Paying Off A Credit Card -- Help!

[Anonymous]

My largest credit card balance is with USAA. My wife and I got a Mastercard from them in 2009. It has a $6,000 limit on it and we've unfortunately carried a balance on it between $4,000 and $6,000 pretty much since we've had the card. Slowly filled it up and have paid off chunks then just filled it back up. It's also our lowest interest rate.

Basically as it sits, I have a balance of $5,800 on this card and I have the money to pay it off.... but I am afraid to pay it off.

a) It has our biggest credit limit.

b) It has our lowest interest rate.

c) It is our second oldest account.

Long story short, I am afraid that if I pay it off they'll decrease the credit line or just give us the boot and we actually would like to eliminate all of our other credit cards and use soley this one... it also has the best rewards.

What advice do you guys have for this? Should I just pay off chunks every month so as to not pop up on their radar? Have you guys heard anything about USAA ever reducing credit limits?

[Goal850]

I am in the same position. I would like to hear any suggestions as well.

[Vtso4]

Theres no reason to believe they would do anything harmful if you pay off your entire balance. Its a great thing not to owe. Also you wont have to worry about the interest rate since the balance will finally be zero. Credit limits dont decrease because of a good history of payments. Infact they INCREASE. Pay it off and keep the balance low. Im not sure

where youd have heard such a thing but thats totally false. Pay it off now. 

[Goal850]

In my case I'm worried about balance chasing. I've read on the boards of people who carried a large balance on their cards for well over six months and as they started to pay down the bill, the bank would proceed to decrease the credit limit and in some cases when it was finally paid off they closed the account. That's what I'm worried about.

[ccnewcc]

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@Anonymous wrote:

My largest credit card balance is with USAA. My wife and I got a Mastercard from them in 2009. It has a $6,000 limit on it and we've unfortunately carried a balance on it between $4,000 and $6,000 pretty much since we've had the card. Slowly filled it up and have paid off chunks then just filled it back up. It's also our lowest interest rate.

Basically as it sits, I have a balance of $5,800 on this card and I have the money to pay it off.... but I am afraid to pay it off.

a) It has our biggest credit limit.

b) It has our lowest interest rate.

c) It is our second oldest account.

Long story short, I am afraid that if I pay it off they'll decrease the credit line or just give us the boot and we actually would like to eliminate all of our other credit cards and use soley this one... it also has the best rewards.

What advice do you guys have for this? Should I just pay off chunks every month so as to not pop up on their radar? Have you guys heard anything about USAA ever reducing credit limits?

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Yeah sometimes USAA balance chases, at least according to their member feedback page.

If i were you and i had the money, i'd just pay it off asap.  If they're gonna balance chase you or close your account once paid, they will do it any which way you pay it.  The only thing you control is how fast or slow this will happen.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I know... the problem is that I travel for work and we have to use our personal credit card to foot the bill and then get reimbursed 7 days later. I travel every week and on average, it costs $1500 a week for the travel (airfare, hotel, car, food). I want to pay off this card and use it for that. They'll love me if they don't decrease my credit line because I'll be charging $6000 a month to it and paying $1500 towards it every other week so they'll see I'm using the crud out of it and paying it all off... problem is I just hope they give me the opportunity. Otherwise I am hoping my wife's credit is good enough to get us an AmEx.

[Shogun]

I don't like paying interest if I don't have too.  I'd pay it, the util is horrible.  You're at max on the card.  Personally I'd pay the thing off.

[Vtso4]

Well your other option would be to never pay it off. Don't worry so much about them decreasing your limit if paid off. If you were such a great customer they wouldn't dare lower it if they knew any better. A quick call to customer service would be in order if they did. Don't forget who is servicing who. Pay it off and keep it paid off.

[Lasardo]

2 issues:
1st, go ahead and pay it off, they will not not have any reason to drop your credit kind.
2nd: do not close out your other cards!
You have credit history with them and closing them will drop you credit score. Keep them open just don't use them..
It's best to have at least 3-4 open lines of credit if not more.