Depends on the game you are playing. Do you want raise your scores or get CLI’s? Either way, your credit card company already knows what you spent. They don’t need it to report to the bureaus to see it. If you let a large balance report, you are lowering your credit scores (depending on your individual and overall credit utilization).
You want all cards at zero and one card to report a balance less than 8.9% (assuming you have 3 credit cards) for maximum scoring.
Just my my two cents. YMMV
I was under the impression that they report to the CRAs upon statement closing, not a week later. Either way, closing on a high balance is hardly a good idea. You don't want anything "official" to ever be high. Like Gidgetmom said, the card company will know you spent $2k during the month whether you let the statement close with a $2k balance or whether you PIF to 0. For example, I had been near-maxing my Freedom Unlimited card for a couple of months but always payed it down to 0 and I received a 2x auto-CLI recently.
Actually unless its a request from a current creditor. There's absolutely no way for another creditor to know what you've paid, if paid before the statement cuts. As long as you're reporting balances below 30% utilization, you should be fine. 1 to 9% is best for reporting if you are concerned with a couple of points. Scores alone will not give you CLI or TLs IME or IMHO. History of using and paying your bills is what will increase them all. The only way to do that is let something report. As the old man says use your payment float to your advantage. Nothing wrong with paying by due dates. lol
