Found a way to boost my credit score 48 points in 3 months by paying twice a month

So I was stuck at a 680 score for like a year and couldn't figure out why. I read on here that some cards report your balance on a certain date, not just when the statement ends. I started making a small payment on my Capital One card every 2 weeks instead of once a month, kept my utilization under 10% each time. Hit a 728 last week and my card company's site actually showed the jump. Did anyone else see a bump from doing this or was it just me getting lucky timing?

3 comments

3 Comments

knight.uma3d agoMost Upvoted

48 points in 3 months is nice but honestly that's not some crazy mystery. Paying twice a month keeps your balance lower when they snapshot it, so your utilization drops. That's like 30% of your score right there. Capital One reports on the statement closing date for me, so the timing is pretty straightforward. But 48 points from a 680 starting point isn't that impressive. That's a low score so any change looks huge. Try doing that same trick when you're already at 740 and see if you even get 10 points.

adam1863d ago

Yeah exactly, thats what I've been saying too. People freak out over a 50 point jump but its mostly just utilization math when you're already sitting low. I had the same thing happen, went from 670 to 720 in like 4 months just by paying my card down to almost zero right before the statement date. But after that it capped out hard and I barely see 5 point moves now. Once you're past 700 those little tricks stop doing much and it all comes down to time and not messing up.

alex8203d ago

idk maybe it depends on the card but did you check your credit card's reporting date versus your statement closing date? Like some cards report the balance on the last day of the month regardless of when your statement cuts, so paying twice a month might only help if you're hitting that sweet spot. Were you tracking which day Capital One reported to the bureaus? Because without that timing, you could be paying down a balance that already got reported. Also curious if you saw the bump on all three bureaus or just one.