Pulaski

My credit cards are all reported to the credit agencies on (or at least "as at") the payment due date. I assumed that was the norm.

Olly_

Most companies work that way, but some report on random days of the month.

With Chase credit cards if you clear your balance down to zero (including anything purchased since the previous statement) they do a mid-cycle report showing a zero balance which can be handy if you need to get your utilization down in a hurry.

mrken30

you need to try and keep the credit:debt ratio around 5% give or take a few percent. If it's too low it makes it appear that you are not experienced with credit, too high (over 30%) and it looks like you are over using credit. So timing is essential.

Make a payment to reduce the ratio just before the reporting date and then pay off the outstanding amount after the reporting date to keep interest down.

Once you get a credit score over 720 I don't think it really matters, just use your cards "normally" and the score will increase over time.

MrSunu

Hi,
Sorry it's still a bit unclear to me. So to summarise a strategy to build up your credit score and minimize the amount of interest paid. Providing you know the reporting date, (Which is not that obvious from previous posts, but should be the payment due date) one would:
- Utilize about 6% of the credit line a few days before the reporting date
- Then repay the credit line in full a few days after the reporting date.

This will ensure the optimum credit:debt ratio is reported to the credit bureaux, but minimises the interest by not carrying any credit for too long. The only caveat is that if you don't know the reporting date, the 6% credit:debt ratio needs to be carried continuously, which would pay off a fair amount of interest over a year...

MidAtlantic

If you are under 10% utilization you don't need to worry about paying before the reporting date.

Sign up with creditkarma or creditsesame and you will find lots of useful information about how to protect/improve your score.

Overall you need to always pay by the due date, don't keep applying for credit, and keep your utilization under 10%. Then only time can do the rest.

Pulaski

My experience is that all of that is true, except that, contrary to popular and oft-repeated "wisdom" it is perfectly possible to have credit utilization north of 10% (and I mean a long long way north of 10% ) and still have a credit score well over 700.

IOW IMO/E people shouldn't get too hung up on credit utilization of 20%, 30% or more, and the number of credit applications seem to have as much of a damaging impact as high credit utilization despite contributing to a smaller part of your credit score.
It is perfectly possible to have a 720 credit score, or higher, with very high credit utilization.

MrSunu

Thank you all for your responses.

ldollard

As posted its really random