Discover it question!

[Anonymous]

I have a $200 secured card, I use this as my spending money monthly but I PIF before the due date. Is this bad? What I mean by that is will it look terrible to lenders ect? will they see it if it's PIF every month? Will my scores still get a benifit from this or am I doing it all wrong?

[Anonymous]

Paying in full each month is what you want to do. The balance that is reported to the credit bureaus is what's important. Are you paying it before or after the statement cuts? (Do your bills report the amount spent and owed, or do you pay it before the bill so that it shows up as a balance of zero on the bill?)

[Anonymous]

For example, if you only have the one credit card, with a 200 limit, and you are spending 180 bucks and letting it report on the statement (and not paying it off before you get your statement) you'll be reporting a utilization of 90%, which does not look good and would cause your score to be lower. But if you have other cards their balances would factor into your utilization too. You want your average utilization to be under 30%, and the lower the better.

BUT, let's say your statement is generated on the 20th each month, if you pay your balance off on the 15th each month, then your balance by the time you get the bill will be zero dollars, and then your utilization will be reported at 0% to the credit bureaus.

[9CLINE]

+1
Yes your score will benefit also if that is how you are handling your bills...your off to a good start....Good Luck on your credit journey !!!!!!!!!!

[Anonymous]

I pay it before the bill is due.

[Anonymous]

paying before the bill is due and paying before the statement cuts are not the same thing. the statement is the bill you recieve that says what you owe and when its due, if you're paying after you get that then you're paying it after the statement cuts..... depending on how much you're spending on the card, it could be helping or hurting you.... maybe there's someone else that can explain this better? 

aren't you using a credit monitoring site? what utilization are you reporting?

[Anonymous]

I thought it was the same thing! I may be hurting my own score then!! omg! 

[Anonymous]

You're not giving us enough information.... how many cards do you have? how much of each cards limit do you use each month?

if you go on creditchecktotal .com you can pay one dollar and get a 7 day trial, you'll get all three credit reports and fico scores, it will show you your utilization and show its affecting your score.... do that asap.... (btw, after the 7 days if you cancel, they'll offer you the service for 15 dollars a month instead, i suggest you take the offer, it's the best you'll get)

There is no memory for utilization, so if your score is lower because its too high, when you get it back down your score will go up.... you're making your payments on time, which is important.... the utilization is only temporary

[Anonymous]

nevermind, i didn't notice your signature, im an idiot

[Anonymous]

I'm at hight util because of fingerhut. I'm at 41% but that's coming down next month.