Credit Health: Keeping Active

I have a number of credit card accounts, and only use one primarily. I use the other four once a month, to show active use on my credit history. In the past, I used autopay on two, meaning that a statement generates, and the full amount is deducted from an external bank account at some time. With the other two, I payed them off instantly.

I realized today that if I allowed the other two that I payed of instantly to generate a statement, which I would then pay off days after generating, it would show more history (a good thing). All I had to do was move the payment date from a few days after the charge (which previously resulted in a $0 statement), to a few days after the statement (<$10, but still a history nonetheless). Now, when my credit is run, it shows that I am using all of my cards each month, since they all generate a statement with a greater-than-zero balance, which are all payed off using autopay methods. With the amex cards, I use their proprietary Autopay system, since it works flawlessly. With my smaller credit-union cards, I use the Billpay function with another bank, which is set up at a once-monthly interval, effectively mimicking the Autopay system.

With my primary fifth card, I pay it off as soon as the statement generates. In fact, having tracked my expenses over the last year, I can expect what my statement will be for that month, and have the required cash plus 20% available in my bank account a month ahead of time. That's right. You see, I only want to be using my credit card for purchases when the cash is reflected in a real bank account, similar to the old gold-standard. This is true for my other cards as well - the money is available before I ever make the purchases. And since the purchases are identical and automatically deducted each month, it is all planned out, and everyone is happy.