I've read on the forums that it's best to keep your card utilization between 1-9% for raising your credit score. My statement date is the 10th of the month so I didn’t' use my cards from 5th so I can pay it down to 8% then I didn't use it until today the 15th. I got an email from Capital One that my statement was ready on the 12th. For reporting reasons I was told that I shouldn't use my card until 5 days after the statement date so that the CRAs get the correct utilization. Is the 5 day "resting" period still valid even though my statement was ready on the 12th or could I used it on the 12th?
In my experience my credit card companies have always reported the statement balance to the bureau. Remember that it's not the bureau who calls the creditor to say "What's their balance this month," (in which case it might depend on when they ask) it's the creditor sending an update to the bureau saying "Here's ____'s balance this month," and the one they use is the one they show you as your statement balance. So, there should be no need for any "resting period" once your statement balance has been posted by your creditor.
If anyone has had any different experience than this please let me know, but so far across a variety of creditors it's been consistently the statement balance that shows up on my report.
@itgirl74 wrote:I've only had my Capital One card 4 months, but so far it has always reported the statement balance. I've even used the card on the day of the statement and the day after, but it has never reported more than the statement balance.
My US Bank card is totally weird in that it reports to the bureaus on the 30th of the month and then cuts a statement on the 9th or 10th. It's fine now that I know that, but I accidentally let it report a 72% balance in May.
Thanks for the input! 72% huh? How badly did that hurt your score for that month? Just wondering in case I make the same mistake by accident or on purpose 
Your ok when statement closes, as the other poster mention US Bank posts on the 30th so it will always be your mileage may vary. The good thing is utilization holds no memory so if paid the following month all is good again.
Discover IT $17k / US Bank Ace (VSig) $13.5K / US Bank Cash+ (VSig) $13.5kI'm not exactly sure how many points I lost (a lot was changing at that time), but I gained 28 points the other day when utilization went down to 6%.