Current Balance vs Statement Balance on Discover?
So I have autopay on my Discover card set to "Pay Statement Balance" in full once a month bc there's no option to autopay the current balance. The only problem is that the statement balance and the current balance are different for some reason??
The statement balance is always less than the current balance, so autopay never pays my full balance, which leads to revolving utilization and brings my credit score down. I'm a student and this is my only credit card so it has a big effect on my score. I'm also worried about it collecting interest once my year of 0% APR, or whatever, ends.
The first screenshot is what it normally looks like. The second is from when I paid off the rest of the current balance manually halfway through the month and that payment didn't change the statement balance but it did reduce the current balance. I've heard making multiple payments a month can boost your score, but I'm not sure if that's true.
Why is the statement balance different than the current balance? Should I turn off autopay and set a reminder every month to manually make the payments? If I keep autopay but make an extra manual payment for the rest of the current balance each month, will that help or hurt my score?