The Master $2 reporting "trick" explained

[Buy49Get1Free]

 

I will experiment, but won't necessarily make that change in a single month, so I won't be able to isolate it from other effects. I'll first see what happens when I have many (say 10 out of 15) accounts report balances (with util<10%). Hopefully the effect won't be too drastic.

If you cannot isolate it from other effects, it's not much of an experiment now then is it?

 

It's an uncontrolled experiment. It's more like, I'll just do what I was going to do anyway, and what's convenient, and I'll see what happens.

[dockworker]

Assuming these data are correct, in almost all cases from that graph to get a significant boost, you're already at prime and can't get better interest rates. So the effort put into this won't yield anything for the majority.

[ThatsMeJenniG]

Just to add a bit of data- my Citi stmt cut and the only balance was $1.92 in interest- TransUnion reported that I had a $1 balance and EQ reported $0, can't get in backdoor to see my EX

[hdporter]

Assuming these data are correct, in almost all cases from that graph to get a significant boost, you're already at prime and can't get better interest rates. So the effort put into this won't yield anything for the majority.

 

It's not often that FICO management is discussed here in terms of real practical implications. I applaud this post.

[mendelssohn]

 

 

Assuming these data are correct, in almost all cases from that graph to get a significant boost, you're already at prime and can't get better interest rates. So the effort put into this won't yield anything for the majority.

It's not often that FICO management is discussed here in terms of real practical implications. I applaud this post.

I agree, however the people that can benefit most from this thread are people with clean but very young reports. They won't have the same buffer for prime credit.

[coolstuff]

what happened if my $65k card reporting $0 even I have balance and the $50k card reporting $23 even with I have ballance of $150?

[mendelssohn]

Read the OP. It's all there.

[coolstuff]

I was having issues for reporting. found this topic just curious. https://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=547210

[Vireo]

Is the most reliable way to ensure a $0 statement on a card you use regularly to make a payment for current balance + pending charges on the statement closing date?

[mendelssohn]

Is the most reliable way to ensure a $0 statement on a card you use regularly to make a payment for current balance + pending charges on the statement closing date?

 

Yes. If you can't pay pending charges on a card, push a payment from bill pay several days in advance that you know will more than cover any pending charges.

[harryfpotter]

 

Thanks for clarifying!

 

14 accounts, I screw this up every month. Stuck with 89.00 owing last month spread over 4 accounts.

 

I lack any type of account management skills!

 

Pending transactions, slow merchants, weekends and scattered statements dates are making this harder than it should be.

 

All those wasted $$$ on public education, I'm no good!

Push payments from bill pay to get $0 to report.

 

 

What bank do you use to do this push? I'm still with my online bank everyone made fun of.

[mendelssohn]

 

 

Thanks for clarifying!

 

14 accounts, I screw this up every month. Stuck with 89.00 owing last month spread over 4 accounts.

 

I lack any type of account management skills!

 

Pending transactions, slow merchants, weekends and scattered statements dates are making this harder than it should be.

 

All those wasted $$$ on public education, I'm no good!

Push payments from bill pay to get $0 to report.

What bank do you use to do this push? I'm still with my online bank everyone made fun of.

Chase and NFCU are what I primarily use.

[HeatFan2015]

Will be able to execute $2 trick this month for the first time!

[dcowboy08]

Will be able to execute $2 trick this month for the first time!

Give a few months to rebucket. It will correct soon enough.

[HeatFan2015]

Will do

[JeffeVerde]

 

 

I have 3 cards with 80% util (avg CL $8k) and 6 cards 0% util (avg CL $6k)

Clean report. just high util on the 3 cards

would the $2 trick help on the cards not being used?

Or is this trick for people with 0% util on all cards?

The idea is to have the $2 report on only one of your cards, so that it would be the lowest possible utilization that would still generate a report.

 

To look at the bigger picture:

 

Don't think of this as a $2 trick. Think of it as keeping your entire profile at 1% utilization. So if you have a mortgage don't do this. If you have unpaid collections, don't do this. If you have a secured personal loan, don't do this.

 

If you report reflects that you owe anyone, anywhere some money.......don't do this.

 

 

Apparently the $2 effect works even with other things on your report. I have a mortgage and I have two 6-1/2 year old unpaid CA's (counting the days to early deletion). I normally PIF each month, but one month I had a charge post on the closing day. When that card reported a $53 balance (against a $17k CL), my FICO went up 8 points, with the message "Balance change - your account reported a balance of ...". I couldn't detect any other change on the report, so I'm inclined to think that it was in fact the non-zero balance.

[DiegoC]

if I do the $2 trick, how many moths does it take to rebucket?

 

Im going for a mortgage next year and I want to plan this in advanced.

 

DC

[parisamour]

 

 

 

I have 3 cards with 80% util (avg CL $8k) and 6 cards 0% util (avg CL $6k)

Clean report. just high util on the 3 cards

would the $2 trick help on the cards not being used?

Or is this trick for people with 0% util on all cards?

The idea is to have the $2 report on only one of your cards, so that it would be the lowest possible utilization that would still generate a report.

To look at the bigger picture:

 

Don't think of this as a $2 trick. Think of it as keeping your entire profile at 1% utilization. So if you have a mortgage don't do this. If you have unpaid collections, don't do this. If you have a secured personal loan, don't do this.

 

If you report reflects that you owe anyone, anywhere some money.......don't do this.

Apparently the $2 effect works even with other things on your report. I have a mortgage and I have two 6-1/2 year old unpaid CA's (counting the days to early deletion). I normally PIF each month, but one month I had a charge post on the closing day. When that card reported a $53 balance (against a $17k CL), my FICO went up 8 points, with the message "Balance change - your account reported a balance of ...". I couldn't detect any other change on the report, so I'm inclined to think that it was in fact the non-zero balance.

Out of curiosity , are the " two unpaid CA's " you speak of collections ( utilities , medical etc. ) or charged off credit cards?

 

I remember seeing this doesn't work with CO's reporting a balance , but I didn't remember about collection accounts in general.

Edited September 5, 2015 by parisamour

[HeatFan2015]

Question. If you have a CR profile like mine. (See signature) what utilization is optimal. I keep seeing "don't do $2 trick without clean profile? I can PIF monthly and do trick for the forseeable future. Am I better to keep utilization between 2 - 5% until 1 Derog falls off next year? wait 24+ months since last late pmt? Etc. Note: All accounts except FP's and Cap 1 were opened June 2015. AAOA is 4 years thanks to the 5 student loans and cap 1 since 2009.

Edited September 6, 2015 by Cmike241

[JeffeVerde]

 

 

Apparently the $2 effect works even with other things on your report. I have a mortgage and I have two 6-1/2 year old unpaid CA's (counting the days to early deletion). I normally PIF each month, but one month I had a charge post on the closing day. When that card reported a $53 balance (against a $17k CL), my FICO went up 8 points, with the message "Balance change - your account reported a balance of ...". I couldn't detect any other change on the report, so I'm inclined to think that it was in fact the non-zero balance.

Out of curiosity , are the " two unpaid CA's " you speak of collections ( utilities , medical etc. ) or charged off credit cards?

 

I remember seeing this doesn't work with CO's reporting a balance , but I didn't remember about collection accounts in general.

 

 

At the time, I had -

1 Mortgage

4 CO's with a $0 balance

1 CO with a balance (still owned by OC)

2 CA's for two of the above CO's

 

I'd repeat the experiment to confirm, but my CO's and CA's will be dropping off over the next couple months, so I won't have a stable report to test against.

[mendelssohn]

Question. If you have a CR profile like mine. (See signature) what utilization is optimal. I keep seeing "don't do $2 trick without clean profile? I can PIF monthly and do trick for the forseeable future. Am I better to keep utilization between 2 - 5% until 1 Derog falls off next year? wait 24+ months since last late pmt? Etc. Note: All accounts except FP's and Cap 1 were opened June 2015. AAOA is 4 years thanks to the 5 student loans and cap 1 since 2009.

You won't get maximum benefit without a clean profile, but you should still keep utilization low anyway. I credit low utilization with helping me get some of my prime approvals with dirty reports.

[HeatFan2015]

Cool

[VintageWillow]

if I do the $2 trick, how many moths does it take to rebucket?

 

Im going for a mortgage next year and I want to plan this in advanced.

 

DC

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but the $2 trick *probably* wont be enough to rebucket you. I will maximize your score given all other factors. It is the factor you have total control of.

[mendelssohn]

 

if I do the $2 trick, how many moths does it take to rebucket?

 

Im going for a mortgage next year and I want to plan this in advanced.

 

DC

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but the $2 trick *probably* wont be enough to rebucket you. I will maximize your score given all other factors. It is the factor you have total control of.

 

 

If you have been in the higher utilization buckets but have a clean profile, it will rebucket you. Doing the $2 trick doesn't always mean that you will be rebucketed. It will give you the max number of points for utilization though.

[scarchelli]

What does rebucketing mean? I have a paid collection deleting this month but my util was 3% last month anyway. Would like something to offset 2 new accounts I opened this month (both CCs). My overall cl is $4000 now instead of $2700 last month. But $2300 is my dad's cc so we'll see.