I have a question I have been pondering. Should older (and by older I mean 50+) persons with â??goodâ? credit pay off their balances every month? Years ago I did finance for a car dealer and we called this â??paying with cash, only taking 30 days to do itâ?. We had many declines for persons 50 and older with homes paid for, decent incomes, established paid credit but no balances. The reasons for the declines were no payment basis. Sure they have money, sure they pay their bills, but they donâ??t do it over the long term. Basically, finance companies didnâ??t make any money off them. The reason I ask is I continuous see in most credit repair articles to pay all balances off at the end of the month. Which is what my future father-in-law, and my mother do, and my future father-in-law was declined as a co-signer on a personal loan this past month. Small background, my future father-in-law has a personal net worth of over a million dollars, his home is paid for as well as both cars and wanted to co-sign for his nephew on a â??smallâ? $16,000 personal loan. They were decline and his nephew was told that his co-sign didnâ??t qualify. Why you ask, no payment basis. My future father-in-law just loan him the money which defeated the purpose, get the loan on his nephew credit history. So I have been pondering, should we always pay all balances off at the end month? I understand if we are young, re-establishing or repairing our credit I would agree wholeheartly pay those balances, keep that balance to credit line ratio low. But will it hurt us in the future when we are established?
I know it's a jungle out there,but it wouldn't be as bad if it weren't for some ot the APES that are in it.
I have always heard that you should at times leave a balance on your cards and pay it over a few months. That's why people try to get the better rates. If you always pay it off you don't show that you can be trusted to have a balance and pay it over the span of several months.
I am older 50+. I only pay balances when the interest rate goes to double figures. I consider money costs of less than 10% are well worth the expense, if put to good use. The older you get the less credit you should need anyway. By the time you reach the golden 50s, you should be well into your mortgage, so your credit should be in pretty good shape. Just my opinion. www.creditsense.com
