topic Re: I want to keep statement balance at ZERO in Credit Cards

I want to keep statement balance at ZERO

Anonymous — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 22:34:41 GMT

I was looking for some advise on how to keep my statement balances at zero. My Capital One QuicksilverOne due date is on the 4th of every month. I would prefer to pay my balance in full so they report my balance at ZERO. When should i make my payment? And when should i resume using my credit card?

Example:

Payment due date 8/4/2015

I should make my payment by 7/30/2015 ???

I shouldn't make my next charge until 8/5/2015 ???

Re: I want to keep statement balance at ZERO

DrZoidberg — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 22:37:26 GMT

Reporting a balance of zero is bad. That means you have 0% utilization and optimal utilization is 1-7%.

Re: I want to keep statement balance at ZERO

SouthJamaica — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 22:41:39 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I was looking for some advise on how to keep my statement balances at zero. My Capital One QuicksilverOne due date is on the 4th of every month. I would prefer to pay my balance in full so they report my balance at ZERO. When should i make my payment? And when should i resume using my credit card?

Example:
Payment due date 8/4/2015
I should make my payment by 7/30/2015 ???
I shouldn't make my next charge until 8/5/2015 ???

The statement date is 3 days after the payment due date.

So you can safely start making charges on 8/8.

As to payment it depends how you make the payment. If you're making the payment electronically on their site you can do it the day before the statement date.

But it's not always possible to get it to zero. E.g., you have a pending charge for $17.95. You try to pay that on the site before the statement cuts, they won't accept your payment if there's no balance. Then the statement cuts and the $17.95 shows up. Also if there's an interest charge or something, that might not show up until the statement cuts.

Re: I want to keep statement balance at ZERO

SouthJamaica — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 22:38:31 GMT

@DrZoidberg wrote:
Reporting a balance of zero is bad. That means you have 0% utilization and optimal utilization is 1-7%.

I disagree.

Re: I want to keep statement balance at ZERO

DrZoidberg — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 22:42:56 GMT

@SouthJamaica wrote:
@DrZoidberg wrote:
Reporting a balance of zero is bad. That means you have 0% utilization and optimal utilization is 1-7%.
I disagree.

And that's your call. But reporting agencies say 0% utilization holders have lower scores than 1-7% with all else equal. The reason being having to do with risk calculation and 0% isn't computable. All I know is 1-7% is the optimal number. And I'm over 800 for sticks to it.

Re: I want to keep statement balance at ZERO

kdm31091 — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 22:47:12 GMT

Regardless of whether 0 across the board is good or bad (and I agree it can hurt your score), its just not worth optimizing.

You will see minimal change in your score from it (a small handful of points or less). Youll drive yourself crazy in the process trying to get it to report perfectly. Whats the gain for the time and effort? Even before a major app like a car loan, a few points is unlikely to make a major difference. The point is there are better things to expend effort on IMO.

Re: I want to keep statement balance at ZERO

DrZoidberg — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 22:49:25 GMT

I was just saying in general a balance and reporting a utilization is better than 0. As long as it's under 30%. But based on your posts you seem to be in the mood to not-pick everything today.

Re: I want to keep statement balance at ZERO

Anonymous — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 23:01:11 GMT

@DrZoidberg wrote:
Reporting a balance of zero is bad. That means you have 0% utilization and optimal utilization is 1-7%.

I carry a small balance on another card.

Re: I want to keep statement balance at ZERO

Anonymous — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 23:01:39 GMT

@SouthJamaica wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I was looking for some advise on how to keep my statement balances at zero. My Capital One QuicksilverOne due date is on the 4th of every month. I would prefer to pay my balance in full so they report my balance at ZERO. When should i make my payment? And when should i resume using my credit card?

Example:
Payment due date 8/4/2015
I should make my payment by 7/30/2015 ???
I shouldn't make my next charge until 8/5/2015 ???

The statement date is 3 days after the payment due date.
So you can safely start making charges on 8/8.
As to payment it depends how you make the payment. If you're making the payment electronically on their site you can do it the day before the statement date.

But it's not always possible to get it to zero. E.g., you have a pending charge for $17.95. You try to pay that on the site before the statement cuts, they won't accept your payment if there's no balance. Then the statement cuts and the $17.95 shows up. Also if there's an interest charge or something, that might not show up until the statement cuts.

Thanks. I'll just make a ZERO balance blackout from 8/2/2015 to 8/8/2015.

Re: I want to keep statement balance at ZERO

takeshi74 — Sat, 01 Aug 2015 13:00:57 GMT

The due date is irrelevant. Whatever your current balance is on report date is what is reported. Since your due date falls after the report date paying by the due date will not change the reported balance. Most cards report on statement date.

@DrZoidberg wrote:
Reporting a balance of zero is bad. That means you have 0% utilization and optimal utilization is 1-7%.

There's a hit for having all zeros report. You're assuming that the OP only has one card. Don't assume.

Re: I want to keep statement balance at ZERO

nachoslibres — Sat, 01 Aug 2015 13:46:47 GMT

@takeshi74 wrote:
The due date is irrelevant. Whatever your current balance is on report date is what is reported. Since your due date falls after the report date paying by the due date will not change the reported balance. Most cards report on statement date.

@DrZoidberg wrote:
Reporting a balance of zero is bad. That means you have 0% utilization and optimal utilization is 1-7%.
There's a hit for having all zeros report. You're assuming that the OP only has one card. Don't assume.

This. I have 3 personal credit cards and I have two that report $0 balances and another that I keep between 1 and 9%. And like takeshi74 said, all of my cards report the balances on the statement dates - and for me they are typically 2-3 days after the payment due date. So for the two cards I keep at $0 I pay the full balance on the statement date, for the card I keep at 1-9% I pay the statement balance on the due date and then 2-3 days later pay whatever amount I need to pay to keep the card between 1 and 9%.

Re: I want to keep statement balance at ZERO

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Aug 2015 15:19:04 GMT

Depending on your overall credit profile and the number of cards you have, if you let 1 card show a very small balance and the others a zero balance, then you are likely to optimize your overall score. There is NO magic number of what the percent is. Everyone's profile is different based on number of cards and total credit limits. The lower a person's CLs the more sensitive carry any balance will have on his/her score.

It's likely not best to carry a ZERO balance on all cards, because the CC companies are in the business of making money based on their cards. So they want to see some usage.

Re: I want to keep statement balance at ZERO

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Aug 2015 15:21:35 GMT

Also, always pay by the due date and as others have said do not make any purchase between the due date and the statement date. You can check online for each card to see the statement date. Avoid putting anything on the card between those dates. The statement date can be anywhere from 3-5 days depending on the credit company.

Knowing about the statement date versus the due date was a wake up for me.

Re: I want to keep statement balance at ZERO

kdm31091 — Sat, 01 Aug 2015 15:41:59 GMT

I just dont see the real gain from restricting yourself from using a card 5 days out of the month before the statement cuts, let alone tracking such a date on each card.

Re: I want to keep statement balance at ZERO

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Aug 2015 03:25:29 GMT

Hello! Can you please tell me why someone should not make charges between the statement and due dates? thanks

Re: I want to keep statement balance at ZERO

NRB525 — Tue, 04 Aug 2015 04:11:27 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I was looking for some advise on how to keep my statement balances at zero. My Capital One QuicksilverOne due date is on the 4th of every month. I would prefer to pay my balance in full so they report my balance at ZERO. When should i make my payment? And when should i resume using my credit card?

Example:
Payment due date 8/4/2015
I should make my payment by 7/30/2015 ???
I shouldn't make my next charge until 8/5/2015 ???

If your payment due date is 8/4, then you have to make the payment by 8/4.

You probably want to stop using the card on 7/30 or so, to allow time for Pending charges to settle.

You will probably want to make a payment 7/30 to get most of the balance down, then clean it up on 8/4. It may be possible to estimate the full payment amount as of what you know on July 30.

However, if you do a gas fill up, the Pending charge may be two items, it may not resolve the final amount until a few days pass.

On 8/5 you are probably OK to start charging again, but I'd wait until 8/7 or so, just to be sure.

If you have a US Bank card, the above methods won't work. You have to have the balance zero leading to the end of the calendar month, regardless of when the statement prints, and good luck determining exactly which day US Bank will use for the balance.