About the 0% introductory APR on the Amex BCP I got today

[Quips]

I took full advantage of this offer last year when I got my BCP. I put my sons tuition on it plus other purchases and never had an issue. I was carrying balances of 60-70% of the credit limit for most of the year. I made montly payments - sometimes just the minimum and sometimes a bit more (maybe $500 or a $1K). I had the card at $18K for about 6-8 mths before paying it off right at the end of the first year.

[longtimelurker]

Nearly all of these "rules" are just guesses based on incomplete data, which leads to the YMMV comment on almost everything.   So, equally guessing, it's possible that carrying a balance for an extended period of time raises a flag, but this just causes Amex to look at your general situation.   If you are carrying a balance, but appear to be in fine financial shape, that's ok.   If you are a carrying balance, and it appears that you WOULD have problems paying it off, then maybe there will be AA.

But blanket statements like "Amex doesn't like you carrying a balance" are at best statistical based on small samples.

[parakleet]

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@longtimelurker wrote:

Nearly all of these "rules" are just guesses based on incomplete data, which leads to the YMMV comment on almost everything.   So, equally guessing, it's possible that carrying a balance for an extended period of time raises a flag, but this just causes Amex to look at your general situation.   If you are carrying a balance, but appear to be in fine financial shape, that's ok.   If you are a carrying balance, and it appears that you WOULD have problems paying it off, then maybe there will be AA.

But blanket statements like "Amex doesn't like you carrying a balance" are at best statistical based on small samples.

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+1 This. Sometimes, the advice on the forum can get a little scare-mongering. Don't build up massive amounts of CC debt and not expect AA. But what's considered "massive" amount of debt will be different for each person based on their entire profile.