smallfry wrote:
While 0% for 15 months is in theory very nice who is crazy enough to actually revolve a balance these days?
I guess I am crazy.
I have built up my scores by a game plan of increasing my credit limits through using 0 or low % offers, I never took an offer that cost more than the funds earned me in a deposit account. I know that CLDs are a risk, but I find it interesting that Chase is making me an offer that some might think I should refuse.
I worked very hard to break 800. Now I get the chance to see if a High FICO score really does mean anything. I got an offer that every Tom, **bleep**, and Harry is no longer getting. Caberkeep probably has a good score or he wouldn't get the offer either.
BTW I didn't know we aren't allowed to use the other name for Richard on these boards. It got censored by the software.
I always have the funds to Pay in Full every single tradeline balance on my credit reports. Haulingthescoreup reminded me that CLDs don't hurt anything if you carry no balances.
Your words of caution are definitely worth consideration. Currently I have no intention of using more that 50% of my new Chase card's credit limit even though I am leaving another interest free $10,000+ on the table.
I played the FICO game to cross the 800 finish line. Now that I crossed it I focus more on finding out how much credit a person can actually use and still stay above a 780 Fico score. I have had new closing balances as high as $18,000 without my Fico score dropping more than 20 some points. Having the ability to have high scores even if one or more tradelines have 50% utilization, is my focus these days.
Your warning is well advised however. That is why I am always ready to pay in full any account that triggers adverse action. If a bank wants to CLD me, I will simply call the bank and give it an opportunity to return my higher limit. If it doesn't want to do that, I will simply pay the card off and use it to buy one roll of toilet paper every three months. Sooner or later the bank will want to motivate me to use the card for more conventional purposes.
Creditable.... thanks for your input ...well taken...
Yes my scores are pretty decent I guess ... could always be better but i went on an app spree this past 6 months since I had my AMEX CLD attack ...so I recently got my Discover 25k, USAA 25k and a Citi 10k ....otherwise my score would probably be better ....especially if AMEX did not Cld me to a 100 dollars of my balance and made me look like 95% UTI on their card ...they got what they wanted and I promptly paid it off ...
My scores as of today were TU 747 EXP 749 FAX 762
HHI around 140-150k
This is a great board and I have learned a lot from it.... 
I forgot to post an update .... my app spree is done for this year
I signed up for the chase card... i thought i had signed up for the Platinum card with the 15 mos of 0%BT but when i called to activate the card i was told I did get 15 mos at 0% but that it was their Perfect Card with rewards ....
Credit limit at time of issue was I think 9.5k or 10k .... but when I called to activate the rep asked if I wanted to transfer any cards over .. I told her that I only have a few other cards with balances but that I didnt want to move any substantial monies on this card as the limit was only 9.5k and that a 4k BT would use up a lot of this card ...she offered to check possibility for CLI .... and she asked what I wanted ... I told her lets start with 15-20k .... 30 secs later ..she said 15k was no problem ... if I wanted more she would have to send it up to someone else for review ... I told her 15k was fine....
So far customer service has been very helpful on the phone ...CLI's seem pretty easy based pretty much on credit scoring and HHI .....I probably could have gotten a higher CL but it sounded like my Mortgage (4k) was kind of scaring them lol .... understandable ...
Anyways Happy Holidays to everyone ...and thanks for all of your help if it wasnt for this forum I wouldnt have gotten as much as i have in credit thats for sure
@cabarkeep wrote:
I signed up for the chase card...
I told her that I only have a few other cards with balances but that I didn't want to move any substantial monies on this card as the limit was only 9.5k and that a 4k BT would use up a lot of this card ...she offered to check possibility for CLI .... and she asked what I wanted ... I told her lets start with 15-20k .... 30 secs later ..she said 15k was no problem ... if I wanted more she would have to send it up to someone else for review ... I told her 15k was fine....
Congrats!
What kind of happy dance do you prefer to do?
I like doing the "Snoopy Dance" myself.
Actually I would not BT to my mortgage or any other tradeline. I would deposit the welcome check made out for $8,000 to my checking account. Then I would make an immediate payment of $1,000 so that the closing balance on the first Chase statement will only be $7,000 (less than 50%) utilization.
Please note that I would do the check deposit after the first Chase statement drops to give me the turn around time for the $8,000 to credit to my checking and have enough time to make a $1,000 payment to post before the next Chase statement closes.
Your credit reports will show a $15,000 limit and $8,000 high balance. Having a high balance of more than 50% sets the stage for your CLI request a year from now.
The fact that you don't actually let more than 50% report keeps the Fico score hit lower than it would be above 50%.
If you want to avoid too big of a Fico hit the first month, pay more than the $1,000 back initially. I personally would wait to see the Fico impact after the $1,000 initial payment. I would plan my subsequent repayments accordingly.
Building higher credit limits can be done quite easy using 0% loans.
Borrowing more than you need to pump up the credit limits, is a waste of money unless the loan has 0% interest. 