@happy0510 wrote:
So in Orchard's case if the payment due date is the 20th of every month and you make a min. payment, then PIF or to 9% or so on the 25th, and they report on the 31st, what balance are they reporting?
Usually, the way it works is (for instance) statement cuts on the 15th, your due date will show something like the 7th of the next month. They report to the 3 CRA's at the statement cut date. If this is the card that youwant to report a small balance, pay it off after the cut date. If you want this card to post $0 balance this time, pay it off before the cut date.
Make sense?? 
Just a note....the cut date is usually somewhere around 20 days before due date. (give or take a couple days)
@Anonymous wrote:
Credit limit does matter when your credit card company has lowered your credit limit. Discover has lowered my credit limits on both of my individual cards to the point that I am almost maxed out on them. So now my FICO has gone down because of my "high utilization" of my credit! When I called them they told me I should be thankful they kept them open, because I have been such a good payer, because generally they would have closed them. Boy, am I grateful!!
That's when it really hurts.
Remember it's not the CL (even when it's CLD'd) that hurts - it's purely utilization that's hurting you. That utilization is a huge factor in FICO scores - so you can really feel the sting.
The CL in and of itself, however, does not affect your FICO scores. If you had a zero balance and your CL's were decreased, you would not see the point drop.
Sorry about your CLD's and glad you still have your accounts. Good luck in rebuilding - everything 
!