My dad swore paying off a card would boost my score, but it actually dropped it 20 points

He told me to pay my $300 balance down to zero on my Capital One card before the statement hit, said it would look great to the bureaus. Instead my score went from 680 to 660 because it looked like I wasn't using any credit at all that month. Has anyone else had a parent give advice that backfired like this on your credit report?

3 comments

3 Comments

sullivan.quinn13h ago

300 bucks on a Capital One card, that's wild because I swear Capital One is the worst about that utilization stuff. @skyler_kelly69 you hit it though, the rules changed and nobody told the parents. It's like how my mom still thinks you have to call the airline to book a flight instead of using an app, she's convinced the app will overcharge her or something. The whole credit system is just one of those things where the "right way" keeps shifting and your parents are stuck on whatever they learned 20 years ago.

knight.uma19h ago

That whole "pay it off before the statement" advice is a classic boomer credit myth that just doesn't work the way they think it does. So many people get burned by old school rules that made sense when credit scoring was different, like how you were actually supposed to carry a little balance to show activity. It's honestly wild how much bad financial advice gets passed down from parents who mean well but learned everything from their own parents or a coworker's cousin.

skyler_kelly6915h ago

@knight.uma you're right on the money here. That whole "carry a balance to build credit" thing is wild lol. It's like how everyone's parents told them to never use a debit card online because it's unsafe, but now that's basically how half the apps work. Good intentions but the rules changed and nobody updated the manual.