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What do you do? Let $2 report on a single credit card. All of your other cards should report $0, which means you must pay them to $0 before the statements close.
Why $2? Because you want the lowest amount possible to report that is greater than $0. $2 is the most reliable number to use that will generally report and not be credited to $0.
Does this work with any cards? Do not do this with Chase, Discover or charge cards. Chase often updates mid cycle if you pay a balance to $0, leaving you with nothing reporting. If you want to use Discover, you need to use $3 because they will credit $2 to $0. Charge cards are counted much differently for utilization, and it varies by scoring model.
But MyFico and CreditKarma say that my utilization is 0%. Credit Karma is a FAKO, and although even MF will give you this number as a percentage, it is calculated as a ratio by FICO. $2 counts as usage.
What is the goal of the $2 trick? The goal is to get the most points possible out of FICO for the utilization portion of your scores AND to maintain it all the time. The "all the time" part is the reason you don't use Chase cards.
More Detailed Explanation At CreditBoards
https://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=544017
$2 Trick Will Not Work With A Charge Card https://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=557648
Why $2? Because you want the lowest amount possible to report that is greater than $0. $2 is the most reliable number to use that will generally report and not be credited to $0.
Does this work with any cards? Do not do this with Chase, Discover or charge cards. Chase often updates mid cycle if you pay a balance to $0, leaving you with nothing reporting. If you want to use Discover, you need to use $3 because they will credit $2 to $0. Charge cards are counted much differently for utilization, and it varies by scoring model.
But MyFico and CreditKarma say that my utilization is 0%. Credit Karma is a FAKO, and although even MF will give you this number as a percentage, it is calculated as a ratio by FICO. $2 counts as usage.
What is the goal of the $2 trick? The goal is to get the most points possible out of FICO for the utilization portion of your scores AND to maintain it all the time. The "all the time" part is the reason you don't use Chase cards.
More Detailed Explanation At CreditBoards
https://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=544017
$2 Trick Will Not Work With A Charge Card https://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=557648
« Last edited by Mendelssohn on April 12, 2016, 12:43:40 PM »
