Just caught my mistake with credit utilization after 3 years

I always thought paying off my card in full before the statement date was the only thing that mattered. Turns out keeping my balance under 10% of the limit on the statement closing date is what actually boosted my score by 40 points. Has anyone else been doing this wrong and only figured it out later?

2 comments

2 Comments

joseph4485d ago

Gotta push back on this one. Keeping a tiny balance on the card can actually hurt you if you're not careful with the timing or if you end up carrying a balance month to month by mistake. Plus some cards will still report a high balance even if you pay it down right after the closing date, so you're juggling payment dates for no guaranteed bump.

wade_hall5d ago

Juggle payment dates for no guaranteed bump, love that lol. It's like playing whack-a-mole with your statement closing date and hoping the credit bureau sees the zero balance you wanted them to see. I've had a card report a $500 balance before because the payment posted a day late, even though I paid it off a week before the due date. So now I'm just sitting here with a "high utilization" red flag for one month because the system decided to troll me. Might as well just pay it down to zero and save myself the headache, honestly.