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Posts: 9,252
Registered: ‎03-19-2007
Re: Success Stories and Encouragement
Quote of the day !!!!!!!!
It's like losing weight. Once you're in shape and healthy, why go back to junk food

jaramill wrote:
Ran a little experiment at the end of April/beginning of May.  I called all 3 of my credit cards:
  1. Chase
  2. Wells Fargo
  3. Citi-ExxonMobil

and inquired WHEN they report my balance to all of the 3 major credit bureaus.  They all said either ON the closing date or within a week AFTER.  So here were my scores on May 1st, 2008 purchased from myFICO.

FICO® Score Report Date

  1. TransUnion 717 5/1/2008

  2. Equifax 723 5/1/2008

  3. Experian 705 5/1/2008

So what I did was PIF (Paid In Full) all the credit cards on the due date (which is about a week before the closing date).  Then (and here's the important part)...I did NOT use any of those cards until the day AFTER the closing date.  Why?  Because in general you pay your bill and still use the card.  Well those transactions in between the due date and closing date (in addition to whatever balance you have) get reported.  So in order to show $0, I didn't use them.  I just used my debit card or paid cash.

Now once all the closing dates passed, guess what?  I now have NO due date for the next month because I have NO minimum monthly payment due.  Now I can start using the card and thus I won't have to pay anything for 2 months.

So with that said, I then purchased my scores on June 1st.

FICO® Score Report Date

  1. TransUnion 757 5/1/2008

  2. Equifax 742 5/1/2008

  3. Experian 728 5/1/2008

Why the big jump?  Literally a credit utilization of 0% and 1% debt to income ratio really is what FICO loves to see.  Experian is the toughest of them all (and the one used by most companies).

It took me years to get to this point but I will never go back to being in debt.  Now I noticed that having my student loans on there did NOT count toward these scores or any simulations, so that is key as well.  It's like losing weight. Once you're in shape and healthy, why go back to junk food.

Hope this inspires others.  Remember, we (the creditees) can play this game too!

Message Edited by jaramill on 06-04-2008 04:27 PM