I'm clueless

[Maquitagirl]

So if you make a purchase on your credit card for rebuilding, do you pay right after you make the purchase? Or do you wait till you get the monthly statement and then pay it off?

What is the best way to increase your credit score?

[keepinitreal]

I'd recommend paying it as soon as you get your statement. That way you know you're getting credit for paying it in the correct billing cycle.

[CCsAreEvil]

Yes, by the time you receive your bill statement/cycle, almost always, you should never have interest charged to your balance (grace period). Just pay in full upon receipt.

The only time you want no balance is when you are planning to apply for something big the next month (buying a house or car) when they do pulls against your FICO score. But most of the time, you can just PIF on each statement.

[ForTheBest]

I used to be an "expert" at knowing all the ins and outs of my accounts when I had tons of 'em and was killing myself trying to keep 'em current and free up a few bucks of available credit here and there. Now I'm so out of practice that I can't even follow this discussion! Sorry to sound so dumb about all this stuff, but geesh, can you please explain it to me one more time (and please give it to me in the Golden Books version? I'm old. lol)

If I pay as soon as I receive the statement, I won't be charged interest?

If I pay before the statement cuts I'm actually shooting myself in the foot rebuilding-wise?

It's better to have a balance show than to have a $0 balance show?

Man oh man, this stuff is so confusing.