Hit 740 credit score this morning after 2 years of work

I checked my credit karma after paying off the last of my collections from that medical bill in 2021, and it finally cracked 740. I thought I'd need to keep a balance on my cards to help it, but then I read on the myFICO forums that paying them off monthly is actually better for utilization. Has anyone else seen a bigger jump than they expected after a collection fell off?

3 comments

3 Comments

jenny476d ago

Oh man, I gotta push back on this one. Keeping a small balance on your cards can actually help because it shows you're using credit responsibly, not just hiding from it. I've seen people with zero balances get dinged for having "no recent usage" on their reports, so your mileage may vary.

seth_singh206d agoOG Member

Wait, have you guys actually looked into the VantageScore vs FICO debate on this? I read somewhere that VantageScore actually punishes zero balances more than FICO does, but FICO cares more about your overall credit utilization ratio across all cards. So if you're checking a VantageScore free app and see a dip from zero balance, that might be why. Honestly, I'd rather just pay off my cards in full and take the potential ding than risk carrying a balance and accidentally messing up my payment history. Ngl, the whole "pay a little interest to show usage" thing feels like a trap the banks set up to make money off people trying to game the system.

the_ruby6d ago

My last credit report actually jumped 12 points when I carried a $30 balance on one card for a month and paid it off the next cycle. It's like that thing with phone apps where if you don't open them for months, your phone starts killing them off to save battery. The credit bureaus seem to work the same way - they want to see you're actually using the tool, not just letting it collect dust in your wallet.