@Anonymous wrote:Thank you themanwhocan, those are really very useful links. However, can you solve this doubt for me?
In the How do I play ... post, there is this line:
"Most of the time, just use your card a reasonable amount, let it report, and immediately pay in full. Create that rich, robust credit report that the credit companies want to see."
So, I understand that my card (or whatever card for that matter) will report once a month. When this happens, it is better than you have a relatively low credit utilization on that card, and also that you pay that amount in full before the due date. Is this right? My question comes from Rott161982 comment above: will charging/paying several times a month in the same card affect your credit score? If the company is reporting just once for the amount that is owed in that particular date, how is it to charge/pay multiple times in a month any different from using, let's say, your debit card? Or I am missing something and the CC company will report every movement done in a month?
I am sorry if this questions is completely off topic, but I do appreciate your input very much and I am taking advantage that there is an ongoing subject going.
Again, thank you!
Generally credit card companies only report once a month. Very rare exceptions are sometimes possible, usually if you ask nicely and have a really good reason like a Morgage application that is being unduely affected.
It is better if the utilization that is reported to the credit bureaus is low, both for your entire credit portfolio and for each individual card. However, optimizations of that sort are only really important just before you are going to apply for more credit. It just doesnt matter much if your FICO score drops a few points one month, if you never use your FICO score during that month.
You dont have to pay off a card multiple times a month, though if you are forgetful, that tactic would prevent the accidental reporting of a large utilization. But mainly it would be wasted effort. As its really not much effort at all, its up to you as to whether you want to do that. It can look suspicious if you use multiple payments in a month in order to spend more than your monthly credit limit, ie they gave you the limit in order to limit their liability, and it looks suspiciously like you cannot live within your limits, which can be a red flag.
If you want to optimize your reported utilization every month, you can certainly do that. Once again, its probably wasted effort, but, its also not all that much effort so its all up to you.
It all depends. Cap1 may very well be that way. You get mixed results where you see people will go to the limit on cards and pay off initiating a CLI or more, and you see somw people barely spend and it triggers the same. What is true for both is that keeping the util down is a good idea. At least by the time it reports.
