Amex and Citi Mastercard

[Anonymous]

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CreditBob wrote:

Yes, they are the problem. I have been doing the research on this because I am also in the middle of writing a book on credit and fico scores. What you can do is contatc each card company and tell them that they are hurting your score by refusing to report the line of credit to the bureaus. On the AMEX CARD if it is with no preset spending limit then there is nothing that can be done except ask for one of their other cards that do reprot the line of credit. The down fall is that you would most likely be assigned a new account number. Therefore you would be starting over again because it is a brand new account. I know that htese are a pain in the rear but it is the reality.

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If you change your AmEx charge card (no spending limit) to an AmEx credit card which reports CL, you won't be starting over.  You will keep your credit history from the charge card.

[Anonymous]

Message Edited by masdeocho on 05-07-2007 10:35 AM

[Anonymous]

I didn't know it was possible to rollover a CC. So my account age will remain the same (it was opened in 2005). Will they check my credit, which will ding my score?

[Anonymous]

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amnesian1 wrote:

I didn't know it was possible to rollover a CC. So my account age will remain the same (it was opened in 2005). Will they check my credit, which will ding my score?

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Technically it doesn't roll over.  You close one account and open a new one, but you're correct, the account age stays the same.  They probably will check your credit, but it won't count as an inquiry -- they've got permissible purpose because they are one of your current creditors.

[Anonymous]

Amnesian,

Any luck asking Citi to report a CL? I just realized I'm having the same problem. No wonder my report was saying high util. when I was only at 18%.

Since Citi doesn't report the CL (which is 2K), I guess any balance on that card will make it look like I'm at infinity util. lol.

[Anonymous]

No, the balances you put on that card will be weighed against the highest balance you ever reported on that card. So if you routinely spend $500, but one month you spent $1,000, you're at 50% utilization (not good).

I am not even going to try to get Citi to report a CL because:

1) I haven't heard of a single succesful attempt with this particular card.

2) It's an American Airlines World card which I don't use enough to justify it's annual fee.

So I will follow this board's advice and rollover to another Citi card that reports CL

[Anonymous]

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amnesian1 wrote:

No, the balances you put on that card will be weighed against the highest balance you ever reported on that card. So if you routinely spend $500, but one month you spent $1,000, you're at 50% utilization (not good).

I am not even going to try to get Citi to report a CL because:

1) I haven't heard of a single succesful attempt with this particular card.

2) It's an American Airlines World card which I don't use enough to justify it's annual fee.

So I will follow this board's advice and rollover to another Citi card that reports CL

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Before you do, make sure you ask them to confirm that you will keep the account age and history on the new card.  You don't want some rookie CSR to screw up and open a brand new account with no history and kill off the old one.  Also ask them to pull a soft inquiry rather than a hard.

[Anonymous]

I guess I got the shorter end of the stick then. Citi doesn't even report the high balance as the CL for me. Just a blank space next to CL.

Be careful with cancelling/transferring that card. If it's less than a year old I think they hold you liable for any used "bonus" miles you accrued for signing up for the card + companion certificates used + cancellation fees. Read the fine print first.

Message Edited by clarrkkent on 05-08-2007 05:47 PM