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TIL my cousin's 'just pay the minimum' advice tanked my credit score by 40 points
My cousin Mike told me last year to just pay the minimum on my credit card each month since it 'builds history.' I followed his advice for 6 months and my score dropped from 680 to 640. Turns out he was wrong because high utilization like 85% hurts your score even if you pay on time. I paid off $2,000 in one month and my score jumped back up. Has anyone else had family give them bad credit advice that set them back?
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william8164mo ago
People really don't realize how much bad advice gets passed around as fact.
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abbyd364mo ago
oh man that sucks, bad advice is the worst. something nobody's brought up is how your cousin might have been giving you advice based on his own card terms. some cards do have a "minimum payment" that includes interest plus a small principal chunk, but others let you skate by paying just the interest. if your cousin has a card like that, he probably thought it was fine for you too. but most cards these days the minimum barely touches the balance, so your utilization stays sky high. credit card companies love that because they make money off interest. they don't care if your score tanks. your cousin probably just didn't know his own card's fine print.
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