revolving line card, do I ignore when figuring utilizaton?

[smo65d11]

I have an AMEX with a "revolving" line of credit, $5,000 ... do I just ignore that line completely when figuring my overall utilization?  It is reporting as a zero or completely blank under CL on my credit reports. 

[smo65d11]

anyone? please!

[Creditaddict]

charge card?

that should not count in your util. 

[smo65d11]

yes it is an American Airlines AMEX ... I KNOW I need to pay it down, but am trying to refi and need as good a FICO as possible, so I figure I should get my other cards down to 9% Util before tackling this one.  I have it down to about 82% Util right now, and my others down to 30-40%.  Fingers crossed that I won't get CLD in the next month or so though!

thanks for the answer!

[Anonymous]

So CHARGE accounts don't figure into FICO as part of utilization? 

How do they score them, by the amount you owe?

[Creditaddict]

oh it's not a charge card, your revolving 5k... omg no, that is in your util.

and when you start to pay it, amex is going to CLD.... I would not suggest revolving ANY debt with amex. 

[GregB]

The wording "Revolving" appears on my credit reports for all normal credit cards. I no longer have any Amex CHARGE cards that must be paid if full each month so I don't know how that appears. Is that what you actually mean. If so they don't have a CL (from what I've heard).

Anything that lets you carry a balance should have a Credit Limit that shows on the card. Add up your "Revolving account balances and see if it is included. If it isn't showing a CL then something is missing.

You never said anything about having a balance, right?

[smo65d11]

it is a credit card/charge card, it has a $5,000 "no-pre-set spending limit", which was described to me as "revolving line" card.  They said that if I wanted to charge more than $5,000, I could call for approval and they would not charge any over the limit fees.  My Balance at this time is about $4,200 and does not need to be paid in full each month.

Message Edited by smo65d11 on 03-21-2009 10:29 AM

[GregB]

That is different than anything I have heard of. My only experience with anything similar was that Cap One didn't report the CL correctly (for all customers). I can't recall if they reported the highest recent balance or the current balance giving you 100% utilization on that card. This affected utilization and they eventually changed to the "normal" system where they report the true CL.

I would THINK that the utilization is simply the total of your revolving balances divided by the total of your credit limits. So if it is reporting as zero that is affecting your utilization. I would not want to guess whether it adds the balance to the total of your CL or is actually added as zero.

[smo65d11]

that I do not know, this info is what I have been able to gather from members here and from calling AMEX ... maybe I am completely confused???