@Anonymous wrote:Assuming you already have a couple other cards and one is always paid to zero and the other paid to a low utilization....
And you get a new card..... Does it affect your score positively or negatively, if you use the new card, but always pay it to zero by the due date? Is it better to let there be some record of carrying a small balance at least one time?
Point of clarification, Are you letting the statement report a balance, and then paying that balance to zero by the payment due date printed on the statement,
Or are you referring to paying all new charges before they even have a chance to report on the statement, statement balance = zero?
@Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure I understand your question. I get a due date for each card. So the 10th for example. On 10th, every month, I pay it to zero. I'm mostly wondering if it looks like I don't use the card, since the ballance to the bureaus would always be zero.
There is a difference between "due date" and "statement end date"
What ever is not paid by the "statement end date" is reported as the balance on your card in most cases versus the "due date" is just the date you have to pay that balance before you are considered late.
To be clear if your
Statement end date or the day the BILL is cut is the 10th
and your DUE DATE might be say the 25th (giving you your GRACE PERIOD)
If you pay by the DUE DATE you are fine and you have met the requiement for an 'on-time' payment.
However, in most cases the BALANCE that was displayed to you on the 10th is the number that is reported as
your Debt/CL ratio
meaning that although you PIF by the 25th...it doesn't CHANGE the fact that on the RECORDING DAY your ratio
was whatever it was...this issue 'confuses' more ppl than ever.
Because it makes 'sense' why one would 'think' .....well I PIF every month I 'should' look GREAT in the eyes of the CRA's
however it's not a daily running tab...for most it's a ONCE-A-MONTH snapshot of RIGHT NOW and the cameras donm't come back til
next month (a 'few' vendors do 'mid-cycle reporting but NOT enought to count on it).
This isn't a BIG deal, as long s you 'uinderstand' how the 'refs' are calling the game...knowing the rules allows you to ADJUST...during periods where
optimal scoring is needed (like when apping for new credit).....knowing exactly how it works also 'calms' folks down from freaking out from one month to the next based upon HOW MUCH debt was reported 'that' month because you know 'next month' will recover...no fuss no muss.....
*Remember if you want to manipulate the scoring in your favor you DUMP your debt on the day after the statement cuts (because remember the camera is off til next month) then you pay it down before the next PICTURE taking day and your good...it's all a matter of TIMING.
But as another poster said on the month by month basis...these stuff can be overstated....
Lot's of stuff has to do with
Where you are within a credit rebuild
How mature is your file
Are you trying for new credit, soon
Some of this stuff is 'nice' to know stuff and some is too much info and NOT that hugea deal for others depending on their needs per se
Sort like a guy searching for a wife might take more heed to certain things than a guy that has had one for 45 years...yeah he 'hears' 'ya but it ain't quite the same for him 