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Question for the professionals.

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mross1080
Established Contributor

Question for the professionals.

Ok so heres my question sort new at all this and did it with out thinking it could be bad. I bought a new car today and had to put down 2500 dollars. I got a new CC about a month ago a Paypal rewards MC from GEMB and figured if I charge it to the card ill get a 25 dollar paypal credit to buy whatever I want from ebay. Now my limit is 3k so now my card is nearly maxed. Now I have the cash to pay it and in fact going to pay it as soon as the charge actually shows up in paypal and pay it right from there. But my question is does the issuer like that? Is that gonna hurt me on future CLI's or account reviews? Thanks for reading this.

Message 1 of 24
23 REPLIES 23
Wolf3
Senior Contributor

Re: Question for the professionals.

Don't see any problem with this.

Message 2 of 24
Uborrow-Upay
Valued Contributor

Re: Question for the professionals.

mross1080, that's not going to hurt you one bit!  You've generated fees for the issuer, payable by the merchant.  What's not to like? 

 

I don't know the rest of your credit story, what other accounts you have, etc., so this advice may be totally inappropriate for your situation.   I suggest that you may want to consider (just consider) letting that balance report just this once before paying it in full immediately thereafter. 

 

The downside is that your score will take a hit for a month when this $2500 balance reports, until the account is both paid and updated to $0.00 on your reports.  If you have other credit card accounts, 84% utilization on this card could make other creditors nervous...you don't want that if anything is shaky to begin with.

 

But the upside is that this creditor (and other creditors) will be aware of  this "high balance" on future credit reviews, and will also see that this balance was paid off in full immediately after the statement closed, potentially leading to much higher credit limits on this and other accounts.

 

Use caution here, again, doing or not doing this depends on your overall credit picture.    But PIF is never a bad idea, at any time... 

 

Congrats on the new wheels!Smiley Happy  

Message 3 of 24
mross1080
Established Contributor

Re: Question for the professionals.

I have other cards both bank and store cards with mostly 0 balances and I would say with that 2500 charge I would have a 35% util.

Message 4 of 24
leah5570
Frequent Contributor

Re: Question for the professionals.

I agree, pay it off hopefully on your next statement and you'll be fine. I read on article on MSN I think about how banks are deciding which customers to cut limits on. One of the things they said is reviewing the purchase history of a person who used their credit card for entertainment purposes, and then suddenly began using it for gas or small grocery purchases. The bank sees that as a customer who possibly lost their job and must use credit to pay for necessities instead of bars, restaurants, and ticketmaster. When my husband and I first got our Navy Fed card, with a $3500 limit, we noted in the application this card would be used to pay all household expenses for the month, to be paid in full each month. Helps me make sure money isn't trickling out our checking account all month long, and we get a point for each dollar we charge temporarily for regular expenses we pay anyways each month. That way Navy Fed will never place us in a category of entertainment folks, moved to everyday purchases. We also used $1200 right off the bat, the first month, and that would pretty much be the norm. When they reported us, we only had $900 charged up. It actually increased my husbands score and mine, despite the "high" balance first time.

 

Just pay in full when you make a huge purchase and they'll show you some more love. :-)

 

When you did your down on the card, did they swipe it or did you have to use a convenience check?


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Message 5 of 24
mross1080
Established Contributor

Re: Question for the professionals.

They swiped it ive never used one of those checks before.

Message 6 of 24
Uborrow-Upay
Valued Contributor

Re: Question for the professionals.

mross1080, I don't know your total credit limits, and I don't know if you got any special purchase interest rate with your new card, so let me ask you this: 

 

If you paid off your other balances in full now, how much money would you have left over from that $2500, if any? 

 

And, how much money could you afford to pay on the PayPal account before the first due date? 

 

If you could definitely have a good chunk of money to throw at the $2500 PayPal balance prior to its due date, you might do better (score-wise and money-wise) paying off your other cards first, and then making a good sized payment on the PayPal.

 

Just a thought...opinion only.

Message 7 of 24
mross1080
Established Contributor

Re: Question for the professionals.

I have a total of 9 cards including the Paypal card. The total combined owed on the other 8 cards is 250 dollars and thats on 3 cards the others have 0 balances. I have the 2500 to pay whenever I already budgeted for the purchase I just used this card to earn the rewards points. I can either pay it off as soon as it posts of pay it over the course of a month or months whatever I guess would be better for my credit. Ive been trying to get the swing of the PIF before all the posting dates but having gotten it down 100% thats why im holding a 250 balance on the other cards.

Message 8 of 24
Uborrow-Upay
Valued Contributor

Re: Question for the professionals.

Sounds like you have things pretty well under control, for sure.

 

Here's what I would do.  I would pay the other cards in full now.  I'd let the PayPal account report the $2500 balance when that statement closes.  After the statement closing date, pay off that PayPal account in full, (naturally, before the due date, but the sooner the better).

 

You may take a small hit to your score, or maybe not, but it's temporary.  The following report will show that high balance having been paid, and your score recovered.

 

Let us know how you make out!

Message 9 of 24
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Question for the professionals.

I've recently started using my Paypal debit card for most signature purchases. It's awesome to get free money deposited into your Paypal account at the beggining of each month! Smiley Happy

Message 10 of 24
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