Just paying the minimum repayment reduce 'credit score'

dwarfer

For those who know.

quick and simple: does just paying the minimum repayments on credit cards increase, decrease (or keep the same) your 'credit score'

ive had a good read of the credit card articles but havent got a simple answer so id appreciate it if you didnt direct me to another page (unless it has a simple answer)

thanks

exel1966

Trouble is is not as quick and simple as we'd all hope but generally speaking It makes no difference to your overall rating whether you pay the minimum or the maximum. The important factor is that you pay on time and regularly.

There are other factors that come into play such as outstanding debt etc but that's a slightly different tangent.

CLAPTON

your credit record does not show much much you're paying each month, simply that you are paying 'correctly'.

BrunoM

If you satisfy whatever requirement is put in place by a credit company (e.g., paying 3% every month), you are "good".

You're probably aware that independently, having a larger amount of outstanding debt can be a negative for credit decisions, but just making minimum repayments doesn't give you a black mark (and paying more than the minimum each month wouldn't even be visible, except that your total outstanding debt would reduce).

YorkshireBoy

CLAPTON/BrunoM,

Doesn't a CallCredit report show far more detail, ie the amount of your payments?

Obviously the impact of this may be minimal since many lenders, esp CC's, tend only to search the main two; Experian & Equifax.

dwarfer

gosh thanks for superfast replies, i was expecting a singular reply tomorrow or day after

nice one guys thanks :@

smithja

On my callcredit report, it reports for each month so if you have had the account for a while it can be a long list, the credit limit for that month, and the highest balance for that month. So they can see if you went over your limit at any point, and then get a rough idea if you are only making the minium payment as there could be other reasons for balance only going down slightly such you paying it off in full and buying something else to the same'ish value.

Hope this is of some use.

James