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Reporting dates

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takeshi74
Senior Contributor

Re: Reporting dates


@ukrboy30 wrote:

myjourney i thought it was the 2-5 days after the balance due date. Statement cut is when 25 days pass after the balance due date, correct?

Sounds like you're referring to the grace period here.  They can't bill you for a statement without closing it first.  The grace period is the time between the statement close and the due date.

 

Here's a generic timeline in the order that things take place for a single statement period:

 

Statement period start date

Statement period close date

Grace period

Payment due date

 

 

Balance is reported at close (well, within a few days of close), not on the payment due date.  If you want to reduce reported utilization you have to pay prior to statement close.  Paying by the due date does not affect the reported balance of the given statement period.  The statement period is already closed for one thing.  For another, the balance has already been reported prior to the payment due date.  A payment by the due date would only affect the balance of the following statement period.

 

What's probably confusing you is that there is a bit of overlap from one cycle to the next.  The next period's close date can sometimes fall shortly after the payment due date for the prior period.  Several of mine have 3 days in between those dates.

Message 11 of 13
eelb
New Member

Re: Reporting dates

Been doing a little research on this, as I'm trying to get my utilization down. The trick is there's usually about a week between the due date and the next closing date. Pay in full by the due date, and don't charge anything until the next statement closes. Even though there's often 25 days in their billing cycle, the week or so between the due date and next statement is the time you want the balance to be zero or low.

 

If they didn't do it this way, heavy users who pay in full every month would be unjustly penalized FICO wise.

 

Of course this is dependent on your monthly income being sufficient to cover your balances. If you carry big balances you can't pay in full, this won't work.

Message 12 of 13
eelb
New Member

Re: Reporting dates

The grace period is exactly that. If you pay in full every month, that's what gets reported as your balance to the bureaus. It's easy to get on a merry go round trying to figure these cycles out, but I've been watching mine through a credit monitoring service, and that's what I'm seeing.

Message 13 of 13
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