0

If we have a credit card with 1000, 2000, 5000 of dollars, is it a good idea to use it daily like spend 30%-50% of the money per day and recharging the card at the same day just to increase the credit score faster? Or it's better to keep money into the card all the time and just spend like 30% at the weekends and recharging them agan at the same day?

Which scenario is better to build credit score ASAP?

Improve this question
5
  • 6
    Credit cards don't have "money on them". Are you talking about the credit card limit (the maximum amount you're allowed to borrow on the card)? You don't "recharge" a credit card. You can pay off the balance. Credit cards only report your balance once a month and they just report a point in time so credit bureaus have no idea what you charged and paid off over the course of the month, just the outstanding balance on the day the credit card company reported it.
    – Justin Cave
    Commented Jun 19, 2021 at 6:47
  • 3
    You're confusing credit cards with debit cards.
    – RonJohn
    Commented Jun 19, 2021 at 6:51
  • 3
    And why are you concerned with "build(ing) credit score ASAP?"
    – RonJohn
    Commented Jun 19, 2021 at 6:52
  • 1
    @Justin Cave, some banks report more frequently than once a month. My Discover card reports once a week, and my Capital One card reports twice a month. I haven't determined the cycles of the others, but I know for fact some of them are reporting more often than once a month. Still, your point overall is well taken.
    – RiverNet
    Commented Jun 19, 2021 at 23:47
  • Are you talking about pre-paid credit cards, where you're not actually using credit, but just spending money you've already loaded on to them?
    – TripeHound
    Commented Jun 20, 2021 at 11:35

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
2

There is nothing in your credit score that is based on frequent use and repayment of your credit cards. In other words, using a card and then paying it off the same day or next day has no more effect on your credit score than paying it by the due date, with only one exception: The due date of your credit card payments and the date on which your bank reports your account to the bureau have NOTHING to do with each other. So, if you run up a high balance, expecting to pay it off by the due date, it's entirely possible the bank will report your account to the bureau before then, in which case your score would be negatively (but only temporarily) affected by a high utilization rate.

You can't run up your credit score by using your cards more often - you can only hurt your score by having high utilization rates reported. Based on your plan, let's say you run your cards up over the weekend with a plan to pay them off on Monday or Tuesday, and somehow it turns out your bank runs a bureau reporting cycle in between then? Your report will show a high utilization rate and your score will come down.

The GOOD news is, your score will recover once you pay the balances down again. But what you're trying to do achieves nothing. Better to have cards with reasonably high limits and very low balances, preferably under 10-15%, if not 0%.

Improve this answer
2

You are overthinking this.

If you have always paid your bills on time, don't have a lot of debt, and have a couple of credit cards with reasonable usage, then your credit score is going to be just fine. "Just fine" is what lenders are looking for. Adding a few points to an already OK score will make no difference to whether anybody will give you credit or at what rate they will give it to you.

If you have a bad credit score then your credit card usage pattern will make no difference at all. The only thing you can do is keep handling your money sensibly until the things that gave you bad credit drop off your record.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.