Does it matter what day of the month you pay off your credit card?

[Anonymous]

I understand by the due date of course.  Now if you are paying off your credit card each month and want to make sure you have paid off your credit cards before they report to the credit bureaus for that month... is there a general date this takes place?  

What I'm trying to figure out is the best strategy/cycle of using my cards... then 100% pay off each month.  If I'm paying off before statements or before they report to credit bureaus... is this the best method for building credit?  Please advise.  Thank you.

[dursty87]

To answer your question, whatever balance there is on the statement date is what gets reported to the CRA's.  If you want to be sure that your card reports a 0 balance always pay a few days before the statement cuts and don't use the card til after it posts.  For maximum FICO scoring you want all cards at 0 except for one that reports between 1-9% utilization.

With that being said, I don't think paying your balance in full every month helps "build your credit".  Letting your accounts age, paying on time, etc is what will build your credit.  For me, personally, I dont play the utilization game unless I am going to app for something.  I have no problem carrying a balance.  As long as you don't max out your cards and then pay minimum payments you will be fine.