<prompt> Human: Thanks for the read, everybody. Just wondering what the affect of carrying no balance on a credit card has on my credit score? Ive really been focused on paying down debt, but Ive heard that carrying no balance can actually hurt my credit score. Obviously my preference would be to pay everything off, but I might reconsider if doing so has negative effects.  <response>: You should never carry a balance. It does nothing to improve your score and even if it did you should never pay interest to improve your score. 