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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


Author Topic: $2 trick to increase FICO score.  (Read 113293 times)

Offline JTZ

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Re: $2 trick to increase FICO score.
« Reply #420 on: April 11, 2016, 04:17:53 PM »
We might be talking about different things. If you carry a balance it takes 2-3 months to get the grace period back. AFAIK I have never been charges interest on new charges if I PIF and never carried a balance.
"LESS IS MORE" It is the cumulative effect that kills deals!!! How many times do I have to say this?  >:(

Offline newdealseeker

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Re: $2 trick to increase FICO score.
« Reply #421 on: April 11, 2016, 04:21:25 PM »
We might be talking about different things. If you carry a balance it takes 2-3 months to get the grace period back. AFAIK I have never been charges interest on new charges if I PIF and never carried a balance.
Same here. I've never been charged interest. I never CARRIED a balance but most months I HAD a balance.
And wow, if I'd ever carry a balance, then I'd be charged interest on new charges for the next 3 months? Wow, wow. I can see how people can easily go into credit card debt this way.

Offline Mendelssohn

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Re: $2 trick to increase FICO score.
« Reply #422 on: April 11, 2016, 05:35:12 PM »
Sorry guys, I misread something earlier in this thread.

But still, don't use Chase if you want to do this.

Offline Zevi16

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Re: $2 trick to increase FICO score.
« Reply #423 on: April 11, 2016, 06:03:54 PM »
Sorry guys, I misread something earlier in this thread.

But still, don't use Chase if you want to do this.
So can you please explain in full. I don't get it. I'm talking about chase cards.

Offline Mendelssohn

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Re: $2 trick to increase FICO score.
« Reply #424 on: April 11, 2016, 06:14:48 PM »
So can you please explain in full. I don't get it. I'm talking about chase cards.

As explained on the last few pages, when you PIF a Chase card at any point after the statement closes, they commonly update with the CRAs mid cycle, which would mean you have $0 reporting. The idea is to have $2 reporting on a single card all the time, not just part of the month.

Online Mordyk

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Re: $2 trick to increase FICO score.
« Reply #425 on: April 11, 2016, 07:07:15 PM »
do business cards work as well? or they have nothing with credit utilization?
#TYH

Offline Mendelssohn

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Re: $2 trick to increase FICO score.
« Reply #426 on: April 11, 2016, 07:16:29 PM »
do business cards work as well? or they have nothing with credit utilization?

Only cards that report to personal credit.

Online Mordyk

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Re: $2 trick to increase FICO score.
« Reply #427 on: April 11, 2016, 07:22:50 PM »
Only cards that report to personal credit.
isn't that only personal credit cards?
#TYH

Offline Zalc

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Re: $2 trick to increase FICO score.
« Reply #428 on: April 11, 2016, 07:37:15 PM »
isn't that only personal credit cards?
And capital one cards

Online Mordyk

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Re: $2 trick to increase FICO score.
« Reply #429 on: April 11, 2016, 07:39:07 PM »
And capital one cards
thanks. and is it good enough if i bring down my overall c/u to 6%? or needs to be less to raise the score?
#TYH

Offline Cappy

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Re: $2 trick to increase FICO score.
« Reply #430 on: April 11, 2016, 07:39:31 PM »
And capital one cards

+1 the Business Spark does report.

Offline Cappy

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Re: $2 trick to increase FICO score.
« Reply #431 on: April 11, 2016, 07:40:33 PM »
thanks. and is it good enough if i bring down my overall c/u to 6%? or needs to be less to raise the score?


What does this have to do the with the $2 trick?

Offline Zalc

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Re: $2 trick to increase FICO score.
« Reply #432 on: April 11, 2016, 07:42:21 PM »
thanks. and is it good enough if i bring down my overall c/u to 6%? or needs to be less to raise the score?
For the "trick" It should be at the smallest non-zero number you can possibly get, and everything under $2 counts as 0%.



Online Mordyk

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Re: $2 trick to increase FICO score.
« Reply #433 on: April 11, 2016, 07:46:37 PM »


For the "trick" It should be at the smallest non-zero number you can possibly get, and everything under $2 counts as 0%.
"non-zero" amount or percent?
#TYH

Offline Zalc

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Re: $2 trick to increase FICO score.
« Reply #434 on: April 11, 2016, 07:47:00 PM »
"non-zero" amount or percent?
Both

Online Mordyk

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Re: $2 trick to increase FICO score.
« Reply #435 on: April 11, 2016, 07:48:20 PM »
Both
If i wouldve know that earlier...  I have $12k limit and i just left $60 balance. Is that good to my score?
#TYH

Offline Zalc

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Re: $2 trick to increase FICO score.
« Reply #436 on: April 11, 2016, 07:49:04 PM »
If i wouldve know that earlier...  I have $12k limit and i just left $60 balance. Is that good?
It's "good", but it's not the " $2 trick ", just plain good housekeeping.

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Re: $2 trick to increase FICO score.
« Reply #437 on: April 11, 2016, 07:49:46 PM »
It's "good", but it's not the " $2 trick ", just plain good housekeeping.
Ok. Need to implement the $2 asap because of a mortgage. I guess next month
#TYH

Offline JTZ

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Re: $2 trick to increase FICO score.
« Reply #438 on: April 11, 2016, 08:38:45 PM »
The "$2" in the trick part seems to really have some confused. Should probably rename this trick.
"LESS IS MORE" It is the cumulative effect that kills deals!!! How many times do I have to say this?  >:(

Offline newdealseeker

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Re: $2 trick to increase FICO score.
« Reply #439 on: April 11, 2016, 08:41:58 PM »
Ok. Need to implement the $2 asap because of a mortgage. I guess next month
According to what Mendelssonhn explained, maybe you don't need to wait a full month. If you have more than 1 Chase card that reported a balance, you can just pay down to $0 all of them except for 1, so they'll report it mid-cycle, and leave the 1 with the lowest balance unpaid.