@Anonymous wrote:I've heard so many mixed pieces of advice.
In my experience, the only advice you will get that can be trusted is the advice you get in this forum.
Is it truly better to -
Utilize 30% balances to boost credit?
Absolutely not. I really wonder where you got that advice.
Pay down, or pay in full monthly?
It's best to pay in full monthly.
Use another percentage util and (pay down, or pay in full monthly?)
It's ok to let some balances report if they are small and if you pay them off right away after they report. But you should let most of your revolving accounts report a zero balance.
Right now I am working on paying off my cards, and I'm wondering if I should PIF - or pay down to 30% (or another percentage?)
You should pay in full.
What will help me acquire the most credit score points?
The one way to ensure that you are in good shape across all FICO scoring models is to let just 1 or 2 cards report a small balance
while the others report zero.
@Anonymous wrote:All of my statements are electronic - is there some verbiage I should be looking for?
On every site you can find your next statement date or next "closing date" which is the same as the statement date.
@Anonymous wrote:And I'm assuming there's no real way to "plan for this" per se.. statement dates vary month to month no?
With some lenders it's the exact same date each month. With some other lenders it varies within a range of a couple of days.
BTW although MOST lenders report the balance as of the statement date, that is not true of ALL of them. You have to follow your reports and account statements to figure out what your lenders do.