Paying off debt - which is better for my scores?

[Anonymous]

I apologize (especially to Vee) for my misinterpretation of some members' advice for help.  As you can tell, I'm pretty touchy about the mess that I've made for myself.  I feel like an idiot, and because of that, I automatically assume that certain comments are directed towards my apparent abuse of credit in the past.

Itmeagain, to clarify your question on AmEx spending, here's a couple of scenarios:

Scenario 1:  Spending nothing on the card and pay the "minimum" $175 due.  If I did this, I get no credit for "points", and about $80 of the $175 is applied towards the flex pay account.

Scenario 2:  Put normal, everyday expenses on the card (for our example, we'll say $2,000).  If I did this, my payment due would be $2,175.  I would get points for each of the dollars that I spend and immediately pay off, and the same thing would happen with the $175 payment as I mentioned above.

Vee, thanks again for your additional explanation. 

[Itsmeagain]

You're certainly not an idiot and you shouldn't feel embarrassment here.  I believe you are among folks with a common denominator.  We all came here to solve some sort of problem.  Some, like VeenVegas, lilMirth and the mods have stayed longer than was necessary to solve their own problems and now try to share their knowledge and experience with the likes of you and I . . . . miscreants from Mars . . .

So hang in there and try not to get discouraged.  Some one of these days you may be reading these posts and find that YOUR experience may be just what the poster needs.

Now, about your reply . . . you said

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@Anonymous wrote:

Scenario 1:  Spending nothing on the card and pay the "minimum" $175 due.  If I did this, I get no credit for "points", and about $80 of the $175 is applied towards the flex pay account.

If you spend nothing, why wouldn't all $175 go toward the flex pay.  Or are you speaking of interest/principal?

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[Anonymous]

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@Itsmeagain wrote:

If you spend nothing, why wouldn't all $175 go toward the flex pay.  Or are you speaking of interest/principal?

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The $175 goes towards the flex account, but AmEx only applies a portion of that directly to the principal (that's the 20% APR I was reffering to)....