Credit Cards

[MrAnonymous]

Long story short, I have to make a significant work purchase on my credit card ($6,000) that I will of course be reimbursed for almost immediately. I will be putting this on my Citi Thank You Preferred card that is less than a month old.

I am thinking to myself, this is the exact amount for the vehicle pay off which has 15 months left on it. I had planned on paying off the car this upcoming September anyways. So my question is this: Do I pay off the car and carry the balance on my CTYP for 2-3 months and just pay the car off earlier? I have 0% interest for 18 months. This balance would have me at 72% util on this card, but I pay all my other cards off in full every month. I plan on applying for NO credit in the next year as I am gardening my new cards.

Here are my worries:

1) Carrying a high balance on a relatively new card.

2) Amex's soft pulls which may make them nervous. (I opened a new account with them the same week I got my Citi Card)

Pros:

1) I pay my car off 3 months earlier than I wanted to, saving me an additional $300 on interest.

2) Meeting the promo of 15,000 points for spending $1,000 in the first 3 months, plus 6,000 points for the purchase. (I would use this for statement credit)

Any feedback is appreciated!

Thanks

[jausanka]

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MrAnonymous wrote:

Pros:

2) Meeting the promo of 15,000 points for spending $1,000 in the first 3 months, plus 6,000 points for the purchase. (I would use this for statement credit)

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You have to take this one off the pro's list since, no matter what, you are putting the purchase on your card and meeting the spend requirement, regardless of whether you carry the balance or not.

[mmduluth]

A lot of people may disagree with me, but I say pay off the car. You're Citi card has no interest and your car loan does. Just my opinion.

[thrasher865]

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MrAnonymous wrote:

1) I pay my car off 3 months earlier than I wanted to, saving me an additional $300 on interest.

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But this one is all you need.

[RockinRay]

Pay off the car. Interest savied is a nice $300 bonus.

[Quips]

Pay off the car - saving $300 in interest is a great move.

[DonGonzalo]

I would pay off the loan.  I wouldn't be concerned about AMEX.  I carry balances on cards to take advantage of 0% APR offers and they haven't taken any adverse actions.

If AMEX do decide to take any advice actions, I wouldn't care.  The great thing about AMEX, if they were to close my accounts, I can easily apply for a new card once all balances are paid off and still get the accounts backdated to my orginal opening date.

Any time you can save money go for it.  Like you said, you are in garden mode, so it really doesn't matter if your scores take a temporary hit. 

[mmduluth]

Hm. Guess not as many people disagreed with me as I thought they would. I was waiting for those paranoid about the utilization or AA from Amex.

[MrAnonymous]

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jausanka wrote:

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MrAnonymous wrote:

Pros:

2) Meeting the promo of 15,000 points for spending $1,000 in the first 3 months, plus 6,000 points for the purchase. (I would use this for statement credit)

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You have to take this one off the pro's list since, no matter what, you are putting the purchase on your card and meeting the spend requirement, regardless of whether you carry the balance or not.

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This is true.

[GST2008]

When AMEX softs your report, they will also see that you successfully paid off your autoloan as well.  If you choose door #1, the car, you should see if the lender could make sure to update you report to show the loan as being satisfactorily paid in full.