I recently posted asking about if I was using my card the right way and for the most part the feedback said I was. I figured out what all of the dates and what everything meant so I better understand how to actually read what’s going on with my credit card.
The problem I’ve run into isn’t big but I’m not sure what happened. My credit dropped 12 points and idk why. I have a secured card with a $500 limit. My last statement balance was $102 and my overall balance coming into my next payment this month was $230. I was told by someone I trust to pay my minimum payment on its due date, and the pay my card down to under $100 before the statement date. So that’s exactly what I did. On the 12 of this month I paid $20 (minimum) and on the 14 paid $140 to get my balance down like they said. I haven’t done anything out of the ordinary other than spend less. I usually max the card and play the entirety of it off on the 12 of each month but I got some advice and tried to follow it. My credit is still very young so I’m not extremely worried but I am saving for a car and was hoping to get one next month, I’m pretty sure this has hurt me a lot in that case. Anyone know what happened or what I should do next month?
Very confused about using my card.
byu/Agile-Cream9746 inCreditCards
Posted by Agile-Cream9746
1 Comment
**Pay your statement balance in full before the payment due date.** That’s it.
If you only pay your minimum payment but NOT your statement balance, you’ll owe interest on the unpaid amount *and any additional charges moving forward until you pay your card+interest off fully*. So pay your statement balance in full before the due date.
Your current balance includes any additional charges you’ve made since the last monthly statement was generated. Those charges will show up on your *next* monthly statement. Just like you don’t pay Netflix for every video you watch, and you don’t pay your electric company every time you flip a light switch… you don’t need to worry about those new charges until the next statement. Just **pay your statement balance in full before the payment due date.**
BTW your credit score might fluctuate a lot because you have a low limit so the relative utilization ratio will be higher. That’s totally fine and you don’t have to worry about utilization until a month or two before you want to apply for a new credit card. But if you’re not paying your statement balance in full, then you DO need to worry about how that will affect your finances and your credit score.
If you want to be hands off, you can set Autopay to **pay your statement balance in full before the payment due date**, and then just use your card for whatever you want within your credit limit.