Why is there a balance reported on my reports if I pay my bills on time?

[Lexx]

I am trying to raise my score as much as possible, as I had mentioned before I do not have any negative items on my credit report.
However my score is still very low.

I have been really monitoring my reports these last few months very closely and have noticed that even though I am paying my bills on time every month they are still being reported with a balance on my credit reports. I have learned through this forum ( thank you for that) that having a high balance reported on my file is not a good thing, and it will in fact lower my score.

Does anyone have any idea of why if I pay my bill on time to $0 or close to $0 they are still reported with a monthly?

I have read that there is something called a closing date and reporting date, but I am not sure what these are and how I find out what the exact dates are.

Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

Thank you