About FICO scores and paying credit cards early...?

Question

If you pay off your credit card BEFORE you get your bill for it, does it still show up on your Credit/FICO report as an active card in good standing or does paying it off before you get your bill make it so that it is if you never used the card at all?

I want to use my cards to keep them active, but I would like to use them in a 'pay as I go' manner. I use my banks Bill Pay, so it quite easy. My concern is that it may look as if I don't use them at all, if I pay them off a day or two after using them if the CC company doesn't report their usage due to them being paid off immediately.

Thanks, in advance, for your experience in this matter.

Answer 1

It will show up in good standing as " current, never late" It will show up like this if you pay it the first day you charge it or the last second before the due date.

For this reason I always pay five days before my due date and I pay it in full.

This is the best way accept that sometimes when you get a high limit. My limit is 10,000 on one of my cards. They don't want to raise my limit because they say I never use the card up to the limit anyway. The most I have ever charged on it was about 4000.

Answer 2

of course you can pay early! helps your credit.

yes it will show credit in good standing on your credit.

Answer 3

I have all four major credit cards.

I have them for the sole purpose of building my credit.

I pay off all charges within a week of making them.

All of my accounts show up as active and in good standing.

Answer 4

Activity is activity in this case.  You won't lose anything on FICO by paying the bill early.  A card is active if you are using it, and in good standing as long as you are paying your bill and not running up a high balance.  It is when you don't use a card for a long time that the card is inactive!

Answer 5

I don't think it'll change a lot in your credit score if you pay early. What could change is your "revolving balance", i.e. the balance you have in your account when they happen to check, but you don't know when they will check to calculate your score.

The lower your revolving balance, the better your credit score. So to make sure your balance is low, you could pay off your balance twice a month.

Answer 6

You can pay right after, but it is also good to pay over a period of time to show good payment history, so just like you pay by Bill Pay, set up a system where you can have your payments taken out on a monthy basis until it is paid out.

Answer 7

Most decent credit cards have a grace period that keeps you from incurring interest if you pay the entire balance off by the statement due date.  We do that with our only two credit cards and our credit score is in the upper 700's.  On the report itself you probably will see a balance, because the credit companies don't update it every day.  So it should basically show low utilization.