@Anonymous wrote:Howdy, I am new to this forum. I am not sure if I am posting this in the correct category. If I have posted in the wrong place, please advise and will repost. After some difficult financial difficulties that I fully resolved I recently obtained a Cap One Quicksilver card to begin anew the building of my credit scores. I am trying to figure out what is the best time to fully pay my balance on the card to best help build my scores. I have done considerable research online, but have come away more confused than educated. Hence, my request for info. My monthly statements are issued on the 11th and the payment due date is the 8th of the following month. I am keeping my credit utilization at or below 30%. Should I pay my balance off before the next statement date or between the statement date and the payment date. When and how often does Cap One report to the credit agencies? Perhaps, my ignorance is showing through, but if I pay it off before the statement date my credit reports will show a balance of zero, but will it also show that I had made purchases up the 30% . . . or will it appear to be as though i did not use the card at all? Thanks for your help.
1. The statement balance is the one that gets reported. And credit card "utilization" for FICO purposes is almost always based on statement balances, not intra-month activity.
2. If you have just one credit card, you should pay it to zero before the statement cuts. Then the following month pay it down to 9% or less of the credit limit before the statement cuts. Then compare which -- zero or a small balance -- gets you the higher score. Then stick with that until you have multiple cards.
3. When you have multiple cards, (a) keep aggregate "utilization" at 9% or less, (b) more than half of your cards reporting a zero balance, and (c) no single card reporting more than 29%.
4. Even if there's a zero balance they'll know the account was active that month, if it was.
Oh... and welcome to the forum 
And I would say you've posted in the correct category, but your headline is off. This really has nothing to do with Capital One. The same principles would apply no matter which lender had issued the card.
+1 on what sligh said.
Learn your statement date(s) and when it/they report. CK is good for that-will tell you the exact date it. Usually it is the same each month but it can be off by a day or two or theee. Depends on how the card company does their statements. Some do every 30/31 days and some do the same date each month no matter how many days there are in that month.
Then as long as you make sure you have low Util on the day before it updates-you are good to go.
This is assuming you don't care about having the highest FICO possible every day of the month. If that is your goal-so you can, let's say-app for a card out of the blue...then you should keep your Util low at all times if possible. If your goal
Is to have the best FICO to get a car or house loan.. then make sure you have waited till the Utilization is low and Posts that way-then apply.
Welcome to the forums.
Ps. I'm tired and need sleep. If this makes no sense or has tons of grammar and spelling errors blame the wine and late night. Or my iPhone.
Learn your statement date(s) and when it/they report. CK is good for that-will tell you the exact date it. Usually it is the same each month but it can be off by a day or two or theee. Depends on how the card company does their statements. Some do every 30/31 days and some do the same date each month no matter how many days there are in that month.
Then as long as you make sure you have low Util on the day before it updates-you are good to go.
This is assuming you don't care about having the highest FICO possible every day of the month. If that is your goal-so you can, let's say-app for a card out of the blue...then you should keep your Util low at all times if possible. If your goal
Is to have the best FICO to get a car or house loan.. then make sure you have waited till the Utilization is low and Posts that way-then apply.
Welcome to the forums.
Ps. I'm tired and need sleep. If this makes no sense or has tons of grammar and spelling errors blame the wine and late night. Or my iPhone.