I've been banking with Chase for over 8yrs. now - have only had their Continental Airlines OnePass (Preferred)Debit Mastercard and was declined a CC from them over a year ago - I was starting from scratch after paying off ALL of my debt-and thought that I could get a CC through Chase since I had a banking history with them-they wanted to see a really good credit history and since I had none I got the STARTER cc's (Premiere-HSBC- FingerHut,all now closed) then a secured WFNB VISA (has still not changed to unsececured after 1yr.!) which led to a Macy's Card - JCPenney's Card -Sears Card- NFCU(Visa,MC,and LOC-JACKPOT!)-became an AU on Delta Gold Amex and this past week received an invitation to apply for the Continental Airlines Presidential Plus Card-figured that if I WAS to apply for more credit,I might as well apply with Chase since I bank with them anyway and to apply now because I want to purchase my first home at the end of the year and want to be at least 6 mnths app free AND have my scores around 750 to get the best rates(they're at 700,710,712 now and have been increasing every 3mnths. by 15/20 pts.)-so applied and was called the next day to verify some info and the day after that logged on to my account to see that I had been approved with a 5K CL! 
Now I've read that this card will only report your high balance as your credit limit on the Credit Reports-if this is true,in order for me to get the highest balance reporting could I do a 5K balance transfer(pay it off in 3 mnths) and that way have 5K reporting as my CL? Am interested in other people's opinion/experience with this card-P.S., ONLY because of you guys at Fico Forums was I able to go from no credit history and scores in the 500's 18mnths ago to 60K Ttl Credit and scores over 700-THANK YOU!!!(NOW ALL I WANT TO DO IS GET MY DEBT DOWN FROM 30% TO UNDER 15% BY THE END OF THE YEAR!)
Great job, anderl!
Regarding the balance transfer...yes, you could do that. It will cost you about $200 in balance transfer fees, though (at 4%...that's the latest BT fee I've seen from Chase).
I think that if no credit limit is reported, a balance on that card won't even figure into the FICO score calculations as far as utilization goes (subject to correction from other members here). If you do decide to do a BT, keep in mind that the 4% upfront BT fee on a balance that you actually intend to pay off in only three months translates into an effective APR of 16% (and that's assuming you have a 0% APR intro offer for BTs to that card).
You've got to do the math on this one yourself to see if it makes sense for you. In any case, think with your wallet...
Again, congrats on your continuing success!
> If you do decide to do a BT, keep in mind that the 4% upfront BT fee on a balance that you actually intend to pay off in only three months translates into an effective APR of 16% (and that's assuming you have a 0% APR intro offer for BTs to that card).
I am not sure about the effective APR, if the balance is paid off in One month then effective apr is 48%?
I would not like to mix interests with fees
@voidman wrote:> If you do decide to do a BT, keep in mind that the 4% upfront BT fee on a balance that you actually intend to pay off in only three months translates into an effective APR of 16% (and that's assuming you have a 0% APR intro offer for BTs to that card).
I am not sure about the effective APR, if the balance is paid off in One month then effective apr is 48%?
I would not like to mix interests with fees
Yup.
If it's going to cost me $200 for the use of $5k for just one month, that fee's equivalent to 48% APR.
I don't know of any other way to determine whether or not an offer is worthwhile. It's got to be based on the BT fee expressed as an APR relative to the time period for repayment, plus whatever APR accompanies the offer.
In the OP's case, for instance, let's say he took an offer for a BT with a 4% BT fee and at 1.99% interest rate for a year. He intends to pay it off in full within 3 months (which he does), and he uses all of the transfer to pay off a 17.99% interest rate card. He's actually gained nothing.
But if he can stretch out a BT repayment to a full year on those terms, that translates into just 5.99% APR and he's saved himself some money. Not as much as you'd think, though, because that 4% paid up front is on the entire initial balance. If a good portion of that balance is paid off rather quickly, the math gets more complicated.
That's what my wallet tells me, anyways.
Thanks guys for all the continued great info-I was just trying to see whether there was a way around using a card that has a no pre-set spending limit in regards to having a high CL reporting-or at least the CL on the card-trying to get my utilization down-just found out that I am approved for a platinum visa from Addison CU for 15K-so now don't even care if the CL reports on the presidential plus mc-once again...THANKS
You better stop. Two new accounts and two inquiries within 6 months of trying to buy a house? I would have stopped before the first app. You should still be fine, but don't add any more accounts or inquiries.
Scores above 700 are not going to get you better mortgage rates unless policies have changed in the past year. Last I knew, rates were pretty set in stone, the score only determined if you qualified for financing or not. This may have changed recently, though.
Starting Score: EQ: 665 - TU: 687