cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

49 Points from BOA reporting PIF

tag
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: +49 Points from BOA reporting PIF / zero balance


@Anonymous wrote:

It's a touchy beast that causes a cascading effect.  My goal is utimately pay off all revolving credit (I'm not far from that) but in the mean time keep trade lines high to maximize what balance I am carrying and for future use to always keep util low no matter what I'm doing with the cards.  It seems to be working. I was over 770 FICO back in May of 2014 and I plan to be back up there and higher.  Time to start gardening for a while and then hit up the big CU's for even bigger trade lines, PLC and then pay off my 2nd personal loan.


Great insight, especially the phrase "no matter what I'm doing with the cards."  In other words, there's basically no reason anyone has to ever have a high utilization, even if one's credit limits are low.  If John Doe has exactly one card with a $500 limit, he can still spend $5000 that month with that card.  He's just need to make a big payment in advance that would cause his balance to go negative.

 

The only real reason to be unable to keep utilization from being high is because you have hit an emergency and you have no emergency fund -- and that in itself would be a warning sign of a problem in one's financial planning.

 

Regardless, you sound like you have learned a whole lot and are on your way to a great future.  Best of luck, pal.

Message 11 of 29
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: +49 Points from BOA reporting PIF / zero balance

Not only is it how much you can spend, but haing large trade lines that keep your util low in addition to being in check in with income and spending. That's my goal right now...boosting trade lines, keeping util low from high limits and payoffs, sit back and watch the score go up.

Message 12 of 29
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: 49 Points from BOA reporting PIF

 

Glad it is all working out well for you! Smiley Happy

 

I agree BOA does take absolutely forever to report, especially for new cards. I applied and was approved at end of July, received the card during the first week of August, and they tell me they will first be reporting to the credit bureaus on Oct 11........ ok.......

 

 

Longest I've ever seen.

Message 13 of 29
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: 49 Points from BOA reporting PIF


@Anonymous wrote:

 

Glad it is all working out well for you! Smiley Happy

 

I agree BOA does take absolutely forever to report, especially for new cards. I applied and was approved at end of July, received the card during the first week of August, and they tell me they will first be reporting to the credit bureaus on Oct 11........ ok.......

 

 

Longest I've ever seen.


Agreed!Smiley Happy

Message 14 of 29
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: 49 Points from BOA reporting PIF

I had considered keeping the relationship with them going, but I was told everything will initiaite a hard pull, interest rate reduction, CLI, new trade line and no they won't combine pulls same day or otherwise.  MEH!   So, it's just gonna sit and age now.  I'll give my business elsewhere.

Message 15 of 29
NRB525
Super Contributor

Re: +49 Points from BOA reporting PIF / zero balance


@Anonymous wrote:

So glad to hear you are being successful at paying down your credit card debt.  Good for you.

 

Your story is a helpful and cautionary one.   High utilizations can cause credit card companies to panic and lower your credit limit, which causes your score to drop hugely (when you suddenly are over 100%).  The lowered score can cause other issuers to get worrried -- much like a stock market crash.

 

Thus the hard won wisdom (which you can now attest to) of keeping your utilizations away substantially away from being maxxed out.  Congrats again and best wishes.


Well, no. If a CCC does a CLD on you (and I've had many) they only lower it to some number that is over your existing balance, even if the card gets closed at the same time.

So you should never find yourself forced into a situation where the CCC reduces your credit limit to less than your outstanding balance. They could not really get away with that either, because it would cause you to go out of terms with the card, and they could not justify collecting the fees if something like that went before a judge.

 

So it would raise one's utilization, but not over 100%.

 

The main objective with the CLD is to prevent you from borrowing new funds, to make sure the only direction your balance is going is downward. If they really want to shut off new borrowing, they can close your account outright, and my experience there is, they often leave the existing CL at the same level, so there's only the cut off of new funds, not even a change in utilization in that case. I have a closed Citi AT&T card that still has a $20k limit, same as when I asked to close it to freeze terms, and $900 owed on it still.

 

It can cause other lenders to make adjustments in the CL, but each of them will only lower the CL (if they change it at all) to some number higher than existing balances. In my case, because I had 8 accounts with substantial balances, 7 of them ended up with CLD of various levels or account closures. None of those took the CL below the existing outstanding amount.

High Bal Jan 2009 $116k on $146k limits 80% Util.
Oct 2014 $46k on $127k 36% util EQ 722 TU 727 EX 727
April 2018 $18k on $344k 5% util EQ 806 TU 810 EX 812
Jan 2019 $7.6k on $360k EQ 832 TU 839 EX 831
March 2021 $33k on $312k EQ 796 TU 798 EX 801
May 2021 Paid all Installments and Mortgages, one new Mortgage EQ 761 TY 774 EX 777
April 2022 EQ=811 TU=807 EX=805 - TU VS 3.0 765
Message 16 of 29
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: +49 Points from BOA reporting PIF / zero balance

Best part was while BOA CLD at the same time, Discover and Synchrony did big CLI's after I made big balance pay downs.   BOA had my income info wrong according to the analyst I spoke to.  I can verify that they reduced the CLI to $50 above the balance after paying down, interest hit and over limit fee hit and boom 105% util. I had reason for high util at the time, but as the analyst said their software doesn't know that and my big payments triggered it.  They wouldn't restore my trade line limit without a hard pull or multiple hard pulls for interst reduction, change to another product, another card. I said no thanks.  I'll see how they are in a few months if at all. 

Message 17 of 29
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: +49 Points from BOA reporting PIF / zero balance

Thanks so much, NRB525.  Very helpful.  I have heard people talk about CLD's happening to them, but it is never happened to me.

 

So what I should have said is "when you are suddenly at 99%" (rather than suddenly being over 100%).

 

You may want to direct your observation to our OP as well.  He claims that the CLD caused his utilization to go to 105%.  I figured he would know, since he just lived through this, but I think you are saying that this did not happen to him.  Maybe you and he can discuss further.

 

My general point (wording suitably changed) is just that naive consumers (most of us) tend to think our CLs can only go up.  It doesn't occur to us that there could be a series of CL decreases, sort of like a panicky market crash to the Dow, causing utilization % to go up in a huge way.

 

Thanks again for the correction.

Message 18 of 29
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: +49 Points from BOA reporting PIF / zero balance

Scores were good at the time and have only gotten better.  Seems it was BOA's internal review software that flagged it again based on what the analyst said.  High trade line util, high util across trade lines and making a large payment apparently scares them.  No other lender even blinked.  I paid 5k on discover and got a 2k CLI as a result and then I went back and ask for another CLI and got another 6.5k all while BOA CLD and left my at 105%.  Had a I caught what they did I would have paid to avoid it, but they CLD right as the account posted and generated interest and then a over limit fee...bam 105% util.  Only reason I noticed is the over limit email...leaving me in a **bleep** moment, logged in and let the swearing begin. Smiley Happy

 

Either way, I've doubled by available trade lines since and paid my balances down to less than 20% and dropping.  Good learning experience.

Message 19 of 29
NRB525
Super Contributor

Re: +49 Points from BOA reporting PIF / zero balance

That timing of the CLD is important. The actual CLD wasn't to below the current amount, but did not leave much room for error or interest charges.

 

This is where I think prior history makes a difference. On my BofA accounts, I'd been bringing them down for years, including BT large chunks on and off accounts if the promotional rates expired and another was available.

Took $12k off the BofA AMEX last August, to move it to a US Bank promo, then moved another $10k onto it in October 2014, to bring it up to 84% utilization, then paid $2,500 in November and $1,200 in January around the regular smaller monthly payments.

They responded with a $3k auto CLI in February 2015, from $12,700 to $15,700.

 

This is one of the reasons, my own experiences, why I encourage people to leave balances reporting even when they PIF by the statement payment due date, not to try to pay prior to statement cut. Building up that history of activity is a good thing, in my opinion.

High Bal Jan 2009 $116k on $146k limits 80% Util.
Oct 2014 $46k on $127k 36% util EQ 722 TU 727 EX 727
April 2018 $18k on $344k 5% util EQ 806 TU 810 EX 812
Jan 2019 $7.6k on $360k EQ 832 TU 839 EX 831
March 2021 $33k on $312k EQ 796 TU 798 EX 801
May 2021 Paid all Installments and Mortgages, one new Mortgage EQ 761 TY 774 EX 777
April 2022 EQ=811 TU=807 EX=805 - TU VS 3.0 765
Message 20 of 29
Advertiser Disclosure: The offers that appear on this site are from third party advertisers from whom FICO receives compensation.