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Card UTL & multiple payments

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Blackrv7
Frequent Contributor

Card UTL & multiple payments

I was under the impression cc companies liked their cards being swiped but after reading a thread about someone's multiple payments being frozen another poster stated card companies may look at these multiple payments as a possible issue. I understand a cc company would not want to immediately credit your cc account with a big payment only to have the payment bounce and the person have used the available CL then skipping town.  Typically CITI posts my payments the next day but credits me as making the payment on the actual day I authorize the payment.

 

I have obviously turned into a score micro manager and pay my CITI card 5-6 times a month to keep my UTL low. But now with these multple cards, I want my actions to be those of a low rich customer.  While UTL does not have a history, with my recent acquiring of Amex gold and SkyMiles I know Amex sp's on a regular basis to keep track of your spending and UTL. 

 

In the last year I have only ever been over 50% UTL one time when we were on vacation out of the country.  I immediately paid the current balance, which is what I pay when I do pay multiple times, when we got back in country.  I read now that Chase requires 3 business days between consecutive payments. 

 

Couple questions:

 

Do multiple monthly payments, always the current balance, red flag you as a possible risk.

 

If so, I'm open to suggestions how to manage UTL while being seen as a low risk customer and satify Amex's watchful eyes here at the beginning of my relationship with them.

 

How best do I utilize the business gold and Sky, as far as monthly payments to manage UTL, and take care of satisfying Amex when my 3x 61 days rolls around.

 

On a side note, I think I see my usage of the $200 from Freedom......Google Nexus 10 2, $399, projected announcement date 11/22...I was going to buy one anyway but Chase sure sweetened the deal!!


Current myFico EX 734, EQ 777, TU 742
AAoA 6 years 3 months, Length 25 years 2 months

Message 1 of 27
26 REPLIES 26
enharu
Super Contributor

Re: Card UTL & multiple payments


@Blackrv7 wrote:

I was under the impression cc companies liked their cards being swiped but after reading a thread about someone's multiple payments being frozen another poster stated card companies may look at these multiple payments as a possible issue. I understand a cc company would not want to immediately credit your cc account with a big payment only to have the payment bounce and the person have used the available CL then skipping town.  Typically CITI posts my payments the next day but credits me as making the payment on the actual day I authorize the payment.

 

I have obviously turned into a score micro manager and pay my CITI card 5-6 times a month to keep my UTL low. But now with these multple cards, I want my actions to be those of a low rich customer.  While UTL does not have a history, with my recent acquiring of Amex gold and SkyMiles I know Amex sp's on a regular basis to keep track of your spending and UTL. 

 

In the last year I have only ever been over 50% UTL one time when we were on vacation out of the country.  I immediately paid the current balance, which is what I pay when I do pay multiple times, when we got back in country.  I read now that Chase requires 3 business days between consecutive payments. 

 

Couple questions:

 

Do multiple monthly payments, always the current balance, red flag you as a possible risk. no

 

If so, I'm open to suggestions how to manage UTL while being seen as a low risk customer and satify Amex's watchful eyes here at the beginning of my relationship with them. just pay according to what you prefer. As long as the payment doesnt bounce, it doesn't really matter.

 

How best do I utilize the business gold and Sky, as far as monthly payments to manage UTL, and take care of satisfying Amex when my 3x 61 days rolls around. pay your balance in full. Doesnt matter how you want to do it. Some lenders might score you a little better for their internal scoring if you make bigger payments, but it's not going to drastically change anything. This is something you don't need to worry about unless you are trying to get the invitation for Centurion.

 

On a side note, I think I see my usage of the $200 from Freedom......Google Nexus 10 2, $399, projected announcement date 11/22...I was going to buy one anyway but Chase sure sweetened the deal!!


 

JPMorgan Palladium (100k), AmEx Platinum (NPSL), AmEx SPG (46k), AmEx BCP (42k), Chase Sapphire Preferred (47k), Citi Prestige (31k), Citi Thank You Preferred (27k), Citi Executive AAdvantage (25k), JPMorgan Ritz-Carlton (21k), Merrill+ (15k), US Bank Cash+ (22.5k), Wells Fargo (12k), Bloomingdale’s (12.4k), Chase Freedom (5k), Discover IT (5k).
Message 2 of 27
Startome
Regular Contributor

Re: Card UTL & multiple payments

I don't know, but I do the same thing, lol.

Almost everytime I make a purchase on a card, at the end of the day I pay off whatever I put on it minus like 1 dollar so I can report a balance on one then pay it before any interest accrues.

Current: EQ FICO 0, TU FICO 0, EX FICO 0 | Starting Score: 0 (08/21/2013)

Starting total revolving credit: $0 | Current total revolving credit: $1600.00

Inquiries (12 Months): EQ 3-4 TU Unsure EX Unsure | Most Recent: 8/19/2013


2013 Goals:
1,000.00 Emergency Fund
1,000.00 Emergency Fund, AGAIN
Mechanically Sound Car
Unsecured Card

Fifth Third $300
U.S. Bank Harley Davidson $300
Capital One Platinum $500
2nd Capital One Platinum $500


Message 3 of 27
user5387
Valued Contributor

Re: Card UTL & multiple payments

I always pay CCs through a Bill Pay account (USAA), and make multiple payments per month only if my spending pattern is abnormal compared to past months.

 

Message 4 of 27
Revelate
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Card UTL & multiple payments

The vast majority of consumers do not make multiple payments to their cards.

 

I would argue then that making multiple payments to credit cards in a given month is outlier behavior, and any outlier behavior is fair game for a lender to notice.

 

I heartily subscribe to the needle in a haystack principle, as well as the theory of showing a bureaucrat what they're expecting to see: as a result I personally don't make multiple payments to credit cards; however, I agree with enharu, it shouldn't make much difference rationally.

 

Edit: from a statistical perspective I have to assume that this is a noticed category, and individual lenders will have run the metrics against their customer data to see whether these consumers are at a lower or higher chance to default over the baseline.  I think this could go either way, either scrupulously managing their finances, or living week to week.  Hard to say and I never saw that side from my own inside experience at lenders.  I'm just a mouse apparently when it comes to managing my financial relationships and their datamining: I am not the consumer you're looking for... ergo no notice is good notice.

 




        
Message 5 of 27
elegia
New Contributor

Re: Card UTL & multiple payments


@Blackrv7 wrote:

 

Do multiple monthly payments, always the current balance, red flag you as a possible risk.

 


I'm actually trying to figure this out as well as I've recently added an AU and we had planned to make individual payments from our different bank accounts for our respective shares every month - I hadn't even considered this being an issue until I stumbled across a post here saying that Amex in particular doesn't like multiple payment behavior.

Message 6 of 27
IWOL
Established Contributor

Re: Card UTL & multiple payments

This is something I have thought about a lot. I make multiple payments on many of my cards every month because the limits are not currently high enough to accommodate my spending.

I have quite a few cards but mostly use my Discover it and US Bank card. The limits are $1500 and $3000. Since I spend around $5500 a month through these 2 cards I have to make weekly payments in order to continually use them and not go over the limit.

These are my first and only 2 prime cards at the momentI. I thought that heavy usage and paying balance in full every week would also help my chances at getting CLI in the future and show that I can manage a higher limit responsibly.

I hope this type of payment pattern doesn't work against me.


Message 7 of 27
Revelate
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Card UTL & multiple payments


@IWOL wrote:
This is something I have thought about a lot. I make multiple payments on many of my cards every month because the limits are not currently high enough to accommodate my spending.

I have quite a few cards but mostly use my Discover it and US Bank card. The limits are $1500 and $3000. Since I spend around $5500 a month through these 2 cards I have to make weekly payments in order to continually use them and not go over the limit.

These are my first and only 2 prime cards at the momentI. I thought that heavy usage and paying balance in full every week would also help my chances at getting CLI in the future and show that I can manage a higher limit responsibly.

I hope this type of payment pattern doesn't work against me.


I think that's a legitimate exception.

 

There are folks though with 2K lines that are paying off every week for $200, that's what I think is more suspect than someone who's maxing, paying, then maxing, paying, etc. in a given month.  Certainly it should p0ave0 t0he way for an easy CLI request.




        
Message 8 of 27
jamesdwi
Valued Contributor

Re: Card UTL & multiple payments

I have always made multiple payments, and except for my first CLI request I have never been refused or denied anything from AMEX, they get scared if you don't pay a large portion of your outstanding balance on revolvers for 6 months or more, but they don't really care that much if you make multiple payments. Just make large or full balance on the cards, i'm sure they don't like multiple $20 payments in a month when you owe $1000. 

 

See signature line for my list of AMEX cards. 

 

 

Cards: Chase Southwest 20k & CSR 17k & CSP 10k & FNBO 30k Oregon Duck 5k, & AMEX BCP 32.5k & Amex Magnet 15k&amg; Hilton Surpass 7.5k & Delta Gold 12k & Zync NPSL, Fidelity AMEX 17k Commerce5.9k & Cash Forward 7.5k & Sams Club MC 20k, Paypal Extras MC 10k, Paypal Credit 7.25k CapOne Venture 15k, QS 2.5k, QS 750, Amazon 10k, Walmart 10k, Citi Simplicity 18k, Discover IT 23k and a nice stack of store cards.
Landmarkcu Personal Loan 10k
Message 9 of 27
Blackrv7
Frequent Contributor

Re: Card UTL & multiple payments

Thanks gang.  Just trying to figure out the best way to keep my new prime cards happy.  Before my successful spree and before CITI gave me my second CLI, I ran everything through my two cards to get a good track record with them but I spent 2-3 times the CL per month which nessitated the multiple payments.  When I did make multiple payments, never did I just pay a protion of it, it was always the current balance.  While that is not the case now, I want to make sure I don't scare them now with letting the balances build up then making a large balance due payment 5 days or so before their statement ending date.  I still want only one card reporting a 5% balance each month.  My spending habits are not going to change just because of the new cards, sounds like though a change in repetitive payments will not be frowned upon. 


Current myFico EX 734, EQ 777, TU 742
AAoA 6 years 3 months, Length 25 years 2 months

Message 10 of 27
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