Quote:
Originally Posted by DETRoadster
No, not really. your credit score is a measure of your credit worthiness, or in other words, the risk a lender takes on in extending you credit. If you have an open card with no balance and an available limit of $X, there's a risk you suddenly max it out and get yourself into repayment trouble. Lenders can feel more at ease that you wont do that if you have a long history of charging less then the max and then paying it off responsibly. You did not have that track record with your unused card. Thus, the risk is higher.
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Right, they base the score on a revolving understanding of your credit uses.
If you aren't using it, the score isn't going to reflect positively because they have no idea how much they can trust you with the credit line, they just know you aren't using it.
Always carry a small balance. $1-$5, whatever, just don't pay it to zero. Helps immensely.