Statement date and due date

[Anonymous]

I want to make sure that if I ever go over 30% utilization on a card that I pay it off BEFORE it is reported to help my score. My understanding is to pay it down to 30% BEFORE the statement date then pay off the balance by the due date to avoid interest. Is that correct?

[tufa4311]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I want to make sure that if I ever go over 30% utilization on a card that I pay it off BEFORE it is reported to help my score. My understanding is to pay it down to 30% BEFORE the statement date then pay off the balance by the due date to avoid interest. Is that correct?

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You have your dates correct. The balance when the statement cuts is the balance that is reported. Any balance remaining after the due date is subject to interest.

With regard to the 30% - this, of course, is your call but it is generally accepted that the amount reported should be between 1-9% to optimize your credit score.

[Anonymous]

I understand. I have a weird situtation though. When the card was at 10% my credit didnt move. I pushed it to 33% and my credit jumped 19 points. Go figure.

[J91605]

That was not the reason! Something else in your file change or your length of credit something. You score did not go up because of higher UTI%!

[Anonymous]

That's what I thought! This is the EXACT message I received from my FICO alert, 7/24/2015 Experian
The balance on one of your accounts has increased by $895, this raised my score by 17 points.

[J91605]

You score went up do to a corresponding factor. If you score change because of the increase in UTI% it would have went down. At the least it would not have moved.

[J91605]

Whatever it was congrats 19 points is a nice bump!