Paying credit card to report low balance

[seruby]

Hey all, this board has been helpful and knowledgeable in the past, so here I am again.   I am looking for the way to best work this.

I have a Capital One Secured One with a Due Date of the 18th of every month, and a Statement Date of the 21st.  The 21st is also the date they report to the CRAs.  After a few months of making payments, they gave me a $100 CLI last month - so I must be doing something right!   The CLI came after I made a payment on the 19th, leaving my balance at $20 (at the time, 10% of my $200 CL) for reporting on the 21st.

So I'm pondering this tactic:   Paying off the minimum balance within a week of the statement date to ensure it's paid by the due date of the 18th.  Then paying all but $30 on the 19th, so 10% of my $300 CL is what gets reported.  

My question is:  If I do this, will the interest charge be based off my balance on the 18th, or the 21st?  For example, suppose my balance on the 18th is $100, and I pay $70 on the 19th, so that $30 gets reported.  Will I be charged interest on the $100, or on the $30?    If it's the former, would a better option to be to pay the full balance by the 18th, then charge $10-$30 to the card on the 18th or 19th so the low balance is still there for the 21st?

[sham010379]

In order to avoid interest charges you have to pay the balnce by the due date in order to report to the bureau you have to pathe day be fore the statement date

[coldnmn]

Once the statement posts most cc companys have a grace period to pay without paying interest. If you had a balance from a previous statement carried over and added to current statement that cut that you had been paying interest on then no grace period.  For best credit score a balance <9% on one card reporting. 

[sham010379]

They do not look at one credit card balance they look at the total revolving credit card UTI and getthe number from all your cards not each specific

[guiness56]

---

@sham010379 wrote:

They do not look at one credit card balance they look at the total revolving credit card UTI and getthe number from all your cards not each specific

---

They do look at each card then at the overall.

[seruby]

Ok, so let's say take my Sept-October statement for example:

My previous balance was $137.  My interest was 2.01.  I paid $137 on the Oct 15 giving me a balance of $0.  I charged $50 on the 16th, so on the 18th (the due date, my balance was $50), and paid $30 on the 19th , giving me statement balance of $22.01 on the 21st.    I made a payment to cover the $22.01 on the 25th.  

The disclosure states:  Your due date is at least 25 days after the close of each billing cycle. We will not charge you interest on new purchases, provided you have paid your previous balance in full by the due date each month.

So given that, it would make more sense to have a $0 balance on the 18th, and make a low charge before the 21st?

[newmomnewme]

I need to see the answer to this one as well. My Cap1 statement date is 2nd of each month. Payment due date is 26th....Sooooo, I paid my account in full on 25th and they still haven't reported ANYthing and I haven't received a statement either. So on my CR Cap1 shows a balance of $700/$750 instead of $0/$750....why is that? did I not receive a statement because I paid in full?!?! what the heck is going on?

[guiness56]

Do you know exactly when they report to the CRAs?  That is the date you need to have a 0 or 9% or below balance.

[seruby]

They report to the CRAs on the 21st - the same day the statement is issued.  So if I make a payment on the 19th, it will hit my card before the 21st, so that's not an issue.

I'm more curious about the interest aspect of it.  Using the numbers in a previous post, my statement balance for Oct-Nov was $22.01 with a due date of Nov 18.  My minimum payment due was $22.01 - probably because it's less than the usual $25.  On the 25th (after a few charges), I made a $50 payment, which satisified the minimum payment as well as the previous balance.

So suppose on Nov 18, I have a balance of $100.  If I make a payment on the 19th for $70, will the interest charge be based on the $100 (the balance at the time of the due date), or on the $30 (the balance at the time of statement issuance) ?   Or will there be no interest since my previous balance of $22 was paid?

[newmomnewme]

On-line chat with Cap1 they told me they will not issue a statement/report to CRA until 11/18 as my bill due date has changed to the 15th.  I requested the date change MONTHS ago and totally forgot about it. Now I will have to rearrange my payment schedules to keep all $0 except on under 10%...