Getting punished for using credit card.

[Anonymous]

With all that said, you're in the garden so who cares if you temporarily lost 20 points, you're not applying for anything. UTI has no memory, meaning you can get those points back whenever you want by paying down the total balance (previous statement balance + current charges) prior to the next statement date (5/25). But that doesn't make business sense because you're paying 25 + days earlier than you need to, just to prevent temporary loss of 20 points. The smart thing to do is to continue what you have been doing and not worry about the score, at least not until the cycle prior to leaving the garden.

This is why you should use business cards for your business expense, most business cards, Amex included, do not report to your personal profile so you don't have to worry about it affecting your UTI.

[Anonymous]

oldman87 ... you sure don't miss much! Good advice.

[HeavenOhio]

The important thing is knowing how and why the scoring ding occurred. That avoids unnecessary panic. In the future, you can arrange payments to avoid it, or you can decide that the temporary point loss is OK. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
oldman87 ... you sure don't miss much! Good advice.

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Thanks for the kind words Dino.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the help guys, I really appreciate you take the time to help me understand this better , really make sense now, thanks again

[kshurika]

You're getting good advice. One more point: If you have the wherewithal to pay off your 16k balance, fine. If you intend to chip away at it over time, remember that credit card APR is the worst. You should consider consolidating the debt under a low-interest personal loan, possibly from a credit union. Alternatively, equity loans and margin draws from stock accounts are very low interest and provide plenty of time to be paid back. The last suggestion is that you step out of the garden briefly, pick up a couple of balance transfer cards with 0% transfer fee and move the 16K over to one or a few of them. That can give you around 15 months at 0% interest to pay off the balance. Look at Chase Slate, Amex Everyday and BankAmericard.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the suggestion, but our problem is not pay on time, i always pay my credit cards full on the due day, i use my CC on my business to buy raw material and get miles for travel, I know APR’s are high that’s why I don’t care balance, i just don’t think is fair from the bureau to report a balance even thou i pay in full every month, I think they should report the accounts that care balance month after month. Thanks

[Anonymous]

The qustion has already been answered. But I think this topic is what confuses some, if not a lot of people. PIF by the due date is only meant to stave off interest charge. PIF, or paying down the balance before the statement date, is what keeps Uilization down.  

I have to say that it is so much easier to manage CC nowadays, where you can access your acct online and pay on or prior to certain dates. In the old days there was no way to do this, unless you called in and did check by phone. Of course back then they still had to hold the check for 7-14 days I think. lol