@aamex wrote:you want to look at your utilization from two perspectives... each card and in total. so your 16% is in total, but you have 28% on the HSBC alone. The important dates to keep in mine is your "Statement Due Dates" and your "Statement Close Dates". Each card most likely only reports once a month which would be anywhere from 1 to 10 days after the close date. So if your statement due date is the 15th and the close date is the 18th, it may report anytime from the 19 to the 28. Typically it'll be 3-5, but it really depends on the lender. So, if you use online banking figure out when the due date is and pay them down before then. Then apply for the card after the close date. (know your scores before you app)
@Anonymous wrote:when applying for a credit card do you mainly rely on just revolving credit or installment credit? i have a car payment (never late) and i have student loans ( never late)
i want to apply for a new credit card that seems to be just what i want. right now i have around 16 percent ratio....750 of 2600 thru hsbc and 450 of 5000 through wells fargo...in a general rule of thumb should i pay my balances down more before i apply??
getting technical here....if i pay my balances down today, when will they reflect in my credit?? in orther words if i pay my balances down in the next ten minutes (its sunday) and i apply for my new credit card in a week will my ratio be adjusted? do i need to wait 45 days after my balances are adjusted? how soon do banks report? hsbc and wells specifically lol....
thank you!
Edited for further clarification. If your due date is the 15th and you pay on the 16th, whatever the balance is as of the 15th will reflect on your statement. But, it will not report if its PIF.
For example(s):
if your HSBC has a 2,500$ balance on the 15th...you pay 2500$ on the 16th.. on your report you'll see 2,500$ as your "high balance" but 0/2600 will be used to calculate your utilization. (paid after due date & before close)
if your HSBC has a 2,500$ balance on the 15th...you pay 2500$ on the 15th.. on your report you won't see a change your "high balance" and 0/2600 will be used to calculate your utilization. (paid on due date & before close)
if your HSBC has a 2,500$ balance on the 15th...you pay 2500$ on the 19th.. on your report you'll see 2,500$ as your "high balance" and 2500/2600 will be used to calculate your utilization. (paid after due date & close)
Maybe we're going to say the same thing, but I'm a little confused by aamex's terminology.
For most cards, what gets reported is your balance as of the date your statement closes, or the date your statement is generated. In other words, when you get a bill from your CC, the amount on the bill is what is going to get reported to the CRAs. The date your payment is due isn't typically important for reporting purposes, obviously it's important to pay by the due date, but it won't change the amount on your CR.
So, you need to pay your card down to the amount you want to see on your credit report, then wait for the next statement/bill to generate showing that balance. Then, as mentioned above, it will take a few extra days for the lender to send the new information to the CRAs and for them to update. Experian seems to be quickest with Equifax and TransUnion following a few days later.
The high balance isn't something to be concerned with unless the card doens't report a credit limit. If it doesn't report a credit limit, the high balance may be used in place of the credit limit to calculate utilization.
I said most cards report this way because some report the balance as of the last day of the month instead of the statement balance. You can probably figure out whether your cards report end of month balance or statement balance by looking back at your credit report and comparing the reported balance to what you know about your cards last month. Or searching on the forums. I'd guess that Wells Fargo reports statement balance. Not sure about HSBC.
Starting Score: ~500 (12/01/2008)
@Anonymous wrote:so just to be safe, regardless of when the statement closes, when my payment is due....i will just pay down as much as i can and wait over a month before i apply for my new credit card....
It could actually be a little over a month. Let's say your statement closed today and you have a balance of $500. You pay it in full and don't use the card for a month. It will be next month before you get a new statement showing the $0. And it will be around a week before that hits all three CRAs (I say a week, but I've never looked at it that closesly. There are other threads talking about precisely how long it takes EX, EQ, and TU to update for various lenders).
If you sign up for Credit Karma, which is free, you can see your total balance across all your revolving credit lines. Credit Karma pulls from your TU report and you can update it for free each day. It won't give you a complete credit report, and you shouldn't put too much stock in the score, but you'll be able to see when your balances update.
ETA: For Credit Karma, when I say balances of all revolving lines, I mean that it gives you one aggregate total for revolving lines that report a limit, and one aggregate total for lines that do not report a limit. So it is a little bit of a rough tool, but if you don't have too many lines, and you know the statement balances, it shouldn't be too hard to see when one updates.
@aamex wrote:
@Walt_K wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:so just to be safe, regardless of when the statement closes, when my payment is due....i will just pay down as much as i can and wait over a month before i apply for my new credit card....
It could actually be a little over a month. Let's say your statement closed today and you have a balance of $500. You pay it in full and don't use the card for a month. It will be next month before you get a new statement showing the $0. And it will be around a week before that hits all three CRAs (I say a week, but I've never looked at it that closesly. There are other threads talking about precisely how long it takes EX, EQ, and TU to update for various lenders).
If you sign up for Credit Karma, which is free, you can see your total balance across all your revolving credit lines. Credit Karma pulls from your TU report and you can update it for free each day. It won't give you a complete credit report, and you shouldn't put too much stock in the score, but you'll be able to see when your balances update.
ETA: For Credit Karma, when I say balances of all revolving lines, I mean that it gives you one aggregate total for revolving lines that report a limit, and one aggregate total for lines that do not report a limit. So it is a little bit of a rough tool, but if you don't have too many lines, and you know the statement balances, it shouldn't be too hard to see when one updates.
Correct me if i'm wrong, if your statement closes today and you PIF today..your report should/will reflect that in a few days? (unless he does not pay it in full today then in that case OP would have to wait til next month)
Sorry, I meant if statement issued today so that he has a bill dated today showing a balance of $500. Yes, if statement closes at the end of the day, and he gets a payment into them that will be credited as received today, and his statement generates showing a $0 balance, that will be reported to the CRA.
@Walt_K wrote:
@aamex wrote:
@Walt_K wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:so just to be safe, regardless of when the statement closes, when my payment is due....i will just pay down as much as i can and wait over a month before i apply for my new credit card....
It could actually be a little over a month. Let's say your statement closed today and you have a balance of $500. You pay it in full and don't use the card for a month. It will be next month before you get a new statement showing the $0. And it will be around a week before that hits all three CRAs (I say a week, but I've never looked at it that closesly. There are other threads talking about precisely how long it takes EX, EQ, and TU to update for various lenders).
If you sign up for Credit Karma, which is free, you can see your total balance across all your revolving credit lines. Credit Karma pulls from your TU report and you can update it for free each day. It won't give you a complete credit report, and you shouldn't put too much stock in the score, but you'll be able to see when your balances update.
ETA: For Credit Karma, when I say balances of all revolving lines, I mean that it gives you one aggregate total for revolving lines that report a limit, and one aggregate total for lines that do not report a limit. So it is a little bit of a rough tool, but if you don't have too many lines, and you know the statement balances, it shouldn't be too hard to see when one updates.
Correct me if i'm wrong, if your statement closes today and you PIF today..your report should/will reflect that in a few days? (unless he does not pay it in full today then in that case OP would have to wait til next month)
Sorry, I meant if statement issued today so that he has a bill dated today showing a balance of $500. Yes, if statement closes at the end of the day, and he gets a payment into them that will be credited as received today, and his statement generates showing a $0 balance, that will be reported to the CRA.
okay, yes we're definitely on the same page! thanks 