Does paying your credit card total balance every month show good payment history on your credit report?

Question

I filed bankruptcy last year and I just received my first credit card. It has a small limit which I like ($300). I'm using it for things such as gasoline or groceries. I was told that if you pay the balance in full at the end of each month that the credit card company won't report that you have a good record with them as revolving credit account. Is this true?

Answer 1

As for what you heard I don't think that is true. Besides... no creditor can make special comments on your report of how good you are. All they can report is that you "pay on time" or "never late". Your credit is based on a scoring system and the Fair Credit Reporting Act requires they report properly.

Sorry Paul V... I disagree. Paying your bills in full greatly increases your FICO score. You DO get marks against you for letting balances linger or consistantly paying minimum payments. You should try to pay the min plus whatever the interest charge for them month would figure to be. Of course, you have to do what you can do. I don't think they expect you to pay it all off, but you should try. I have been turned down for credit before because I used to make min. payments. The letter said too many long standing balances. when I called Experian to inquire what this meant they said you have too many cards where you are just constantly making small payments... a creditor may see this as you are not able to pay much to cover your debts.

Also for those thinking if you have some amounts still owed you get more offers, etc... yeah thats not because your credit is better its because you are exactly they type of customer a credit card company wants... someone who always owes... that how they make money... on the interest of what you owe.

Answer 2

Unless you are on a deferred payment offer, I don't understand how your $6400 balance has a $0 minimum due. You may want to contact the financial institution to ask about that if you don't know. It could be a mistake on your bill and if your minimum due is supposed to be say $180, but you are only making $150 payments, your credit could go down. As said before, you want to try to pay more than your minimum due. Added note, if you do not have many lines of credit open, when you do get the credit card paid off (without it defaulting to collections for non payment at any point), you will want to keep the acct open. Make sure you use it occasionally and pay on it regularly. That will show on your credit report that you are of good faith and can increase your credit. Good luck.

Answer 3

Although this strategy may seem extremely obvious, late payments are the most common piece of negative information that appears on peoples’ credit reports and are often responsible for significant drops in credit scores. When it comes to loans and credit cards, it’s vital that you always make at least the minimum payments in a timely manner each and every month, with no exceptions.

The impact on your credit report and credit score will be considerable if you’re late or skip one or more mortgage payments, however, making late payments on other types of loans or defaulting on any loans will also have a disastrous impact on your credit score that will have an impact for up to seven years.

The benefit to having credit cards is that you can determine how much you spend using them, then decide how much you wish to pay back each month, as long as that amount is equal to or greater than the minimum monthly payment due. This allows you to budget your money and make intelligent decisions, based on your financial situation. Simply paying the minimums on your credit cards will keep those accounts from being late, however, the costs associated with that decision (in terms of fees and interest) will often be significant over time. Plus, this strategy will keep you from greatly reducing or paying off the debt.
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Answer 4

companies report when you fail to pay so you would be good if you pay on time. If you don´t have a balance on the card they won´t report the balance, which they actually do if there is one. But essentially the credit reports show when you pay late and the highest balance.

You can access now for free, by law, once a year your reports from all 3 of the credit bureaus. https://www.annualcreditreport.com/

Answer 5

absolutely not. paying ur balance in full each month will show good faith with the credit card company and that in turn will allow for an increased credit line. Both of which will look good on your credit report.

Answer 6

Before I met my husband, I had 3 credit cards that I, of course, racked up some good healthy balances on. Before we got married, I put myself on a budget and actually paid down on those credit cards and finally paid them off.
My husband has had a credit card for many years. He firmly believes in paying off his balance each month.
When we get credit card offers in the mail, the credit limit offered to me is always much bigger than what is offered to him. We both believe that it is because I was able to prove to the credit card company that I could be responsible and payoff a large balance. Dean has never done this.

That is my $.02.

Answer 7

Noooo. it will show as good credit. Credit reports list credit each month labeled OK for good payment, 30, 60, 90, 120 etc Days for late payments. If you pay it you will have OK all the way across the board :)

Answer 8

Different take:

Don't have a credit card.....
Why would you be clamoring to become a slave to the bank?

If I don't have the money to buy something, I don't buy it.
I got rid of all credit almost a decade ago. Cars and home are paid off, zero debt.

The feeling of liberation and freedom is priceless. The ability to save money and not worry about interest rates and minimum payments is also priceless.

I would suggest listening to Dave Ramsey's radio program and checking out his web site.
http://www.daveramsey.com/

Answer 9

No! You have to carry a balance and pay at least the minimum for approximately 6 months in order to show good credit worthiness.

Answer 10

if u charge ...140 and ur min payments are 15 a month i wouldnt pay it off because it doesnt build a credit history/...u should pay about 25 a month or so...maybe 30 once or twice but keep something on it not too much just to build and show u payed on time and more than the min payment