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Found a weird trick that bumped my score 40 points in 90 days
I had a secured card with a $300 limit that I barely used. Someone on a forum said to pay the balance down to $10 or less before the statement cuts. So I tried it for three months and my credit score went from 580 to 620. The utilization was always showing as 3% instead of 30% or more. I didn't realize how much that little number mattered each month. Has anyone else tried this and seen a jump that fast?
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leo_black761mo ago
Paying a bill on time probably makes a bigger difference.
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allen.iris1mo ago
@leo_black76 I mean paying on time is super important too, but this utilization trick really does give a fast boost.
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drewr151mo ago
@leo_black76 said paying on time matters more and yeah that's true but it's not the whole story. Utilization is a huge factor in the scoring algorithm and changing it from 30% to 3% takes way less effort than fixing a late payment history. People see a bigger jump from utilization because it's a fast fix that the system rewards immediately. I'd argue that a perfect payment history plus high utilization still holds your score down compared to having low utilization with one or two minor slip ups. The point of the original post is that this trick works fast for folks starting out, not that it replaces paying your bills on time.
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