cholley_doo2 t1_iud86lu wrote on October 30, 2022 at 1:23 PM

auto-pay is going to let you down and the 3rd parties have no responsibility.

you will be the one on the hook when something goes wrong with auto pay

svdeepak99 OP t1_iud8m7i wrote on October 30, 2022 at 1:27 PM

Yeah, I understand that. I am paying before the statement date every month by myself. But I would still like to have a backup option, to make sure I do not miss a payment before the statement date, to avoid my credit score from dropping.

continue_improve t1_iudca19 wrote on October 30, 2022 at 1:57 PM

Use your bank's auto pay as the backup. The whole concept of artificially keeping your utilization low by paying before the report date is OK in principle but practically speaking not necessary. If your utilization is always high without prepaying (say above 30% of overall credit limit), then your credit limit is to low (or your expenses are to high). In this case you need to open more credit cards to increase your overall credit limit.

If you occasionally go above 30%, that is perfectly OK. Your score might fluctuate but will all be transient.

Keep in mind utilization is calculated based on your overall credit limit not card by card.

svdeepak99 OP t1_iudd7n5 wrote on October 30, 2022 at 2:04 PM

Thanks for your reply. I have set my bank's auto-pay as a backup as you said. And yes I need to get more credit cards to increase my credit limit. In the meantime, I am looking for tools to ensure I keep my usage low (and yes, it does not hurt the credit score as much as missing a due date does).

No_Tension_280 t1_iudce6l wrote on October 30, 2022 at 1:58 PM

With my bank I can schedule a transfer with a set amount, from account to account, on a set day. So on the 15th of each month i could automatically transfer $100 from my checking to my credit card