Credit Card Reporting

[Arcreactors]

Need some clarification. I’ve researched but can’t seem to pinpoint my answer. I’m about to pay all of my monthly bills with my brand new credit cards that I just got after chapter 13 discharge. (To utilize them and max rewards) I’m just trying to figure out when I need to pay them off by. They are capital one and discover. Capital one says they will know minimum due after oct. 25 with minimum payment due nov. 22.

From what I read capital one reports 3 days after the statement is cut. I assume in my case that will be the 25th. So do I need to pay my balance before the 25th or make sure it’s paid within the 3 days after in order for it to report 0. Or will it always report the statement balance once it’s cut?

What about discover? Anyone know when it reports? I know the due date on this card will be the 4th but not sure statement date yet. I have the secured card with discover. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

For CapOne, you’ll need to be sure that at least your minimum payment is paid by the 22nd, and then whatever balance you want to report, you will need to pay down to the night before the card reports.

Discover for me cuts a new statement five days after the current cycle is due. If yours is the same, if the payment is due for example on the 18th, and if it’s the same period of time, then you’d pay the due amount by the 18th and pay down to whatever you want to report by the 22nd so the desired amount reports on the 23rd.

[Arcreactors]

Ok, so it sounds like my confusion is I’m thinking it’s in the same month where really it’s a month behind?

Example: I charge $1000 for the first time today. The statement cuts oct. 25th with minimum due Nov. 22. In my mind I need to pay the 1000 by oct 25th or up to 3 days after. But, what I’m reading from your post is I can pay the minimum on Nov.22 and the remainder by Nov.25 for it to report 0.

[Anonymous]

Yes, pay the min by the date specified on the statement and the rest within the few days’ timeframe afterward.

[Arcreactors]

Ok, so to sum things up... no matter the card as long as I pay the balance off by the due date every month it will always report to credit as 0 balance?
I really don’t have to worry about statement cut date etc then.

[Anonymous]

That is correct - pay off the balance by the due date and then don’t use the card until the statement cuts, and you’ll always report zero.

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

You need to know how long it takes for your payment to clear and for the card to credit your account. For me, I would have to pay it on the due date to make sure everything is right when the new statement is cut. It also depends on when I make the payment. If I make the payment before 6am, the credit usually shows the next day, but if I pay later in the day, it takes 2 days. A bank like synchrony can be totally random. When I got the PayPal card, it took 2 days to credit and 3 to clear. It changed to next day credit and 3 days to clear. Then out of the blue, they started holding my payments for 14 days. At that point, it changed to 3 days to credit, 14 days to clear, 14 days to access the amount I paid.

[Arcreactors]

Ok cool. Thanks for all the help! I was thinking I would have to have capital one paid for before the statement cut on oct 25 but I will have it paid before nov.22 keeping the guidelines above in mind until I figure out how they post. I can test this by making a payment after I charge to see how long it takes to post and become available.

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

That's typically what I do. When I get a new card, I charge something then pay it off as soon as it posts to see how long it will take. Others recommend pushing a payment from their bank, so you can try using your bank or CU's billpay, also. Synch has been my only problem. They tend to report randomly and whenever they want.

[Arcreactors]

So my wife has a new amazon prime store card. They updated the account on October 1 then for some reason updated the balance on Oct-6. The statement cuts on the 1st and due date is the 25th. 

I have a balance of $102... No minimum payment due on Oct. 25th since this is a new card. Why would they report the balance already? I dont even have a statement yet. My purchases were on the 3rd and 4th.