I was told to carry a small balance to improve my credit and it works.
*Claim it’s a myth but I saw an improvement from paying off my balance every month. My broker told me to do it in advance of applying for a mortgage, I did try to fact check him but couldn’t find anything definitive one way or the other. When it came down to it though, my score improved by changing literally only that.
Common myth. You do not need to pay interest ever to have good credit. Your accounts should show activity, ie your balance on your statement should be non-zero, but you can pay off that entire balance (and thereby pay no interest) and still improve your score.
Don’t bother unless you know you’re going to need a loan. You’re paying a % interest to kiss the credit monitoring companies’ ass. I mean, don’t sabotage your credit, but if you know you are going to apply for a loan or something affected by your credit score, fine, bump it up with whatever works. We pay ours off monthly, score be damned.
It doesn’t improve your credit. Source: my memory of various articles saying that, and my own 800+ credit score and having never carried a balance in my life.
Lenders like clients who are slightly in debt, because they are viewed as more lucrative over the long term. Making timely payments is good. Making timely payments with a big interest component is even better, since that’s how creditors make their money.
Whomever is downvoting you has never worked the back end of the financial sector. Those double-digit APYs aren’t just for show. The primary goal of the business is to get you to pay them. That’s why people who do pay off their loans are constantly getting notes in the mail about how their max credit is increasing and personal loans are available and please, please, please borrow more money on a longer time scale.
I was told to carry a small balance to improve my credit and it works.
*Claim it’s a myth but I saw an improvement from paying off my balance every month. My broker told me to do it in advance of applying for a mortgage, I did try to fact check him but couldn’t find anything definitive one way or the other. When it came down to it though, my score improved by changing literally only that.
Common myth. You do not need to pay interest ever to have good credit. Your accounts should show activity, ie your balance on your statement should be non-zero, but you can pay off that entire balance (and thereby pay no interest) and still improve your score.
Don’t bother unless you know you’re going to need a loan. You’re paying a % interest to kiss the credit monitoring companies’ ass. I mean, don’t sabotage your credit, but if you know you are going to apply for a loan or something affected by your credit score, fine, bump it up with whatever works. We pay ours off monthly, score be damned.
It doesn’t improve your credit. Source: my memory of various articles saying that, and my own 800+ credit score and having never carried a balance in my life.
Lenders like clients who are slightly in debt, because they are viewed as more lucrative over the long term. Making timely payments is good. Making timely payments with a big interest component is even better, since that’s how creditors make their money.
Whomever is downvoting you has never worked the back end of the financial sector. Those double-digit APYs aren’t just for show. The primary goal of the business is to get you to pay them. That’s why people who do pay off their loans are constantly getting notes in the mail about how their max credit is increasing and personal loans are available and please, please, please borrow more money on a longer time scale.
Anecdotally, I pay off my full balance every month and have an 830 credit score.