topic Re: Will paying CCs in full before statement date hurt credit score? in Credit Cards

Will paying CCs in full before statement date hurt credit score?

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 18:33:36 GMT

I understand that if the credit card companies report 0% utilization for many straight months due to infrequent usage, your credit score will probably stagnate or dip slightly. Now if I were to pay pay off my balance in full before the statement date each month for 12 months, wouldn't they report 0% utilization each month to the credit bureaus as well? Would this produce the same negative effect as it would have if I were to have spent nothing on the credit card all year?

Re: Will paying CCs in full before statement date hurt credit score?

OmarGB9 — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 20:20:58 GMT

Yes.

Re: Will paying CCs in full before statement date hurt credit score?

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 23:02:09 GMT

Why does that hurt your credit?

Re: Will paying CCs in full before statement date hurt credit score?

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 23:09:13 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Why does that hurt your credit?

Because FICO doesn't like 0% utilization. It isnt logical I know, one would think that having zero debt would be a great thing but not when it comes to your credit score. 1-9% utilization reporting on one card is generally key for score optimization.

However, unless you need to micromanage scores for some specific reason it doesnt particularly matter. The few points you lose letting 0% report can easily be gained back with the next statement by letting a small balance report.

Re: Will paying CCs in full before statement date hurt credit score?

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 23:13:43 GMT

your score won't slowly dip for 0% utilization though. just don't go up like if you did the 1%-9% trick

Re: Will paying CCs in full before statement date hurt credit score?

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 23:15:04 GMT

excuse my lack of clarity though. if you were doing 1%-9% then went to 0% then it'll drop from the last month's scores

Re: Will paying CCs in full before statement date hurt credit score?

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 23:37:13 GMT

So I understand.....one card reporting 1-9% is good even if all others report 0%? Or should all report 1-9%?

Re: Will paying CCs in full before statement date hurt credit score?

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 23:39:27 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
So I understand.....one card reporting 1-9% is good even if all others report 0%? Or should all report 1-9%?

This one

Re: Will paying CCs in full before statement date hurt credit score?

elim — Wed, 16 Sep 2015 00:07:49 GMT

My experience...

For the last 5 months i have reported balances on all of my cards. I PIF after statements cut. My TU has never been higher (722, i have a Fed Tax Lien) and EQ and EX are now where they were 5 months ago after a 10 point drop.

Life is pretty easy this way (with Prism app) but in 5 days i'll hit 6 months in the garden and perfect my Utilization for the score boost to grab a couple cards i've had my eye on.

Don't sweat the utilization game until you are making a credit move, then give yourself a month or two for your perfect utilization to report.

Re: Will paying CCs in full before statement date hurt credit score?

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Sep 2015 08:26:08 GMT

So what I'll do is spend as per usual on my credit cards, then 3-4 days before the statement date, I'll pay off all but about 50 bucks on each card, then rinse and repeat with the next month's statement. I'm sure that'll increase my score steadily if I do that every month.

Re: Will paying CCs in full before statement date hurt credit score?

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Sep 2015 10:22:21 GMT

no. pay them all in full except one pay down to like $50

Re: Will paying CCs in full before statement date hurt credit score?

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Sep 2015 16:57:24 GMT

Good advice in here. I PIF all the time. In fact I pay off my credit cards almost every time I use them making multiple payments during each statement period. I just like to wipe out the debt quickly. For the most part none of this matters and the monthly fluctuations aren't going to make any type of difference for anything. If you think your credit needs to be maxed out for an upcoming application then do what other people are talking about.

Re: Will paying CCs in full before statement date hurt credit score?

OmarGB9 — Wed, 16 Sep 2015 16:59:31 GMT

+1 on xterror's suggestion. You only want ONE card reporting a balance of 1-9%.

Re: Will paying CCs in full before statement date hurt credit score?

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Sep 2015 18:19:16 GMT

All right, that sounds good. I'll rotate which of the 5 cards I leave 50 bucks on every month. That'll do it