topic Re: Any benefit(s) to multiple CC payments over one? in Credit Cards

Any benefit(s) to multiple CC payments over one?

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 19:46:14 GMT

If your a PIF kind of person, is there any benefit to making multiple payments throughout the month rather than one lump PIF after the statement cuts?

I guess one could be your chances of ever "forgetting" or having a late payment would be greatly reduced or eliminated.

How about when your creditor SPs you? If they SP you mid-cycle on their own and your balance is say 50%, if for some reason a few weeks later you request a CLI or something and they use that SP wouldn't their consideration assume that you're still at 50% balance? If that's the case, I would think multiple payments would reduce the chances of this happening.

Any other reasons anyone may suggest?

Re: Any benefit(s) to multiple CC payments over one?

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 20:03:27 GMT

multiple payments throughout the month will show lower utilization on the report than PIF after the statement cuts.

It allows a person to put more through the card in one month than the limit. This may or may not signal to the lender that the person needs an increased limit.

Some people like to pay bills when they have the money, rather than wait.

Re: Any benefit(s) to multiple CC payments over one?

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 20:33:36 GMT

I usually just make one lump PIF, but there are benefits to multiple payments, depending on a person's credit use. If your spending exceeds your credit limit because you have few cards or limits aren't high enough to fit your spending, making multiple payments means you won't charge over the limit and be declined or hit with fees. Also simply lowering utilization (depending on when your lender reports) no matter what your spending is, before the statement cuts to improve credit score (with the added possibility of what you mentioned concerning CLI and SPs). Sometimes maybe making smaller payments vs one big lump sum might work better for how the person schedules paying other bills and expenses. Or maybe the person just wants the habit of paying credit bills weekly, as a positive financial behavior for them.

Re: Any benefit(s) to multiple CC payments over one?

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 20:36:01 GMT

Oops DaisyFly, only saw yours after posting mine!

Re: Any benefit(s) to multiple CC payments over one?

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 20:39:25 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Oops DaisyFly, only saw yours after posting mine!

LOL, great minds think alike.

Re: Any benefit(s) to multiple CC payments over one?

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 00:11:07 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
multiple payments throughout the month will show lower utilization on the report than PIF after the statement cuts.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

What do you mean by "on the report?" If you mean what is reported to the bureaus, I wouldn't think multiple payments would matter as paying 1 lump sum monthly would still result in $0 being reported to the bureaus. Are you referring to periodic soft pulls that may see utilization throughout the month?

Re: Any benefit(s) to multiple CC payments over one?

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 00:14:25 GMT

It doesn't make a difference unless you want a CLI. Cap1 likes you to do one big payment vs multiple small payments. And for takeshi (whenever you want to come correct me) this is based on my personal experience with 4 cards from them and multiple user experiences. 2 of them I did smaller payments and two I just did one big lump sum and the two with the lump sum went up by $3k on one and $8k on the other and the 2 smaller payment ones didn't budge. Same cards

Re: Any benefit(s) to multiple CC payments over one?

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 00:43:29 GMT

I run about $12K/month on my $2200 Freedom so I am always at the drive-thru lol

Re: Any benefit(s) to multiple CC payments over one?

driftless — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 02:33:50 GMT

Boy, it really depends on your spend and CL's. You can only run so much through your CL without being forced to make another payment. I would agree that some ccc, like Cap One and Chase, like to see your ability to make large payments rather than several small payments. I had similar experiences to 2011exterror in that I was rewarded with nice, unrequested CLI's when I made single large payments consistently.

Re: Any benefit(s) to multiple CC payments over one?

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 03:30:53 GMT

Yeah I forgot about chase. I only used the card for like a month and a half for spend, paid the $3k off in one payment and the next month they raised my CL by $1,500

I am making small payments on another one that I am meeting spend on to see the trend

Re: Any benefit(s) to multiple CC payments over one?

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 05:10:22 GMT

For me, it's how I budget. I don't like that I charge a card and have money sitting there until the end of the month. For me, I'm not being 100 percent honest about my budget. It makes me think that the money is still there to spend.

So I charge my card (purchase has to be budgeted), go home make the full payment (if allowed) and then go into my budget and input expense. I'm a stickler when it comes to my personal finances and the savings goals I want to reach.

This is the only reason why I do this. My credit score is in the 760s so I don't have to worry about my score.

Re: Any benefit(s) to multiple CC payments over one?

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 06:43:59 GMT

I think it's a personal preference. I do both. Since I no longer micromanage my accounts, if a creditor does a SP mid-cycle I'm okay with it.

Re: Any benefit(s) to multiple CC payments over one?

brother7 — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 07:03:41 GMT

For me, once a statement cuts, I schedule payment on the Payment Due By date for the New Balance. In other words, I PIF on the Payment Due date.

I do this for consistency and also because I know my bank balance is enough to cover this future payment. My CLs are high enough so that I don't have to worry about reaching the limit within a single month.

For the young people I advise who are new to credit, I advise them a little differently.

Once a statement cuts, they make an online payment for the New Balance the very next day. In other words, they PIF the day after the statement cuts.

I advise newcomers to credit to do this to instill good habits from the start. I try to get them into the mindset of using a credit card like a delayed debit card. And once the statement cuts, to pay it off ASAP.

The only time when I make multiple payments within a single cycle is when I'm about to apply for new credit and want to manipulate the % utilizaton that's reported to the CRAs. In this case, I make sure all cards EXCEPT one report a zero balance. This requires paying any outstanding balance BEFORE the statement date, then refraining from using that card till after the statement cuts.

Then for the one card that will report a balance, before the statement date, I pay just enough of the outstanding balance such that the remaining balance is 1% of the credit limit for that card. That way, all of my cards will report 0% utilization except for the one card that reports 1% utilization. I use Credit Karma to monitor when all this gets reported to the CRAs. Then I apply for the new credit card.

I've been using the above method over and over, for me and the young people I advise, every 6 months like clockwork and it's worked like a charm.

Re: Any benefit(s) to multiple CC payments over one?

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 12:11:38 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
It doesn't make a difference unless you want a CLI. Cap1 likes you to do one big payment vs multiple small payments. And for takeshi (whenever you want to come correct me) this is based on my personal experience with 4 cards from them and multiple user experiences. 2 of them I did smaller payments and two I just did one big lump sum and the two with the lump sum went up by $3k on one and $8k on the other and the 2 smaller payment ones didn't budge. Same cards

Come on 2011XTERROR, Don't rely on generalizations. It's your entire credit portfolio that is considered. Don't make assumptions. This is an extremely common topic. Don't overlook existing threads and discussions as a resource.

Interesting that you've had more success with Capital One when doing single large monthly payments. When you say it doesn't make a difference unless you want a CLI, what do you mean?

In about 30 days I'm looking to ask for my first Amex CLI. This month I was debating on several small payments or one large one at the end. My hesitation in saving it all for 1 large payment is that I plan to run up around 40-50% utilization on the card this month. If for some reason I'm SPd at the point of having utilization that high, and that SP is what is used when I request a CLI, I would think my results would be much worse than if it showed me at a 0 balance. Not sure if this rationale makes any sense or if I'm just overthinking it.

Re: Any benefit(s) to multiple CC payments over one?

takeshi74 — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 12:49:42 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Any benefit(s) to multiple CC payments over one?

Not in and of itself from a credit scoring/assessment perspective. It's the reported Revolving Utilization that matters. It doesn't really matter how you get there. I only make 1 payment a month per account and my FICO 8's are in the 800's.

There can certainly be subjective benefits if multiple payments better suits an individual's account management style.

Re: Any benefit(s) to multiple CC payments over one?

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 13:33:51 GMT

I'm not relying on generalizations and that came from experience and the many topics on this. Thanks for reading

Re: Any benefit(s) to multiple CC payments over one?

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 15:30:33 GMT

I still want to know what happens if a creditor soft pulls you mid-cycle when you have 40% utilization say 2-3 weeks before you request a CLI. Are they going to use that SP and your 40% utilization in their CLI request decision?

Perhaps this varies by creditor. Do some creditors take an instant SP at the time a CLI is requested, or do they all go off of the last one they have on file?

Re: Any benefit(s) to multiple CC payments over one?

kdm31091 — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 15:48:58 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I still want to know what happens if a creditor soft pulls you mid-cycle when you have 40% utilization say 2-3 weeks before you request a CLI. Are they going to use that SP and your 40% utilization in their CLI request decision?

Perhaps this varies by creditor. Do some creditors take an instant SP at the time a CLI is requested, or do they all go off of the last one they have on file?

The problem is a lot of these questions have no real answer. I get that nobody wants to hear they are generalizing, but all we can really rely on are anecdotes which have a lot of different things going on -- different profiles, different scores, etc.

I sometimes pay multiple times and other times I just wait. I don't feel there's any major benefit to paying several times unless it helps you budget better.

Use your cards, make your payments however you see fit, and ask for CLIs when/if they're needed. I have never noticed a difference in a CLI being approved no matter what I did or didn't do. The only thing I have noticed is that most creditors want to see that you "need" a CLI if we're talking about a manual request. Hard to get a CLI if you use your 5k limit for a pack of gum every week. Again though that's just my generalization on the matter. Ultimately as long as the bill is paid I don't think creditors read into these things as much as we tend to.

Re: Any benefit(s) to multiple CC payments over one?

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 18:24:28 GMT

I agree with the post above, but I still feel it would be nice to know if a creditor is going to use a previous SP or an instant SP at the time of a CLI request.

Re: Any benefit(s) to multiple CC payments over one?

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 18:31:10 GMT

I figured out when my statement cuts are all scheduled. I PIF 2 days before statement cut just to be sure that it reports 0. (Well hopefully ) I dont wait till I get the bill... I make sure that I'm on top of it before they report my UTI. Which I'm hoping I'm guestimating correctly ~ that you make the payment before statement cuts....