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I have been paying in full each month on all of my cards since I got them. I have been letting balances hit just to show usage of my cards and then paying them off the next day. Since we are right here at the holidays, I have charged a couple "0% interest" deals on my cards with the intent on paying them off over the next couple of months. Is this going to throw up some red flags to my creditors? I see so many people here get limits cut and shut down that I'm almost OCD about making sure everything is paid. Now I am freaking out about the balances on some of them. I am no where near my credit limit on any of them....been real careful to put Christmas stuff on the cards with the highest credit limit so I don't kill my ulti. Am I overworrying about carrying a balance? It is not as common as I think for credit limits to be cut and/or shut down?
As long as you keep your utlization low (both per card and in the aggregate) you should be fine.
I am carrying a balance which will increase my util to almost 11%. I currently have a low util of 3% but I did purchase a large item on my MC early this month( had too date sensitive) but I can't pay it off until it posts and the statement cut off was yesterday. I did PIF before I made the charge and was crossing my fingers that the item would not hit until after the statement (it's being delivered so they only held an authorized amount). I also asked for and received 2 CLI on the cards I was eligible for and 1 card will report a zero balance; the others will report close to zero or under $100.
Is there anything else I can do?
Ten percent is not enough to make any lender nervous. Go ahead and carry those balances.
My last reported balance is $4800/$5000 on my CSP right now which puts me at 24% utilization overall. This account isnt even 2 months old yet, and I also app for BCE the same time. Nothing has happened to me so far.
I carried a balance by accident because I changed my due date and my statement cut date didn't change so didn't know when to pay it to report a $0 balance.
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Lenders will definitely take notice if a dramatic change occurs on your current credit profile or any internal risk factors that raise some flags.
While it is perfectly normal to have a concern about your utilization and any associated impacts it may have, lenders expect a certain fluctuation in balances from time to time (especially during the holidays). If you are generally responsible about your finances and managing credit, then you have nothing to worry about.
10% is really nothing to be obsessed about. This only compounds stress for most people during the holidays.