Credit Cards

[daybreakgonesXe]

Hmm. I'm also looking at my new Chase Sapphire account...the due date isn't until January 16th, and I'm trying to figure out when a statement cut will occur...based on my Freedom, the statement cuts every 25th day and the payment is the 22nd of the next month, so do you think it's safe to assume the statement cut for the Sapphire's January 16th due date would be December 19th? In that case, will PIF on December 17th make it in time since there's no due date for this month?

[jefftca925]

I pay by the "due date" or no less than the day before a statement is to close.  I also don't use the card until the statement has officially posted.  Chase is notorious for pushing a transaction thru to post if they can bill it on a statement...even if the charge is made on the statement closing date!

[daybreakgonesXe]

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Joesh wrote:

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daybreakgonesXe wrote:

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Joesh wrote:

So does reporting 0% utilization actually help your score? I thought the goal was to report between a small nonzero amount (like 5%)

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Not really; you're right, reporting a small nonzero amount is best! I'm just discussing having an overall utilization with just one card reporting, instead of all my cards reporting balances.

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Gotcha, thanks. 2nd question - are you thinking that 0% utilization on all cards and small utilization on one card will result in a higher score?

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That seems to be the consensus from many members, since utilization factored into FICO is over all your tradelines, and not necessarily based on the individual ones. Also, some scores consider many balances you have on your report. Therefore, reporting a balance on all 6 of my cards at or above the scheduled minimum payment would be $160 of payments I'm responsible for each month (5 $25 plus a $35 payments), compared to if I had 0 balances on my other cards and one balance on my JCPenney, making it look like I only have a $25 obligation each month.

I'm doing it to play around with it. It is also highly recommended to do before going for a top tier card, auto loan, mortgage, etc., since some credit card companies and almost every loan company will look at your debt to income ratio! It'll also help you milk some extra points into your FICO. But if you're gardening and not looking for the highest scores, keeping balances on all or a few of your cards won't kill you! I've been doing it since I've first got a credit card, and my scores are pretty good regardless!

[daybreakgonesXe]

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jefftca925 wrote:

I pay by the "due date" or no less than the day before a statement is to close.  I also don't use the card until the statement has officially posted.  Chase is notorious for pushing a transaction thru to post if they can bill it on a statement...even if the charge is made on the statement closing date!

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That actually JUST had that happen on my Penney's card!! I had some pending transactions because of a bunch of orders my mother placed, and they usually won't post officially on your account until they have been shipped. Well, the day before my statement cut, I looked and there were still a bunch of them pending. Balance was somewhere in the $200s. Keep in mind these pending shipments have been like this foreverr, and some of them haven't actually shipped out. Once my statement cut? Wham, bam, thank you m'mam: there were all those sneaky pending shipment orders added to the statement -_- so my statement balance shot up from $200-something to a little above $600. Gotta love 'em...

[maiden_girl]

It doesn't matter really if you pay before your statement cut. If the company reports mid-cycle lets say like Discover, you're screwed anyway. Lol.

[Dustink]

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maiden_girl wrote:

It doesn't matter really if you pay before your statement cut. If the company reports mid-cycle lets say like Discover, you're screwed anyway. Lol.

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+1

I PIF weekly or even more often than that. I have a pretty good idea of when my cards report, but sometimes they can be a little funky. So I error on the side of caution and just make sure the balances are always low.

US Bank seems to report the current balance on the morning 3 days prior to the statement date. The statement date varies depending on how the business days happen to fall whether its a weekend or holiday on the statement date. The others all seem to report their statement balances which again is hard to track because sometimes that date changes.

Truly the only safe way to get a card to report a $0 balance is to not use the card. Or to overpay the card and then use it. Otherwise, a bank may report the balance at any random time.

I would say your best bet is to just not worry about it. Let your normal spending report normally. You don't want to make your utilization artificially low, then app for a card. Get approved. then have your utilization return to normal and have that creditor AA you for having high utilization. If your limits are fine, then don't worry about it too much. If you are just doing it one month for the fun of it. Pay everything off now, then use one card and pay that card in full every few days.

[visorboy1974]

Usually by the due date and then I rotate another card into the mix between due date and statement cut so I don't have any additional charges on the card.  

[Repo-ed]

7 days, to allow for clearing.

[Bay_Area_Joe]

I usually pay via the CC web site an electronic transfer from my checking one day prior to the due date.  Some CC you have to schedule payment before 2:00pm ET or it will be next day.

I did see a considerable difference in my scores as paid about 6 accounts that had small balances reporting at statement cut to only having 1 or 2 accounts with balances.

I am also doing a little experiment right now, last month I had two accounts report a balance and I was at 16% ULT, and this month I will only have 1 account reporting and I will be just a bit less than 5% UTL, and next month I will only have 1 account report with the covenanted 1% UTL and see what kind of jump I can get.

I am hoping to close in on about 780 MyFICO score.  I am still trying to perfect the whole Credit Score.

This site has been wonderful and I thank all the people that post great stuff.

Thanks....

[Croselx]

If the statement cut date is on the 5th you have until that day to pay and not have it report on next month's statement (assuming it is a business day, transaction is done early on the day and using a proven payment method that will post quickly). All transactions done on the statement cut day WILL appear on the next statement. On my example I can begin charging my card on the 6th and not have it report on the statement that just cut the day prior. Just find out if the payment method you are using posts immediately (e-check for example) and if you are required to pay before a certain time (from my experience before 5PM, but maybe earlier so it is best to do it in the morning to be sure).