Swapped my credit card strategy 6 months ago and saw 40 points jump

I used to just pay the minimum on my one card and hope for the best. Then my buddy who runs a small accounting firm told me to pay off the balance before the statement date, not after. So now I set a reminder on my phone for the 20th of every month and pay the full amount I owe as of that day. That little trick dropped my credit utilization from 65% down to under 10% because the card company reports what's on the statement. I saw my score go from 620 to 660 over about 6 months just from that one change. Did anyone else have a similar jump just from timing your payments different?

2 comments

2 Comments

diana31415d ago

Tell my younger self that and she would've laughed while stuffing another past-due notice in a drawer. I did the same thing last year after I got tired of my credit score acting like a roller coaster at a county fair. Paid off my card two days before the statement hit and watched my score crawl up like a turtle on a mission. Felt like I had hacked the system but really I just stopped being lazy about dates. Now I have a calendar alert that yells at me with a passive aggressive tone.

patricia_singh8115d ago

That timing trick is the REAL secret most people miss completely.