Chase Statement Due Date / Pending Transactions Questions

[Anonymous]

Hi!

I am new to credit / credit card and would like to build my credit by keeping my utilization ratio low.

I have a Chase Freedom with a credit limit of $1000, and my goal is to keep my balance between $50~$100 (5%~10% utilization ratio) when the statement cuts.

My statement due date is Sep. 19 according to Chase.

Currently I have a balance around $50, and there are some pending transactions in my account ($60~), I plan on spending approximately $150 for car rental this weekend.

The problem is, I have no idea when the pending transactions will be charged to my card.

Usually I will be paying my balance a few days before my statement due date, and PIF again after the statement cuts.

However, at this point I only have a balance of $50~ which is fine, the problem is that I can't pay for the pending transactions in advance.

What if the $150 car rental fee and the other pending $60 are still in pending status next Monday but got charged to my account on Sep. 19 (Tuesday), which is the same day as my statement due date?

Then my utilization ratio will exceed 26%.

Is there any suggestions on how should I pay my bill correctly?

Thanks!

[mkhan1093]

Yeah you can never really tell when transactions are going to post officially to your account and add to your balance. When I have issues like these I just stop using that card a few days before the statement is supposed to cut. If you don't have another card besides this Freedom, then the good thing is that Chase lets you pay more than your balance. So you can pay more than 50 right now. If the other stuff posts then you'll have the balance in the range you want. If it doesn't post then you'll have a 0 balance report to the CRAs which honestly isn't a bad thing if it happened once like this.

[HeavenOhio]

First things first. Is this your only credit card? If it is, you need to note that Chase cards report differently than most cards. Like most cards, they report the statement balance on the statement date. But they also report zero whenever you bring your balance to zero. If all cards report zero, there's a ding on one's score. To get a Chase card to continuously report a positive balance:

1. Pay your card down to a small balance before the statement cuts (as you have been).
2. Let a new transaction made during the new statement period post.
3. Pay your statement balance in full.

That process will keep the small balance on your report, and paying the statement balance in full will cause you to avoid interest. Repeat the above when it's time for the next statement to cut, but don't bring your balance to zero.

As far as paying, I believe Chase will let you pay toward pending payments. You still have the same problem, though, which is not knowing when transactions might post. You might end up with a zero statement balance when you didn't intend to. I suppose you can look at your figures, aim for a number somwhere a little below 8,9%, and hope for the best.

Keep in mind that while 8.9% utilization optimizes scoring, 28.9% is still considered to be responsible borrowing and won't murder your score. That gives you some leeway. Also, if your utilization isn't exactly where you want it this month, it'll be easy enough to fix next month.

[Anonymous]

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@mkhan1093 wrote:

Yeah you can never really tell when transactions are going to post officially to your account and add to your balance. When I have issues like these I just stop using that card a few days before the statement is supposed to cut. If you don't have another card besides this Freedom, then the good thing is that Chase lets you pay more than your balance. So you can pay more than 50 right now. If the other stuff posts then you'll have the balance in the range you want. If it doesn't post then you'll have a 0 balance report to the CRAs which honestly isn't a bad thing if it happened once like this.

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Thanks for your reply!

I didn't know that you can pay more than my current balance.

I Will look into that.

Yes. I am a little concerend about the 0 balance report since I am new to credit, but happening just once should be fine I guess.

[HeavenOhio]

On most cards, you can't pay more than your current balance. Capital One is another exception. They let you pay 10% beyond your balance.

[Anonymous]

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@HeavenOhio wrote:

First things first. Is this your only credit card? If it is, you need to note that Chase cards report differently than most cards. Like most cards, they report the statement balance on the statement date. But they also report zero whenever you bring your balance to zero. If all cards report zero, there's a ding on one's score. To get a Chase card to continuously report a positive balance:

1. Pay your card down to a small balance before the statement cuts (as you have been).
2. Let a new transaction made during the new statement period post.
3. Pay your statement balance in full.

That process will keep the small balance on your report, and paying the statement balance in full will cause you to avoid interest. Repeat the above when it's time for the next statement to cut, but don't bring your balance to zero.

As far as paying, I believe Chase will let you pay toward pending payments. You still have the same problem, though, which is not knowing when transactions might post. You might end up with a zero statement balance when you didn't intend to. I suppose you can look at your figures, aim for a number somwhere a little below 8,9%, and hope for the best.

Keep in mind that while 8.9% utilization optimizes scoring, 28.9% is still considered to be responsible borrowing and won't murder your score. That gives you some leeway. Also, if your utilization isn't exactly where you want it this month, it'll be easy enough to fix next month.

---

Thanks for your suggestions!

Yes. It is my first and only credit card at the moment.

I will try to "guess" what my balance will end up this month.

Perhaps I will pay for the pending $60~ first and take my chance for the $150 car rental fee to end up on next month's statement.

[Anonymous]

My final balance for the month turns out to be $92, which is 9.3% ($93 / $1000) Utilization Ratio.

Altough it did not reach my goal, but at least it is still under 10%.

However, I did notice both my TransUnion & Equifax VantageScore 3.0 got hit by 6 points this month.

I did not have Experian FICO 8 score yet since their system shows that my account is still too new to generate a score.

I thought utilization ratio under 10% is generaly good enough to build my score, but it seems that this is not the case.

Is there any suggestions for my target utilization ratio?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Utilization under 8.9% is what it takes to maximize FICO -- as long as only one account has utilization greater than zero and less than 8.9%.

Also note any interest that may accrue will add onto your statement balance so it could raise utilization over the planned number.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Utilization under 8.9% is what it takes to maximize FICO -- as long as only one account has utilization greater than zero and less than 8.9%.

Also note any interest that may accrue will add onto your statement balance so it could raise utilization over the planned number.

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Thanks!

I see. I will try to keep my balance score under 8.9% as long as it is not 0%.

BTW, some posts on this forum suggested that we may pay our balance down to $0 in the middle of the month to force Chase to report our score to credit bureaus immediately and might even raise the score.

Will that technique work in this case?

[Anonymous]

Yep you can pay Chase to $0 at any point and it will report zero.

Note: if all your credit cards report $0 balance, you will get dinged in FICO points until ONE card reports a balance < 8.9% but not $0.