Hi luvandlife,
I’m going to split this off to start a new thread. It gets very confusing when different topics are being discussed in the sane thread. With a new thread you and others will be focused on just your issues. All I’ve changed is the title . If you want to change it to something else just click on “Options” and “Edit Message”.
MarineVietVet, myFICO moderator
I am curious as to how you can find out when the cc company reports to the agencies? And how do we use that to our advantage? How does knowing that information help us? I feel as though I have stumbled accross something good... I am soooo new at this and I am on a serious mission to get my scores improved over the next few months so I am just soaking up everything I find on here. 
Thanks in advance for your help! 
@Anonymous wrote:I am curious as to how you can find out when the cc company reports to the agencies? And how do we use that to our advantage? How does knowing that information help us? I feel as though I have stumbled accross something good... I am soooo new at this and I am on a serious mission to get my scores improved over the next few months so I am just soaking up everything I find on here.
Thanks in advance for your help!
What cards do you have? We might just be able to tell you based on our experiences.
Starting Score: EX 631 EQ 629 TU 646 1/18 Capital One from what I've heard reports when you're statement cuts. So you want to pay your balance down before your statement due date. Say you're statement is 120, pay it down to $10 or whatever so that $10 dollars shows on your CR.
Orchard Bank it use to be the last day of the month it will report whatever balance you have on it. I've heard it changed to a few days after your statement cuts. I've been sock drawering it so I can't be too sure. Hopefully someone else can clarify!
Have you been paying in full? For everyone it's different, but try to show under 10% utilization. When I first started using my Orchard Bank, I thought it was smart to max it out then pay it off to show I can handle the amount. It wrecked my score because Orchard Bank would update to the CR my maxed amount. So just be careful. I hope that helps. I normally pay about five days ahead just to make sure they have ample time to update my amount. I hope someone else can jump in and clarify the days they report for you though!
No, I haven't been paying in full. Im a student so money is really tight, I usually pay the minimum an if I have extra then I apply it toward my balances. Is this hurting me?
I thank you for your contribution by the way...
No problem! I was once there too. Would you mind posting your credit limits and balances? That way we can figure out your utilization. But if you have a high balance on all and you're only paying the minimum, it is hurting your score.
P.s. Sorry to hijack this thread guys!
CapOne credit limit is $500 current balance is $109... I just made a double payment of $50.00
Credit One credit limit is $500 (started at $400, increased to $500 in ONLY 2 months) current balance is $124 (just made a double payment of $50
And the Orchard is out of control right now... Credit limit is $320 current balance is $258 (and I just made an additional payment of $25 today, payment isn't due til the 1st, at which time I will make the minimum payment).
Thanks soooo much for your contributions everyone!
Given that you aren't able to pay down the balance. It does not matter when you pay it off. Your credit card utilization rate is the same (except for the amount you pay down). The credit card utilization trick is really only applicable when you can pay off most/all of your credit card debt each month and you are trying to make sure it reports 0 to the CR's instead of what you charged that month.
As for paying it off earlier in the month, I would do it for two reasons:
1) You make sure you are on time with your payments
2) You accrue less interest from the outstanding balance
The best thing you can do is to keep paying down your CCs. When you get your credit card utilization below 30% (take your total debt and divide by total credit available), you should start seeing your credit score rise a lot. Once it rises, I would recommend, you seek 1 or 2 more 0 annual fee credit cards so you raise your total available credit so if you get into debt in the future, it will be a smaller percentage. Your credit score will be highest when your credit card utilization is 3-9%.
LIMITS IN CARD DESCRIPTIONS