Here's a move that costs nothing and most people never make: pay your card before the statement closes, not after the bill arrives. Same money, same card, very different file.
Why the date matters more than the due date
Your card has two dates that matter. The due date is when you must pay to avoid interest and a late mark. The statement (or reporting) date is the day your issuer snapshots your balance and sends it to the bureaus. Most people pay near the due date, which means the bureau already saw the high balance weeks earlier. Utilization — the ratio of what you owe to your limit — is read from that snapshot.
The move
Pay the balance down a few days before the statement closes. If you charged $1,200 on a $2,000 limit and pay it down to $200 before the close date, the bureau reads roughly 10% utilization instead of 60%. You spent the same money. You paid no extra interest. The only thing that changed was the timing — and utilization is one of the largest levers on your score.
Credit GPS surfaces this automatically: it knows each card's statement date and tells you the amount and the deadline. But you can do it by hand today. Find your statement closing date on your last statement, and set a reminder for three days before.