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Payment dilemma on BofA visa signature card & its full credit usage

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Anonymous
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Payment dilemma on BofA visa signature card & its full credit usage

I have 5 credit cards including BofA visa signature card which has a credit limit of $15k that I have already used up for one of my life time big purchases. The other 4 cards has a total credit limit of $33k and currently a total balance of about $2k. I always pay off the balances in full every month after the statements close. But this time I have a dilemma about when and what amount to pay for the outstanding balance on BofA visa signature card since forums said visa signature cards report credit limit as $0 to CRAs so that CRAs use highest balance on these cards as credit limit for credit utilization ratio calculation. Now I have and am considering these options below:

 

(1) Since it is no pre-set credit limit card, some forums recommend to charge it to the highest possible balance (that's what I already did), then pay off once the statement closes, so that CRAs will consider the all-time-high balance as your credit limit in your credit utilization ratio, since your credit limit can probably be shown as $0 on credit report. But, this option has its own potential risk, since all my credit card issuers (Citi, Chase, CapOne, and BofA) will get alarmed by a sudden credit card balance hike. (But my statement closing balances from other cards will be much lower, and credit utilization for each card will be less than 10%). Consequently, they will probably cut credit limits from my cards.

 

(2) What if I pay down entire balance before statement closes? In that case, the balance reported to CRAs will be just $0. It seems to be safe, but I will lose the opportunity to have high balance from my BofA signature card shown on my credit report. So my FICO score will never count 15K limit towards credit utilization if BofA reports $0 credit limit.

 

(3) This is the mix solution from the first two options. I will pay $10K before statement closes, so that the statement closing balance will be $5K (so I am following the usual rule which is to use only 30% at most of credit from each card). I don't need to worry about credit issuers cutting credit limits and at the same time, I have $5K balance shown on my credit report as the highest balance to be counted towards credit utilization for FICO score, in case BofA reports $0 credit limit for my visa signature card.

 

From these options, what would you choose if you were in my shoes? In fact, I like option 1, but at the same time I think, it is too risky to choose. So I am leaning more towards options 3. Any suggestions? Has anyone been there? Thanks!

Message 1 of 11
10 REPLIES 10
Wolf3
Senior Contributor

Re: Payment dilemma on BofA visa signature card & its full credit usage

I would let the full balance report and then PIF after statement cuts. IMO, risk of AA is small and could be reversed after balance is paid.  

Message 2 of 11
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Payment dilemma on BofA visa signature card & its full credit usage

I'm watching this thread with interest.

 

Several of our cards report Highest Balance based on the highest balance the account has historically had; not the highest statement balance reported to the CRA's.  Our BofA is one of these - however it's a Power Rewards card - it reports the CL as well as the HB.  Of course, it also reports the current statement balance.

 

Does BofA Visa Signature also report the highest balance the account has historically had - or only the highest statement balance reported to the CRAs?

Message 4 of 11
JM-AM
Valued Contributor

Re: Payment dilemma on BofA visa signature card & its full credit usage

Does BofA Visa Signature also report the highest balance the account has historically had - or only the highest statement balance reported to the CRAs?

 

BofA does report the highest balance the account has had on my reports. 

Good Luck
May all your dreams and wishes become a reality!
Message 5 of 11
chasmith
Valued Contributor

Re: Payment dilemma on BofA visa signature card & its full credit usage

There's a "High Balance" field that "remembers" your highest reported balance.  So you cabn pay down the BOA card and the scoring process "should" treat the 15K high balance (think of it as the "historic high balance") as the limit for utilization purposes.

BK7 Filed 8/11/2009 Discharged 11/23/2009. Purchased new home 4/11/2012
Starting Score:11/16/2009 EQ 566 11/16/2009 TU 538
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Current Score: 11/06/2013 EQ 708 11/06/2013 EX 702 11/16/2013 702 11/06/2013 TU 729
Goal Score: EQ 740 EX 740 TU 740
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Message 3 of 11
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Payment dilemma on BofA visa signature card & its full credit usage

My BofA card is BankAmeri Card Cash Reward Visa Signature card. How do you I find out if it reports the highest balance the account has historically had or just highest statement balance reported to CRAs? If it reports the highest balance the account has historically had, then I can pay off the entire outstanding balance before statement closes and will have 15K counted towards credit utilitzation ratio as well. I will call BofA customer service to find out what they report as highest balance to CRAs.

Message 6 of 11
JM-AM
Valued Contributor

Re: Payment dilemma on BofA visa signature card & its full credit usage

Depending on where and how you try to find out which is reported. In my case I used the free annualcreditreport.com which gives me the monthly breakdown of my usage by month. Which in turn gave me my high usage on the card. which is reported on MY FICO SW as largest past balance and also on TU quarterly. My card is always PIF 7 days before statement and always shows a balance of 0. Except for the few times I leave a minimal balance of 15 dollars or lower to report. 

Good Luck
May all your dreams and wishes become a reality!
Message 7 of 11
wollepopolle
Established Contributor

Re: Payment dilemma on BofA visa signature card & its full credit usage

 


@Anonymous wrote:

Several of our cards report Highest Balance based on the highest balance the account has historically had; not the highest statement balance reported to the CRA's.  

Does BofA Visa Signature also report the highest balance the account has historically had - or only the highest statement balance reported to the CRAs?


 

 

Yes, my BoA VIsa Signatureautomatically  reports the highest balance on the account regardless of the final statement balance. Therefore, no need to let the balance report on the statement. Just pay it off!

 

Message 8 of 11
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Payment dilemma on BofA visa signature card & its full credit usage

Yay!  That is very cool for OP!

Message 9 of 11
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: Payment dilemma on BofA visa signature card & its full credit usage

American Express cards (the ones from American Express; not the ones from BofA, etc.) are the only ones I know of that list the highest statement balance. All the others seem to list the highest intracycle balance, to make up a fancy term. In other words, all the others (again, that I know of) list the highest balance you ever had at any point in the billing cycle, regardless of what showed on your statement.

* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007
Message 10 of 11
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