For scoring reasons, I want a certain amount to be reported. Right now, I'm at about 10% utilization on this particular card and want to pay it down to about 8.9%, which would only equate to a few bucks, literally! Will I be penalized for making less than the minimum payment due at this time ? The due date is on the 28th of this month ?
@BM1990 wrote:For scoring reasons, I want a certain amount to be reported. Right now, I'm at about 10% utilization on this particular card and want to pay it down to about 8.9%, which would only equate to a few bucks, literally! Will I be penalized for making less than the minimum payment due at this time ? The due date is on the 28th of this month ?
Unless I'm more out of the loop than I thought, I don't see how this could possibly hurt you! As long as you have paid [at least] the minimum due by the due date, you should be fine.
Note that paying early may not yield the result you want--it depends on that creditor's reporting date. If you're sure they haven't reported yet and this early payment would definitely be reported soon, great, otherwise you might not want to bother.
@Remedios wrote:If you had balance on your last statement, you must pay minimum payment, unless statement balance was less than minimum payment.
Why? They're wanting to make an early payment, in addition to later paying more, not in place of paying the minimum. So now *I* am confused! 
Also, I'm thinking in terms of paying the way I pay all my bills, via my bank's online bill pay. Maybe it's different if you pay on a creditor's site directly....?
@SoCalGardener wrote:
@Remedios wrote:If you had balance on your last statement, you must pay minimum payment, unless statement balance was less than minimum payment.
Why? They're wanting to make an early payment, in addition to later paying more, not in place of paying the minimum. So now *I* am confused!
Also, I'm thinking in terms of paying the way I pay all my bills, via my bank's online bill pay. Maybe it's different if you pay on a creditor's site directly....?
Not sure what's confusing.
At least minimum payment must be paid before the due date, which is why I asked to clarify if this is just an extra payment unrelated to the actual payment.
Key word (or number) being 28th, so why pay now when card won't report for another 22 days.
What good is making a few dollar payment for utilization purposes when no one gets to see it.
If OP is worried about reported utilization, nothing they do today is going to change what's reported after the statement day, which again is in 22 days, unless they think lender reports every time payment is made.
Until OP clarifies and expands on how they think reporting works, everyone is just guessing what they meant.
@BM1990 wrote:For scoring reasons, I want a certain amount to be reported. Right now, I'm at about 10% utilization on this particular card and want to pay it down to about 8.9%, which would only equate to a few bucks, literally! Will I be penalized for making less than the minimum payment due at this time ? The due date is on the 28th of this month ?
Yes, you will be penalized for making less than the minimum payment.
OP intends to pay only the amount that leads to the upcoming statement reporting exactly 8.9% of the limit. This means paying less than the minimum payment amount and not paying the minimum payment, leading up to the due date.
Check your cardmember agreement. You'll be hit with a late payment / missed payment fee of probably $40 the way terms have been changing lately. If it goes on too long, you will get a 30 day late report on your credit report, then your credit score will tank. It will take several years for your score to recover from that.
If you want to get to exactly 8.9%, then you first need to pay the minimum payment amount, which will lower your utilization to below 8.9%. Then charge enough to get you to or over 8.9%, then make another payment to bring you down to exactly 8.9%. So rather than shorting the current minimum payment, you are paying down the balance with the minimum payment, then charging it to bring it back up to 8.9% for this upcoming statement date.
DO NOT PAY LESS THAN THE MINIMUM PAYMENT ! ! ! !
Missing or shorting the minimum payment is literally the cardinal sin of all credit discussions. Everything else about credit is a choice. Missing the minimum payment is everywhere and always a failure.
@BM1990 wrote:For scoring reasons, I want a certain amount to be reported. Right now, I'm at about 10% utilization on this particular card and want to pay it down to about 8.9%, which would only equate to a few bucks, literally! Will I be penalized for making less than the minimum payment due at this time ? The due date is on the 28th of this month ?
I think you're confused about how things work.
1. The balance only gets reported once. Usually the balance which is going to be reported is the statement balance.
2. There is nothing magical about 8.9% as opposed to 10%.
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@BM1990 wrote:For scoring reasons, I want a certain amount to be reported. Right now, I'm at about 10% utilization on this particular card and want to pay it down to about 8.9%, which would only equate to a few bucks, literally! Will I be penalized for making less than the minimum payment due at this time ? The due date is on the 28th of this month ?
I think you're confused about how things work.
1. The balance only gets reported once. Usually the balance which is going to be reported is the statement balance.
2. There is nothing magical about 8.9% as opposed to 10%.
Yes and on top of that not making the minimum payment would result in a late fee and late payment being reported to your credit after 30 days .....If you want to control what reports you need to focus on the statement balance and not the minimum due ....You 100% have to pay the FULL minimum payment to avoid late payments
