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The $0 balance trick that flipped my utilization math
I used to pay off my card every month but still saw my score stuck around 698 for over a year. Then my bank statement closed on the 3rd and I always paid on the 20th, so the balance reported was sometimes 80% of my limit even though I never carried interest. Last March I started paying twice a month, once before the statement date and once after, so my reported balance stays under 10%. My score hit 742 by June and now I'm trying to get a car loan at a local credit union in Madison. Has anyone else had a lender tell them the reported balance matters more than the actual paid amount, or is that just my bank being weird?
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wren21720d ago
The statement date versus payment date gap catches a lot of people off guard, and it makes you wonder how many folks are walking around with a lower score than they deserve. What I want to know is whether the credit union actually pulled your report before or after that June jump, since timing there could change everything. Did they tell you straight up that the reported balance was the issue, or was that just something you pieced together from your own research?
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