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Finally gave in and tried the 30% utilization trick after months of doubt
I used to think all that stuff about keeping credit utilization under 30% was just people being paranoid. My score was stuck around 690 for like 8 months and I couldn't figure out why. I paid off my cards in full every month but I was letting one card hit like $1500 out of my $2000 limit before paying it. A guy on a personal finance board told me to pay my balance down to under $600 before the statement closes instead of waiting for the due date. I tried it last month and my score jumped 32 points after the next update. I honestly didn't believe it would make that big of a difference but now I'm a believer. Has anyone else seen a big jump from just timing your payments better?
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rubyk2628d ago
My friend Sarah tried this exact thing with her Capital One card. She had a $3000 limit and was always letting it sit around $2500 because she didn't know any better. She paid it down to like $800 right before her statement closed and her score went from 674 to 702 in one month. She was so shocked she called me to make sure the credit monitoring site wasn't glitching out on her.
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miller.emery28d ago
Holding back your spending to keep utilization low is just gaming the system for a number that doesn't mean much if you're not planning to borrow big anytime soon. @rubyk26's friend got a 28 point bump but that doesn't change the fact that she's still carrying debt month to month which is the real issue here. If you're paying in full anyway then who cares what the statement says because your score will drop right back down when you actually need to use your card again.
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