Pay in Full vs. Paying after statement

[vanillabean]

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@Anonymous wrote:

The reality is that almost no-one outside cc forums would pay before that statement cuts.   You don't have an official itemized statement of what you owe, you are incurring lost interest and/or other opportunity costs, it makes very little sense.

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It's like saying almost no one in a proportional setting has shifted from two spaces to one between sentences just because you haven't.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Well if you want this to die than you should just stop talking

Dude, Bro, you are totally right. My 530 FICO jumped up to 850 just by getting my utliization of credit below 10%. Forget paying your bills on time, worrying about accounts in collection, or even bankruptcy! Just get your utilization down and you get perfect credit.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with paying down your balances. Its a financial savvy thing to do to save money on interest charges and, yes, builds your credit score. I went from 80% utilization to 20% and my score went up by about 5 points. I guess according to some idiots that means I go from only qualifying for a secured card to qualifying for a card credit with the lowest APR on the market with a $100k credit line.

If "gaming" the system to get a better credit score would lead more people to default then maybe lenders would be able to look at payment history. Oh whats that Timmy? They already do?! Oh boy! Common sense. How does it work???

Please stop dragging this out because you are giving terrible advice

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Well if you want this to die than you should just stop talking

Dude, Bro, you are totally right. My 530 FICO jumped up to 850 just by getting my utliization of credit below 10%. Forget paying your bills on time, worrying about accounts in collection, or even bankruptcy! Just get your utilization down and you get perfect credit.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with paying down your balances. Its a financial savvy thing to do to save money on interest charges and, yes, builds your credit score. I went from 80% utilization to 20% and my score went up by about 5 points. I guess according to some idiots that means I go from only qualifying for a secured card to qualifying for a card credit with the lowest APR on the market with a $100k credit line.

If "gaming" the system to get a better credit score would lead more people to default then maybe lenders would be able to look at payment history. Oh whats that Timmy? They already do?! Oh boy! Common sense. How does it work???

Please stop dragging this out because you are giving terrible advice.

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Because 20% is still too much. Get below 10% and you should see a bigger increase.

[Kostya1992]

The true answer: IT DOESN'T MATTER UNLESS YOU PLAN ON TAKING OUT A LOAN VERY SOON!!!

[Anonymous]

Before I knew what a FICO score was (and certainly way before I had heard of this forum), I used to pay my  entire balance on my Wells Fargo Platinum Visa (which started as a secured card and was my only credit card at the time) before the credit card statement cut. In fact, I used to make a payment immediately on WF's app as soon as a charge posted on my account. Most months, my statement would cut with a $0 balance (unless I had made a charge right before the statement cut and it posted before I could make the payment for it). I thought this was actually good for my credit score. I now know that may not necessarily be the case...Nevertheless, I wasn't trying to game the system. I just thought this was the most responsible way to handle a credit card and that this practice would boost my scores the fastest.

Ironically, WF seemed to like that payment behavior a lot. Within 10 months, they graduated my secured card, gave me a CLI, reduced my APR, and added rewards to my credit card account.

[NRB525]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Well if you want this to die than you should just stop talking

Dude, Bro, you are totally right. My 530 FICO jumped up to 850 just by getting my utliization of credit below 10%. Forget paying your bills on time, worrying about accounts in collection, or even bankruptcy! Just get your utilization down and you get perfect credit.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with paying down your balances. Its a financial savvy thing to do to save money on interest charges and, yes, builds your credit score. I went from 80% utilization to 20% and my score went up by about 5 points. I guess according to some idiots that means I go from only qualifying for a secured card to qualifying for a card credit with the lowest APR on the market with a $100k credit line.

If "gaming" the system to get a better credit score would lead more people to default then maybe lenders would be able to look at payment history. Oh whats that Timmy? They already do?! Oh boy! Common sense. How does it work???

Please stop dragging this out because you are giving terrible advice.

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Because 20% is still too much. Get below 10% and you should see a bigger increase.

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I thought the FICO score went to 850? from 530? which is quite... remarkable actually. Unless there is a load of sarcasm in the text. I have difficulty parsing that often times.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Please stop dragging this out because you are giving terrible advice.

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 Actually not giving advice at all.  Clearly, paying before statement cuts can increase your score.   I am just inviting people who worry about ethics (and thus rant agains MS, bonus chasing etc) if this is really any more honest.   It's not punished (no T&Cs state you must wait for the statement), but I really don't get how people can deny that it is gaming the system, which is why it is done.

And while I am ranting, what is all this endless repetition of "exactly one card reporting a balance"?   Has that advice been updated for FICO 08.   I have at least three cards reporting a balance on my EQ and TU.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous-own-fico wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

The reality is that almost no-one outside cc forums would pay before that statement cuts.   You don't have an official itemized statement of what you owe, you are incurring lost interest and/or other opportunity costs, it makes very little sense.

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It's like saying almost no one in a proportional setting has shifted from two spaces to one between sentences just because you haven't.

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That makes almost no sense!  The point is the cccs are using scores as an assessment of risk, and the scoring process is based on defaulting behavoir of general populations, and most of those people do not pay before statement cut.   So, it is actually a critical part of the argument rather than a sound bite about spacing.

[pitwoman]

Please clarify the last sentence "which, I should mention, you should only be doing when you are about to apply for new credit."  Which should only be done, optimize   your score or showing a 0 balance except for one card?

[Anonymous]

I always optimize my fico to pounce on sign up bonus that are too good to pass up. I'm like a cat sitting, waiting to pounce on that little birdie.