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Discover Current Balance & Statement Balance

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NRB525
Super Contributor

Re: Discover Current Balance & Statement Balance


@Anonymous wrote:

@NRB525 wrote:
Congrats on the unsecured Discover card. Set it up to autopay the Statement balance, make sure you have that money in your checking when Discover says they will draw the funds, and use the card for regular purchases.

The whole pay-before-Statement-cut is overrated. Don’t fall for it month-to-month.

Enjoy your new higher CL responsibly.

It’s not overrated if you are past 28.9%. I don’t even like my cards reporting over 8.9% which is my personal comfort level but <28.9% is a target everyone should have. 


It would be an interesting data point for OP to check those FICO scores on the Discover statements, as time goes on. From indications, the latest statement will be right around 30%. Seeing what score looks like on the next statement would be useful to track how much benefit this really provides. 

 

On a long term plan however there is a school of thought that letting a credit line be more fully utilized, and paid in full, may help with CLI on accounts such as Discover. Making those balances more visible to future banks by allowing them to report and be visible on the credit report is also a form of communication to other banks which might lead to higher limits on apps with those banks.  

 

Utilization has no memory, but high statement balances are visible on credit reports for years.  

High Bal Jan 2009 $116k on $146k limits 80% Util.
Oct 2014 $46k on $127k 36% util EQ 722 TU 727 EX 727
April 2018 $18k on $344k 5% util EQ 806 TU 810 EX 812
Jan 2019 $7.6k on $360k EQ 832 TU 839 EX 831
March 2021 $33k on $312k EQ 796 TU 798 EX 801
May 2021 Paid all Installments and Mortgages, one new Mortgage EQ 761 TY 774 EX 777
April 2022 EQ=811 TU=807 EX=805 - TU VS 3.0 765
Message 21 of 43
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Discover Current Balance & Statement Balance


@NRB525 wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

@NRB525 wrote:
Congrats on the unsecured Discover card. Set it up to autopay the Statement balance, make sure you have that money in your checking when Discover says they will draw the funds, and use the card for regular purchases.

The whole pay-before-Statement-cut is overrated. Don’t fall for it month-to-month.

Enjoy your new higher CL responsibly.

It’s not overrated if you are past 28.9%. I don’t even like my cards reporting over 8.9% which is my personal comfort level but <28.9% is a target everyone should have. 


It would be an interesting data point for OP to check those FICO scores on the Discover statements, as time goes on. From indications, the latest statement will be right around 30%. Seeing what score looks like on the next statement would be useful to track how much benefit this really provides. 

 

On a long term plan however there is a school of thought that letting a credit line be more fully utilized, and paid in full, may help with CLI on accounts such as Discover. Making those balances more visible to future banks by allowing them to report and be visible on the credit report is also a form of communication to other banks which might lead to higher limits on apps with those banks.  

 

Utilization has no memory, but high statement balances are visible on credit reports for years.  


I lost 5 points on TU passing 28.9% when my CR reported $297/3000 back in September. There was a monster thread I saw here before that breaks down the points for each level but I would have to dig for it, it was a monster thread but it’s old and a quick look for it didn’t turn it up. It attempts to allocate ALL points of the FICO score for various things and seemed like impressive work. Maybe someone knows which thread I’m referring to. 

 

And Discover gave me $3000 CLI in December when it was pretty much a SD card until I spent $1500 on Amazon for 4Q because I had SSFCU SUB to go for when I got it in March then I got my cashRewards in September and had another SUB to work on.  The highest balance that was reported was just under $1000 out of $7500 since I got the card in March. That card was my single largest SL until Sync came along with PayPal at $8000 and the CLI makes Disco still my largest TL (second is my QS at $8250) so Disco is a bad example since they’re totally YMMV. 

 

Obviously people are free to use their cards how they wish but since OP asked about utilization, I imagine it’s important to them which is why I made the suggestion I did. 

Message 22 of 43
NRB525
Super Contributor

Re: Discover Current Balance & Statement Balance

I can appreciate there is a score penalty for going over 30%. My question is, is 5 points worth the effort on a monthly basis, for the same 5 points every month?
High Bal Jan 2009 $116k on $146k limits 80% Util.
Oct 2014 $46k on $127k 36% util EQ 722 TU 727 EX 727
April 2018 $18k on $344k 5% util EQ 806 TU 810 EX 812
Jan 2019 $7.6k on $360k EQ 832 TU 839 EX 831
March 2021 $33k on $312k EQ 796 TU 798 EX 801
May 2021 Paid all Installments and Mortgages, one new Mortgage EQ 761 TY 774 EX 777
April 2022 EQ=811 TU=807 EX=805 - TU VS 3.0 765
Message 23 of 43
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Discover Current Balance & Statement Balance


@NRB525 wrote:
I can appreciate there is a score penalty for going over 30%. My question is, is 5 points worth the effort on a monthly basis, for the same 5 points every month?

It depends on where your scores are. For my scores, 5 points means more than for those who are already in the 700s. 

Message 24 of 43
CivalV
Established Contributor

Re: Discover Current Balance & Statement Balance

Yes every point is important to me. I currently have mid 600 scores that go up and down. UTL on my other accounts are holding my score back. I am working on getting 5 cards below the 48.9% threshold. I will have 4 cards at a $0 balance & 1 at 28.9%. I want to keep my Discover card as my daily drive hence worrying about paying the full statement balance so I can continue to use it daily without using “too much” of its available credit.
Message 25 of 43
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Discover Current Balance & Statement Balance


@CivalV wrote:
Yes every point is important to me. I currently have mid 600 scores that go up and down. UTL on my other accounts are holding my score back. I am working on getting 5 cards below the 48.9% threshold. I will have 4 cards at a $0 balance & 1 at 28.9%. I want to keep my Discover card as my daily drive hence worrying about paying the full statement balance so I can continue to use it daily without using “too much” of its available credit.

So in this case pay off what you don’t want reporting before your due date. I just did this so that Disco will report a 0 balance now that I have my balance transfers on my NFCU Platinum card (I only ever let one card report a balance for optimum score). Due date was the 21st, I paid my card balance yesterday and it posted this morning and I’ll use another card for groceries until my statement cuts around the 26th (I changed my due date so I’m not sure exactly when my statement will cut but it’s always been 5 days after my due date before so I’m guessing the 26th). 

Message 26 of 43
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Discover Current Balance & Statement Balance

Saeren, why do you need to optimize your score if you're in the garden? Who is going to see or care except for you? Not only are you leaving money on the table for not using the grace period, you are also leaving 5% cashback on the table for using another card?

 

If you truly must implement AZEO for no reason at all times and have been reporting $0 balance on this card, there is no reason to make the payment and stop using the card so early in the period, there is never a payment due on due date and a PIF 2 days prior to statement date would do the trick, that leaves about a 3 day period for you to plan your grocery shopping around.

Message 27 of 43
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Discover Current Balance & Statement Balance


@Anonymous wrote:

Saeren, why do you need to optimize your score if you're in the garden? Who is going to see or care except for you? Not only are you leaving money on the table for not using the grace period, you are also leaving 5% cashback on the table for using another card?

 

If you truly must implement AZEO for no reason at all times and have been reporting $0 balance on this card, there is no reason to make the payment and stop using the card so early in the period, set your autopay for minimum and then PIF 2 days prior to statement date would do the trick, that leaves about a 3 day period for you to plan your grocery shopping around.


Because I added two Sync cards this month while having NFCU’s Plat and BBVA’s ClearPoints cards not reporting yet. I paid off my personal loan which cost me 17 points on EQ. It hasn’t posted to TU yet but it cost me 9 on EX. 

 

I still have SUB spending to reach with BBVA and if I need a grocery trip, which actually seems unlikely unless I blow through the mandarins I got the other day, it will be <$20 at ~6.67% so I’ll miss out on ~3.33% of Disco cashback (first year match ends in March) or less than a $1. 

 

I just don’t want Sync to get spooked and take AA so I am micro managing. BBVA shouldn’t report til March supposedly, NFCU cut my statement last week so it should be popping up any day now. Probably another 10 point drop before I lose an inquiry on each bureau in March and gain 3-5 back. 

Message 28 of 43
NRB525
Super Contributor

Re: Discover Current Balance & Statement Balance

I would suggest your situation is “mid-app” rather than typical gardening months. In the long run, this sort of micro management makes me want to close cards that are not reliable.
High Bal Jan 2009 $116k on $146k limits 80% Util.
Oct 2014 $46k on $127k 36% util EQ 722 TU 727 EX 727
April 2018 $18k on $344k 5% util EQ 806 TU 810 EX 812
Jan 2019 $7.6k on $360k EQ 832 TU 839 EX 831
March 2021 $33k on $312k EQ 796 TU 798 EX 801
May 2021 Paid all Installments and Mortgages, one new Mortgage EQ 761 TY 774 EX 777
April 2022 EQ=811 TU=807 EX=805 - TU VS 3.0 765
Message 29 of 43
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Discover Current Balance & Statement Balance


@NRB525 wrote:
I would suggest your situation is “mid-app” rather than typical gardening months. In the long run, this sort of micro management makes me want to close cards that are not reliable.

Yeah and I’m probably worrying about nothing to be honest but I have set up my wallet how I want it now. 

 

Sync seems to take AA when people suddenly charge up too much of their cards. I’m carrying $2,963 if NFCU reports to the credit bureaus before Disco, $2,298 after Disco reports, out of $50,750 total so it seems very unlikely for me but either way, I have had my scores go from good to fair as a result of paying off that personal loan so I would like to optimize scoring as much as I can without adding another loan (doing so would drop my AAoA under 2 years). 

Message 30 of 43
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