I'm not supposed to pay in full every month?

[whoknows1]

I was running the simulator and to my surprise, paying in full everymonth actually gave me -5 points... While only paying about I think 10% of the balance everymonth gave me +10...

[simplynoir]

Correct, the FICO scoring models are predicated on a consumer at least carrying a little debt to maximize their scores. Most people chose one card to report a balance less than 8.9% and pay the rest off to maximize their scores. To be honest, I would continue paying as you have and if that is PIF then continue to do so. You see that the scoring impact is minimal and unless you're looking to get every bit of scoring increase for a credit/loan application for instance to get better terms then I wouldn't worry about it

[whoknows1]

Wouldn't carrying any balance occur a late fee of some sort?

[D10001]

Your credit card bill is due on the 20th of each month.  The statment closing date is on the 25th.  You'd paid last month's bill in full.

Door #1: wait for the bill to come shortly after the 25th and pay it in full by the 20th of the next month.  Your net charges of $xxx.xx appear on your credit report and figure in utilization calculations.

Door #2: shortly before the 25th, go online, see what your anticipated balance will be and pre-pay that amount.  You have a zero amount appearing on your credit report.

Door #3:  On the 20th, you don't pay the full amount.  The credit card issuer accepts your payment and charges you interest on the balance.

[simplynoir]

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@whoknows1 wrote:
Wouldn't carrying any balance occur a late fee of some sort?

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Ah, okay let me clear up that confusion

As an example Chase reports statement balances to the three credit bureaus every month so what you see on your statement is what the reporting agencies will get. But they also report when a customer pays off a balance completely to $0.00 even during midcycle periods. At that time Chase updates the credit bureaus again letting them know "hey, this customer paid their statement off" and you will see it when you check it. Others have weird reporting like US Bank where they report balances on the second to last day of the month no matter what it is and not necessairly the current balance that will go on a customer's statement. You would have to check how each banks reports utilization to the bureaus

What some people do is figure what banks do what with reporting balances and make to where there is only one credit card reporting a balance with the others being paid off. That usually means paying off the balance before the card's statement period is over so that when banks send their updates to EX/TU/EQ they'll show a zero balance except for the one card they decided will be the one reporting

For instance to keep it simple let's say I have three credit cards that have the same statement period and report said balance every month as follows

1) $200 balance on $1,000 CL

2) $500 balance on $2,000 CL

3) $40 balance on $500 CL

If I wanted to maximize my scores I would simply pay off cards 1 and 2 before the statement closes so that way they report a $0 balance and let card 3 report as usual and just pay it off once I receive the statement with that $40 balance. Since card 3 falls under 8.9% I show usage/utilization and maximize my FICO scores as well. Hope that clears that up there. If not feel free to ask more questions

[SouthJamaica]

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@whoknows1 wrote:

I was running the simulator and to my surprise, paying in full everymonth actually gave me -5 points... While only paying about I think 10% of the balance everymonth gave me +10...

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Disregard the simulator. They best thing you can do for your credit is pay in full every month.

You should let at least one small balance "report" each month before you pay it off, but there's no reason to "carry" a balance [i.e. not pay it off in full by the due date].

[whoknows1]

how do I find "statement closing date"?

[whoknows1]

does paying off my charge cards (plat/gold) every month negatively affect my credit score?

[whoknows1]

It's so confusing... I've been paying off in full all of my credit and charge cards every month and sometimes I do get a negative 5 points out of the blue, rarely do I get a +5 for paying in full... All 3 scores are stuck at the 790's. The only red I see in the dashboard is inquiries.

[SouthJamaica]

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@whoknows1 wrote:
how do I find "statement closing date"?

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It depends on what lenders you are using.

If you don't know how to find your statement closing date, my advice would be to make sure everything is paid as early as possible, but certainly well before the due date. And let the chips fall where they may on your "credit card utilization". 

Once you've figured out what the reporting date is for each of your accounts, then you can start micromanaging to maximize the 5 points or so  you're concerned about, if you want to spend your time that way.