Credit Cards

[Lawlover2]

I received a Citi Advantage card last month with a $9,000 CL and used  $8,193 of the available credit with the intention of paying down to $0 before the statement close date / cut date.  The problem is that when I went to make the payment online, it said I could not make a payment that exceeds my past statement balance.  Well, this is my first statement so I can't make a payment at all!  I called Citi and the CSR told me that I couldn't make a payment online, and that she could only accept a $1k payment over the phone.  HELP!  I've got $14,400 in available credit, w/ $1,258 that just reported (strategically) but this will put me at b/w 65% and 70% utilization.   I'm STRESSING!  I've spent two years rebuilding from 400 to 670's!  How bad will this hurt and for how long?  Anyone know a way to make a payment to prevent this from happening?  Any suggestions would be great!

[Susyquk]

Do you have online banking on your current or savings account with a bill pay option? Push the payment from your Bank end and make sure you have the correct reference on there (you will be able to get that info from Citi CSR) and you will be able to pay the balance in full (just allow plenty of time for it to get there)

[Lawlover2]

I don't have that set up . . . and the statement cuts tomorrow night at midnight!  I tried today - this has just never been a problem w/ my other cards.  I could always pay the balance, not the previous statement balance (which on most of my cards is always $0 anyway).  This is incredibly frustrating!  Lesson learned on this one!

[DI]

Same happen to me.  I made the payment through my bank using electronic banking to get around it.

[Lawlover2]

I just set that up through my bank but it says the earliest day will be Monday - way to late!  2 questions now - 1.) how bad will this hurt me and will I recover my lost points when the balance reports next month as zero and 2.) will I always have this problem - if I charged $8,800 but my statement balance was $8,100 - am I stuck w/ the $800 balance on my statement?  Any thoughts / comments?  Thanks to everyone!

[DI]

If everything else remains the same on your credit reports, you will get those point back after the account is updated with a zero balance again.

[DI]

Do you not come to this forum often? I actually had a thread about this subject going when I first got my Citi card back in July.  I was wanting to make a payment but couldn't.

[CreditCard101]

I have Citi AA Bronze and just use it first time tonight.

I think I have learn alot from this forums NOT to carry any or high balance on any credit cards...

My Citi CL is $6K and 13.24% APR

[YoungEntrepeneur]

It seems like you're too late to make this something out of nothing. You can always pay it off after the statement date and wait until the new balance reports the next statement date.

[Desert-Rat]

Please accept my apology if this is a dumb question.  I'm not sure I'm understanding the problem correctly. 

I got the part about it being a new card, so: 

If, after you make this first payment, will you, in the future, be able to make payments before the statement drops?  Is this standard procedure with Citi or just a first-payment-fluke?

Thanks,

D-R

Message Edited by Desert-Rat on 08-20-2009 11:22 PM