" from your banking accounts, you can push as much as you want.

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True. I wrote a check for a few thousand over balance. I wanted to cover a purchase that would not hit my account until it shipped. The check was cashed and showed as a large positive statement balance.

My experience with positive balances is they need to get used up by the next statement date. If not, I was mailed a check for the positive amount.

Credit utilization for the account is zero whether balance is zero ot positive.

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Maybe wandering a little off the OP subject, however:

When I was playing with AZEO a couple of years back.

I wanted to zero out 5 or 6 cards that I used every other day for rewards.

Needed to push (balance + pending + 3-7 days) worth of normal spend.

Every month each had an overpayment (100 - 700), depending on normal spend for that card.

A new overpayment was on it the next month.

I played with AZEO, different number of cards and thresholds for over a year.

If different positive balances are on a card every month, I saw no payments returned.

Some of the cards had a positive balance, monthly for well over a year.

If it changes every month they do not put it in the same necessary to refund category.

As with all things with CC issuers maybe some issuer has an exception. (YMMV)

If you have a static, positive number they will send you a check. 

It would be an issue with the OP plan.

The extra would be returned in a cycle or two.

I also found "Pushing Payments" the best way to pay (My Opinion) if playing with AZEO for a long term time frame.   I no longer am practicing AZEO however still prefur "Pushing Payments".