@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:If I'm understanding this correctly, I should pay in full before the due date? I thought you couldn't pay a balance before the billing date?
The reported balance is typically that of the statement date. Paying the statement balance by the due date avoids interest.
I routinely pay off my balances before the statement date, save for one CC, and thus my reported utilization is something like 0.5%.
I would also add... The payment needs to clear before the statement date. I have noticed with my Barclay, and Discover (the ones I watched with) It can take 2-4 days for the payment to clear and reflect on the account. If I pay the Barclay card one day before the closing date and it posts to the account the day after the closing date. They report the before payment ammount to the report. HOWEVER if I pay before the closing date and it posts before the closing date then they report a $0 ballance.
What is really annoying is when you use the card and it posts real fast the the account. I stopped and got gas on the way home. It normaly takes 2-3 days to post to the account. WELL... The thing posted the following day (closing day) SO... Guess what :-) It reported to the account.
To the OP: On many cards you can make as many payments to your account as you want :-) Some require the charge to be posted to your account. Some will let you pay when its pending. Others such as my Discover only let me make 2 payments a day but they need to be from different accounts. My credit union will let me pay so that I have a negative ballance (they owe me) which is handy when you know something is going to clear the following day or so...
Let your current accounts age. Do not cancel cards unless they are costing you to keep them open. Pay off your balances across your cards to get to around 10% total utilization. Refrain from applying for new cards for a couple months. Your score will go up
