Quote:
Originally Posted by TAG UR IT
It helps to build your credit score to have a low monthly amount on the charge as you make the payments. However, it works to your benefit to have the high score and no balance when you go in to buy the car.
In other words, a small balance that is paid for each month gets your good credit. But, to get the big prize, you need to get rid of the balance so you show to owe nothing. Um. ...I hope that made sense.
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Tag is spot on here. I have 5 credit cards. The owest limit being 1500.00 and the highest being 10,000.00 and two business cards both at 15,000.00 limits. (scratch that, one of them just closed, bank failed or somehting) But I usually rotate them with paying monthly bills and such and then pay the cards off with the bill money. There is usually a balance on at least one of them. Accasionally I will see something I want that would go beyond my ability to pay it off at the end of the month but I'll pay it off as quickly as I can. Anything that would go 3 months or more I would usually just go with financing and pay it down as quickly as I can. Point being, there is usually some balance somewhere on one of my cards or accounts.
I said all of that, to say this;
Like Numbe3 said, get it all paid down a couple FULL months ahead of time. I paid all of my stuff down to zero 3 months before my car came in. You gotta give the banks time to get the updates to the credit agencies and sometimes they don't for a while. Sure, there is a way to force them to update but that takes the same amount of time. I was able to get 5.25 from the dealer. It will be better to have everything you can, paid down to zero.