Best to pay bill in full? Or just statement balance

[forceedge99]

I usually always pay my bill in full, but one of my buddies was telling me I shouldn't so they see there's a balance or something.

Any opinions from you guys

[samm90]

I pay statement balance. More money earning interest in my acct that way.

[sunkissed]

I also pay the full statement balance.  I suppose if you are trying to minimize the balance reported to the CRAs, you'd be wise to pay the entire balance in full instead.

[gdale6]

If you are not going to be apping within 30 days for anything you can let the statement balance report, if you are expecting to app within 30 days then what you want to do is pay off all your revolving debt on all CCs prior to statement cut date with the exception of 1 that you would let report 1-9% of its CL. This gives you the best possible FICO in relation to utilization for your app.

[killer_queen229]

I personally always pay in full unless I can't.

[longtimelurker]

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@forceedge99 wrote:
I usually always pay my bill in full, but one of my buddies was telling me I shouldn't so they see there's a balance or something.

Any opinions from you guys

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If your buddy is saying you should "carry a balance", i.e. not pay in full by due date, don't do that!  This is a common viewpoint outside forums like this.

An issuer knows what you have spent on their card of course.  Other issuers see what is reported to the credit reporting agencies.  This is usually the balance when the statement closes (and you have about three weeks to pay).   So that is all you need to do to show others that you are using a card.  Then pay the statement balance by the due date.

[forceedge99]

Well I'm not looking to app for a while now.
So does it matter to pay in full or just to pay statement balance?

Will either benefit you or does it not matter.

My buddy was saying to leave a balance because it looks good to credit lenders when there's a balance. So your the balance isn't always zero or something like that. Didn't quite understand

[forceedge99]

No, no. He's not saying not to pay, he's just saying not to pay the outstanding balance. He said to pay just the statement balance or just money towards it each due date.