15/3 Trick : Is it the Best Day To Pay Credit Cards to Increase Credit Score or a worthless hack? 

People like me who have a hard time managing money, it's best to pay weekly otherwise we lose track

When I was using debit I loved the fact that money left my account immediately which allowed me to always know how much money I had. Once I switched over to credit cards completely it was hard to keep track because I’d have balances on different cards and the delay with pending purchases along with the delay with paying balances on cards started throwing me off. I never knew how much money I had. Now I have two checking accounts. The main for direct deposit. And the other which I use to pay cards, rent, etc. Every week whatever balances I have on my cards I will move that amount from my main checking to my second checking account and pay them off. It’s the best I can do to keep my account balance as accurate as possible. It sounds like a lot of work but I enjoy doing it!

@@cd5205 yep did the same

Best strategy!

Do I pay off my credit card as soon as I buy something?

@@smexijalapeno3871 usually there is a 30 day period you can pay your balance in full and not accrue interest cost. Anything paid after will accrue an interest charge. Is it a rewards card?

I use almost my credit cards to pay for almost all of everything, to maximize cash back. I then pay them off (or down to 1-2%) before the closing date. I have a 780 to low 800s FICO score as a result. I regard this as responsible use. I get fraud protection, cash back, and a high credit score this way.

@@michaelswami so how do I maximize my results like U did?

@@quareashepeterson595 never miss a payment. Never carry a balance and pay whatever amount of credit you use way down before the credit card company reports it to the credit bureaus. The statement date is usually the date the balance is reported, so before then.

Woah this works??

You're not listening close enough... i mis-speak all the time 😀 You are right, I meant the total credit line vs. available credit, I guess others knew what i was getting at even though my terminology was wrong. Hopefully I didn't confuse anyone!

@@ProudMoney hey I knew what you meant. Take care, sir. Best to you and your family.

That’s a tall order! My goal is to collect plastic like it was Pokémon cards, but there’s eventually going to be a problem with your existing revolving credit maximum and another card issuer giving you even more credit. I think CreditShifu even ran into this issue with a card issuer since he had just gotten a limit increase on another card.

It only works for you because you are paying down your balance before the statement closing date. It makes absolutely no difference whether you do so in one payment or 3 or 500, the number of payments you made before your statement closing date is not reported to the credit agencies.

100%

How does it help to pay it off a couple of days before due date ?

@@trunks7604 Paying a couple of days before the due date mitigates the risk of your payment being delayed and triggering a late payment fee. If you have autopay set up to pay the statement balance, there isn't much of a risk of that happening though.

Honestly it is mostly just marketing, they are trying to get you to apply sooner rather than later.

The due date has to come after the statement date or you would be paying before you even had a bill to pay. The due date you see is for the PREVIOUS statement that had an earlier statement date. This is a common point of confusion, have explained it in numerous other videos.

Making multiple payments a month is good for any debt that has interest computed daily.

It can be a dance at times 😂…. We use rewards cards for day to day purchases and pay them off before next statement date and utilization rate stays around 1%

I've found that my score is slightly higher when a couple of my cards report a balance. In like manner, if too many of my cards report a balance, my score goes down, even if they are well within the supposed limits. The FICO algorithm does like it when all cards reports $0, but it also doesn't like it when too many of the cards report a balance.

@@floydbanks173 Maybe you have too much credit available to you altogether... maybe too many credit cards.

@@deniselittle5558 No, it's how the FICO acronym handles it vs. how the Vantage acronym handles it. Vantage is rock solid with very little movement & FICO will fluctuate a lot more.

Your payment due is from the previous cycle that ended weeks before the due date, probably ended December 14 based on the info you gave. Cycle ends Dec 14, payment due by Jan 8.

Whenever you Max or go over the balance of your credit card you instantly ding your score, but if you pay it full or partially so it remains under 30% utilization of your total credit limit not just the limit of your card, it will help. Also I suggest doing this 3-5 days before the due date so you can see it effect right away on the day of the due date.

5% or 10% keep utilization low.

The credit card issuer sees all of your utilization and payment history throughout the billing cycle, not just what is reported on your statement. Running the card up and paying it down multiple times a billing cycle is a good way to show that you actually need a limit increase.

​@@markbeiser How many issuers have you programed the algorithms for? It is the case for some issuers but not all. Personally have come across people who have said that the reason for a denied a credit limit increase was to the effect of "recent balances too low compared to credit limit" When suggesting they just let all the charges post to the account they got an increase months latter when re-requesting.

@@mitchell.9632 Definitely a YMMV per issuer thing.

Actually I guess for my 2nd and 3rd card since they are roughly on the same day, I will essentially be paying my statement balance in full as per usual, but taking into account my entire balance, and whatever I need to pay towards my entire balance to get it to 10% is what I add onto my payment. That way my statement is taken care of, and the rest goes towards my entire balance dropping it to 10%

I would humbly disagree. I pay all my debts of as soon as they're not pending. Credit utilization stays at 0% and I'm currently at a 795 credit score

You don't need to leave a balance on the due date, otherwise you pay interest. Your balance is reported at the end of the billing cycle, no need to pay less than what is due. pay it off completely by the due date.

Pay it full b4 the due and after the due date(next day) buy something to eat at fast food restaurants

@@cardojp Same here. I don't know why people confuse not actually using the card with a $0 balance 🤷‍♂️.

I have multiple credit cards and I realized that when I paid them all off before the billing cycle ended my score would drop 20 points. And one of the bureaus even said that it was because I wasn’t utilizing any credit even though I was. it just appeared that way since they saw $0 on all my cards. So as a scientist I decided to do an experiment… I tested paying all my cards off minus a few dollars on each card, paying all cards off with 10% utilization, then 20% and then 30% and finally paying all off except one card where I left $5. My scores were the highest with the last scenario.

What you carry into the next statement, try to carry 7% or less of your credit limit balance

You should not have a 0% utilization rate on your credit card because your credit score won’t increase because you’re not utilizing your credit card

Would it be good idea to get a BTC to lower my Discover 78% utilization even though my overall utilization % is 22%?

Your utilization is too high! They look at utilization on both areas, individual cards and overall! More than likely you will want to lower the Discover first before applying!

@@babybugspaw7085 what he said, but intead of applying for extra credit you don't think you will use (but probably would end up using) just pay down your credit cards so you can work with the credit you have.

It would be better to ask discover for a credit line increase and pay down the discover card first. Getting a higher limit with discover will lower the utilization rate.

I believe the rule was intended to pay it down on the 22nd (in your case) so that the utilization that shows on your report (sent to credit bureaus on 23rd) is roughly 10% of your limit, and then pay the rest before the due date. The idea of the rule isn't to make more payments, it's so that the utilization on your credit report shows better, but a little bit of utilization is better than zero, so they can see that you are using the card

You can do that, but it may not be optimal for your credit score, as it will look like you are not utilizing credit at all if you always show a $0 balance when the statement is reported. You want to show some utilization on a few accounts every month, ideally under 10% per credit card.

Remember your closing date is from the previous month. Your due date is the following month. So for example, your billing cycle is from 3/16-4/15, your closing date of billing is 4/15. Your due date for example would be due on 5/9.

Your question is unclear.

It sounds like you want to ask if the credit score goes up. It will if you pay down the balance before the bill is generated. What gets reported to the credit bureau is the balance on the card when the statement closes out. If you pay your balance in full by the due date it will help your score because of on time payments. If you spend the same amount each month it won’t help because of credit utilization. Credit utilization is the percentage of credit used when an account gets reported to the bureau. The amount that gets reported is what the amount is when a bill is generated. You can pre pay this bill before it gets generated and that will help your score as your utilization will go down.

U need to pay ur due date two-three days b4 ur due date. or I should say, b4 the 18th an not on that date. I stay under 10 percent with my method. I leave a little on my balance to get reported. U have to stay ahead of the game.

Pay it all in full right before the 9th. This way 0% utilization is reported which is the best utilization to maximize your score.

​@@uria702false, you need some kind of a balance to show that you using the card

It’s per card.

It is both actually, did a video on this a while back.

Both

Thanks

That’s what I do. I’m scared to be let it report to $0 because I don’t want my score to drop.

@@williamcordero5862 ur credit score won't drop from a $0 balance. It's actually good once in awhile. I usually mix it up . Some months let it sit around $1-60 depending on how much credit u have, any low balance is good. I see credit increases when my balance gets reported and it's lower than the previous statement balance. If u do have multiple credit cards, it's a good idea to let one of the statement balances to show zero.

@@oCaliforniaBoy my score dropped 20 points when I paid off all my cards before the closing date. One of the bureaus even said I wasn’t using any credit. So now I do the pay “all but one.” And the one I don’t pay in full I leave like $1 by the closing date and my score has always increased.

Allow a minimum of 1% utilization per card to register and then pay it off after stamens date and repeat process monthly.

Yeah that’s what I do

quiiiiiick

People with lower credit scores who maybe are trying to get a mortgage will look for any way possible to get a few extra points. not a good use of your time for most people, though.

He does and I’m grateful 🙏🏼

Considering it takes no more than 2 minutes to pay a bill online, I'd say EVERYONE has time.

Your due date is going to be at least 20 days after the billing cycle you are paying for. in my example, the billing cycle ended august 9 and the due date was september 6.

Think in terms of a 2 month period, not a 1 month period, because there is always a lag time before the bill's cut-off. Let's use this example (best to use a calendar for visual understanding): (1.) you started with a $-0- balance on August 1st, (2.) you made some charges during month of August totaling $1K; (3.) your cut-off date was August 31st; (4.) your bill drops the very next day on September 1st. (5.) So in this example your BILLING CYCLE is from the 1st of each month to the last day of each month. (6.) You now have a Sept. 1st Billing Statement with a Due Date of 9/27th (3 days before the next cut-off date) (7.)The tricky part is the DUE DATE, it must fall a few days before the CUT-OFF DATE, usually 3 - 6 days prior to cut-off date. (8.) That way the NEXT Billing Statement dropped October 1st will reflect if minimum payment (or higher) was remitted by/on 9/27th due day. (9.) If minimum payment (or higher) was received by due date, then the principal balance will be reduced on 10/1st Billing Statement. However, if minimum payment (or higher) has not been paid by 9/27th Due Date, then there will be a LATE FEE assessed on 10/1st Billing Statement (usually a $40 fee). (10.) As long as you have paid-in-full by Sept. 27th (1st due date in this example) you will not incur any interest due to Card Issuer. (11.) If you make a minimum payment, then interest will start accruing on Sept. 28th, next day after due date but also before the October 1st Billing Statement drops. CAVEAT: Issuers usually do not use month-end dates as their cut-off date because days vary, February usually 28, others either 30 or 31 days.

That isn’t possible. The closing date is always before due date. They can’t have it where you owe a bill before the bill is generated. The closing date is the day the bill is generated and the due date is the date the bill is due. I think you are confusing something.

@@travisnapoleansmith On my credit card it's the same way, My due date is before my close date. I simply just think they credit card company we have, has it automatically correct as to how you should pay your bill that's all, these credit cards are set up for people to fail and don't give you that information.. but call them like I will after seeing this video and ask when is the billing cycle, get some clarification.

@@chasestyle you are not understanding. You cannot have a due date before the bill is generated. You cannot owe money before a bill has been made. That due date is from this bill that you have. The closing date is when the current period closes. That is always in the future. The due date is for the bill in front of you. The closing date is for the next bill when it will be generated.

@@travisnapoleansmith wrong. Your due date for the let’s say, August payment is shortly before the September closing date. This is why people get confused. You need to consider each month separately. If you think about it, how can the credit card company tell you how much you owe, before it knows how much you spent. It can’t. Focus on each month’s credit card bill separately.

@@michaelswami I don't think you read what I said or previously said. You cannot have a due date before a bill is generated. As I have previously said the due date is for the current bill. The closing date is when the next bill is generated. The video even said this. End of story. I have said this more than once. I have also said you cannot owe money before a bill is generated but apparently you haven't read what I have said before. So I am not wrong on this, you are not understanding what I have said more than once. WE ARE SAYING THE SAME THING but you saying I am wrong.

Are you trying to keep your utilization rate at 0%? If not you can set up auto payment on statement date to pay balance in full. It will show that you can effectively use/pay off your debts

@@callmefrog76 thank you! I didn't know that this was possible

@@callmefrog76 no it doesn’t. The credit cards report will say that you don’t use credit at all so it’ll mark at zero and you won’t increase credit. They want to see utilization.

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