Help me understand - The Amex strategy

[localuser]

Ive never paid in full but made multiple payments and used my AmEx for as much as possible. Each time I got a CLI I had a balance. It might be me but I feel lucky.

[NRB525]

AMEX just wants you to do two things:

Charge purchases on their cards.

Pay the amounts you owe on the cards.

Trying to manage to 1% utilization is too much work, and won't get noticed. There's no "1% Hall of Fame" in the AMEX offices, so relax.

Pay the card by the due date, often PIF, but carry a balance if you think you need to (and can afford the outrageous standard interest rate).

Don't worry if there is a balance at the moment you do the CLI request.

I had my Delta AMEX card over a year, at one point ran the balance up to within $50 of the $2k limit, have been paying in full each month but ONLY based on the due date, none of this "pay before statement cuts" bovine waste. After I got on MyFICO and read about the 3X, clicked it to go from $3k to $9k. Easy cheezy. Had some sort of open balance not yet paid to zero on the card.

Pay by the due date, check the calendar, and enjoy the CLI.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

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@yesi-ts-me wrote:

Hi All,

So I am new to Amex.  I applied for the Business card (gold card via extra rewards) and the personal  - BCP with an initial 7000 limit.  I have read the Amex CLI faithfully and some other posts on how to be on your best behaviour to get the credit increase.  My BCP was approved on the 17th of Nov and when I logged in a few minutes ago, it said the statement closing date is today 27th Nov.  That is just 10 days.....  I have used the card so I quickly paid it to prevent it from reporting.

My question is, should I pay before the statement cut to qualify for the increase or should I let the balance report to the CRA and then pay by the due date?  My UTL is 1% and going to be this way until the increase and then up it up a little.  Thank you.

Current Scores - EX FICO (727) EX FICO( 717) TU FICO (728)

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Thank you all for answering...