I actually called RBC Visa and Capital One to see what date my balances get reported to the credit bureau. My RBC card is reported on the 5th and C.One is on the 14th. I make sure to have my balances as low as possible by those dates.

Using the dates above, lets say you maxed out the C.One card by putting $300 on it on the 1st of the month, paid it off in full by the 8th, only to max it out again by the 14th. The credit bureau has no idea that you paid it off in full earlier in the month, they only see what you owe on the date that it is reported to them.

FYI, I received a Capital One secured card in November 2011 for $300. I made sure to have it paid almost to nil by the 14th of every month for a year, and in November 2012 they sent me a letter telling me they were increasing my credit limit to $1800. I have been following this routine since, and have seen a substantial improvement in my credit score.

Please note, I believe the reporting dates are specific to each person so you would have to find out what your date is and not follow the example above.

And, when I make a C.One payment, by means of online bank transfer from my RBC bank account to C.One M/C it can take anywhere from 3-5 days from the date I've paid before I see it update on my C.One account.

It will show the use....but if you wish keep 20 bucks on it all the time....just pay what ever you spend above that.

Thanks for the reply.

So if I pay in full as soon as I can, and my balance is zero, and this gets reported, will EQ and TU think I am not using it? I have read so many conflicting things, not sure what to believe.

Thanks!

PIF is never a negative.
Paying before due date is never a negative.
Put back all you spend within 30 days.
Keep this up for several mths your score will start to increase.

Sorry that's supposed to say negative information, not negotiable, haha, half asleep still.

Hello,

I was recently approved for an unsecured capital one card. The CL is only $300, but it's a start (after screwing up years ago) my credit score is low 500's at the moment and any negotiable info on my report is about to fall off (an old visa last activity 03/2007 and old cell bill 12/2008)

I got my card a couple days ago and used it for first time last night, I used $60 and also I noticed on my online statement my annual fee had been applied ($79) so after I used the $60, avail credit was $160. I immediately transferred $40 on to my card (although no statement due date was up yet)

The payment has not posted yet (assuming it takes a couple days) and I plan to put another $100 on it this weekend. Am I doing this right? Or do I want to wait until I see the statement date to pay? Do I want to carry a small balance ($10-20?) or PIF better? Since I just got the card, not sure when I get my statement or when they cut the statement (report to bureaus) so I don't want to have 33% of my avail credit used when they do report, since I hear its better to be between 10%-30%.. Any advice would be so appreciated, I am trying to do this right, but not sure if paying everything off immediately (within days of purchase) could be negative? Thanks for any responses!