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Somewhat disappointing that twice the author mentions making lighter use of your CCs if you need to control utilization, but does not mention that you can control utilization by paying your cards down before the statement cuts. Especially since she appears to have done enough research to understand that it is statement balance that is generally reported.
I dont want to toot my own horn but this article was written or posted 3/14/2012. I have been saying its a marathon not a sprint for 2 months and from the looks of her article she used myfico for her research and +10 walt k about statement cut dates
@Walt_K wrote:Somewhat disappointing that twice the author mentions making lighter use of your CCs if you need to control utilization, but does not mention that you can control utilization by paying your cards down before the statement cuts. Especially since she appears to have done enough research to understand that it is statement balance that is generally reported.
*WE* are a different breed of person, and somethings should be kept secret for our (FICO) society .
overall, pretty good advise. i agree that pointing out paying before statement date to keep utilization down would have made the advise more complete and useful
@teenastie wrote:*WE* are a different breed of person, and somethings should be kept secret for our (FICO) society .
I have noticed the pattern that columnists and authors in their "official" writings do not go near this "secret"; perhaps the tweak isn't mainstream enough, and who wants to be bothered by the outcome of opening such a can of worms?
If you haven't done it, it is probably a major revelation to grasp the concept of paying before the statement date. After all, why would you think it is even possible? Sure, we can pay online, but there was a time when you couldn't.
The whole terminology is confusing too. People often say that they pay in full every month; the reason they don't specify by the due date may be that they don't think there's an alternative to this deeply rooted habit.
It's reinforced by the credit companies' convention of generally reporting the balance listed on the monthly statement. After all, does it make sense that a giant loophole exists to beautify your creditworthiness?
As for the jargon, the best personal finance writers in the business never use the term of carrying a balance, unless you carry over to the next billing cycle, at which time you are charged interest on the remainder.
And no balance doesn't necessarily mean no balance. If you have made charges within a billing cycle and you pay down the balance in full before the statement date, your card is reported as active (except for amex).
When does debt become debt? The day of the charge, the statement date or the due date? That's tricky. But there's also the so-called largest past balance. It's often the highest statement balance (except for amex).