How much to use charge card?

[LS2982]

@teenastie That makes sense. When you put a number in there, is that what your planning to spend soon or what is your internal limit your trying to find out?

[webhopper]

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@LS2982 wrote:
@teenastie That makes sense. When you put a number in there, is that what your planning to spend soon or what is your internal limit your trying to find out?

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I did it for what I planned on spending soon, just to avoid embarrassment from having the card declined by Hilton desk clerk in front of my work colleagues....  Also wanted to make sure it could handle the purpose for which I got it. If it didn't have enough of an internal limit to run expenses through it, it would be worthless and I would have continued using Discover for work expenses and having my util% yo-yoing constantly.  Before I added Zync, Chase, and NFCU, Discover was my only card, so 3500 worth of charges on a 4200 CL card was really hurting.

[LS2982]

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@webhopper wrote:

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@LS2982 wrote:
@teenastie That makes sense. When you put a number in there, is that what your planning to spend soon or what is your internal limit your trying to find out?

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I did it for what I planned on spending soon, just to avoid embarrassment from having the card declined by Hilton desk clerk in front of my work colleagues....  Also wanted to make sure it could handle the purpose for which I got it. If it didn't have enough of an internal limit to run expenses through it, it would be worthless and I would have continued using Discover for work expenses and having my util% yo-yoing constantly.  Before I added Zync, Chase, and NFCU, Discover was my only card, so 3500 worth of charges on a 4200 CL card was really hurting.

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I'll use that button just for bigger purchases then.

[dmbtay]

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@LS2982 wrote:
@teenastie That makes sense. When you put a number in there, is that what your planning to spend soon or what is your internal limit your trying to find out?

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I put it for extra large purchases just to make sure AMEX & I are on the same page.

[LS2982]

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@dmbtay wrote:

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@LS2982 wrote:
@teenastie That makes sense. When you put a number in there, is that what your planning to spend soon or what is your internal limit your trying to find out?

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I put it for extra large purchases just to make sure AMEX & I are on the same page.

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+1

Note to self: This is not a Cap1 monkey button.

[Open123]

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@Jake0215 wrote:

You learn something new every day! What about paying before the statement cuts? I've yet to have a balance report. Is this helping or hurting the internal score?

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All things being equal, it's better to let the statement cut, then pay it in the next day or two.  If only because that's how the overwhelming majority of Amex's best charge customers handle the account.  They never pay before the statement cuts or multimple times, unless Amex requests an early payment.

With their system, you want to appear within the norm and limit the outlier types of behavior the computer may flag.  

[webhopper]

How do you know that paying a few times per month is outlier behavior? I'm sure lots of folks who travel a lot do this, as us conservative folks don't like seeing a huge balance on cards. Seems like people who pay early should have great scores.

[Open123]

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@webhopper wrote:
How do you know that paying a few times per month is outlier behavior? I'm sure lots of folks who travel a lot do this, as us conservative folks don't like seeing a huge balance on cards. Seems like people who pay early should have great scores.

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I don't know to a degree of absolute certainty, but from all the years I've rarely seen people around me pay their credit card bills before the statement cuts.  I understand the reasons for doing so, but I don't think the average person who isn't a credit score enthusiast would ever consider paying before a bill is due.  The very notion seems completely incongruent and counter intuitive with a concept of receiving a bill by the due date.

Amex's best customers run up pretty large bills.  They're pretty involved in what they do for a living, and most even delegate others to pay their bills.  I doubt anyone would think, "we should pay this early, to give Mr. Boss a higher Fico."  Or, "we should pay early, so Mr. Boss doesn't fret over a growing balance."

I'm making an educated guess and from years of personal experience that the concept of paying before a bill is due would be unimagineable.  I suspect they'd fine all of us a little too anal when it comes to credit scores, paying before the balance, and paying frequently.

Even for me, I don't even bother with my charge card balance until the ebill notice comes regardless of the amount.

[LS2982]

I guess that's what makes the charge card different from the revolver. I'm just going to make 1 payment a month to AMEX.