topic Re: Utilization Question, Unexpected Expense. in Credit Cards

Utilization Question, Unexpected Expense.

Anonymous — Fri, 19 May 2017 01:43:28 GMT

I just had an expense come up that I wasn't expecting for 3,567$. I need advice on if my payment plan is feasible or if an alternative plan would be a better option.

My plan...

Use 2000$ from savings then charge the remaining 1,567$ to my AMEX (Essentially putting it a bit over 75% utilization)

Things that are not options for me...

Taking any more than 2000$ out of my savings.

Personal loan?? To cover the rest of the expense I was going to take a personal loan because it doesn't offset utilization. When I did the no credit check prequailification for loans the only ones that popped up were these ones from Avant and they offered crazy high interest like 34% or 36% high. So that's out.

Regarding personal loans...Penfed could possibly be an option. My reservation in applying for a loan however is that from reading the data share thread my AAOA (6 months) and inquires (8-9-9) would most likely be an issue. Also I've read recently that they do multiple pulls instead of the 90 day threshold I read about before. Would not like any more inquires.

Looking for a utilization calculation double check...

If I use my AMEX to pay the 1,567 is my calculation correct that it wouldn't change my overall utilization to a huge extreme?

Here is my information...

Capital1 Quicksilver [0/500]
Chase Amazon Prime [10/500]
Wells Fargo College Card [0/1000]
Wal-Mart Store Card [775/6000]
Amazon Store Card [350/5000]
Victoria Secret [0/750]
Wayfair [520/1300]
AMEX BCE [0/2000] Card I would Charge
AMEX ED [0/500]
Auto Loan - 18900/Installment Not Applicable
PayPal 1500 (Hidden TL) Not Applicable

Utilization @ 11% Currently ( AMEX Cards/Wells Fargo aren't reporting yet)

1,655/14500 [A little over 11%]

My new utilization calculation is based on AMEX and Wells fargo actually showing up on my report because they aren't at the moment. I figured my new calculation would put my utilization at 18%.

3,222/17500 [A little over 18%]

I know maxing out a card is really bad but AMEX has 0% APR currently. Is this a feasible plan?

I'm new to credit. So sorry if this is an inexperienced question or scenario. Please let me know if any other information would be helpful to know as well.

Thanks in advances for any aid in this matter.

Re: Utilization Question, Unexpected Expense.

Anonymous — Fri, 19 May 2017 01:59:55 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I just had an expense come up that I wasn't expecting for 3,567$. I need advice on if my payment plan is feasible or if an alternative plan would be a better option.

My plan...

Use 2000$ from savings then charge the remaining 1,567$ to my AMEX (Essentially putting it a bit over 75% utilization)

Things that are not options for me...

Taking any more than 2000$ out of my savings.

Personal loan?? To cover the rest of the expense I was going to take a personal loan because it doesn't offset utilization. When I did the no credit check prequailification for loans the only ones that popped up were these ones from Avant and they offered crazy high interest like 34% or 36% high. So that's out.

Regarding personal loans...Penfed could possibly be an option. My reservation in applying for a loan however is that from reading the data share thread my AAOA (6 months) and inquires (8-9-9) would most likely be an issue. Also I've read recently that they do multiple pulls instead of the 90 day threshold I read about before. Would not like any more inquires.

Looking for a utilization calculation double check...

If I use my AMEX to pay the 1,567 is my calculation correct that it wouldn't change my overall utilization to a huge extreme?

Here is my information...

Capital1 Quicksilver [0/500]
Chase Amazon Prime [10/500]
Wells Fargo College Card [0/1000]
Wal-Mart Store Card [775/6000]
Amazon Store Card [350/5000]
Victoria Secret [0/750]
Wayfair [520/1300]
AMEX BCE [0/2000] Card I would Charge
AMEX ED [0/500]
Auto Loan - 18900/Installment Not Applicable
PayPal 1500 (Hidden TL) Not Applicable

@Anonymous @ 11% Currently ( AMEX Cards/Wells Fargo aren't reporting yet)

1,655/14500 [A little over 11%]

My new utilization calculation is based on AMEX and Wells fargo actually showing up on my report because they aren't at the moment. I figured my new calculation would put my utilization at 18%.

3,222/17500 [A little over 18%]

I know maxing out a card is really bad but AMEX has 0% APR currently. Is this a feasible plan?

I'm new to credit. So sorry if this is an inexperienced question or scenario. Please let me know if any other information would be helpful to know as well.

Thanks in advances for any aid in this matter.

Use the Amex card for the $1,567 and don't look back. It would make zero sense to use a personal loan for a relatively small (in general scheme of things) when you can utilize the 0% financing of the card. It won't kill your overall utilization and just pay back Amex as you can to lower that card's utilization. Your scores will probably have a temporary drop for maxing out a single car but unless you are applying for a mortgage or car loan, it's nt a big deal and your scores will rebound as you pay the car down.

Re: Utilization Question, Unexpected Expense.

fltireguy — Fri, 19 May 2017 02:06:02 GMT

Another option, IF you are worried about Util would be to buy a few $250-500 VGC with your WM CC.....

Re: Utilization Question, Unexpected Expense.

Anonymous — Fri, 19 May 2017 02:30:21 GMT

Okay awesome! Thanks Irish80. Yep I have no immediate credit needs coming up that I need to apply for anything I'm currently in the garden so don't mind the score decrease. I will pay it back as soon as possible.

Good Idea fltireguy! I've tried to buy that kind of card and it's cash and I think debit only however the WM card let's you pull cash from it w/o extra fees which I didnt even think of. The cash withdrawal would be the only thing I'd be paying interest on since the other charges are all promo financing. When my limit was 900$ it said I could pull out 180$. Now that its at 6k I should check to see what it is. It would help with not charging all to AMEX. Thanks

Re: Utilization Question, Unexpected Expense.

AverageJoesCredit — Fri, 19 May 2017 02:36:08 GMT

Im with Irish, id just use the Amex and pay it down as you can. Maybe by using the Amex and paying responsibly will help you get your 3x cli, thats just my way of thinking( building history) and have no idea if that is true , but id like to think it is

Re: Utilization Question, Unexpected Expense.

Anonymous — Fri, 19 May 2017 02:46:05 GMT

I was worried about my 3x CLI because I'd have it at a high limit but I do plan to pay it off as soon as I can so yeah hopefully it does reflect well. I'll wait to do it until it's close to paid off just to be safe. Thanks for the insight.

I also don't know how it works but my AMEX BCE offered me a special for 250$ for the first 1000$ charged in the first 3 months when applying which was AWESOME because on the standard site page it just said 100$ but it offered that as a special on prequalification page. I'm sure the promo credit takes months to show up but I'll hit the mark using the card so it's not all bad.

Re: Utilization Question, Unexpected Expense.

DeeBee78 — Fri, 19 May 2017 04:05:53 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I was worried about my 3x CLI because I'd have it at a high limit but I do plan to pay it off as soon as I can so yeah hopefully it does reflect well. I'll wait to do it until it's close to paid off just to be safe. Thanks for the insight.

I also don't know how it works but my AMEX BCE offered me a special for 250$ for the first 1000$ charged in the first 3 months when applying which was AWESOME because on the standard site page it just said 100$ but it offered that as a special on prequalification page. I'm sure the promo credit takes months to show up but I'll hit the mark using the card so it's not all bad.

The statement credit will appear as soon as the charge that meets the spend bonus clears. I made my spend on 3/29/17, and the bonus was applied to the account on 4/1/17.

If it was Membership Rewards points, you're right. Those take two statement cycles to appear in your account. Amex seems to let statement credits post ASAP, so that $250 bonus will knock your owed balance down immediately.

Re: Utilization Question, Unexpected Expense.

Anonymous — Fri, 19 May 2017 04:47:14 GMT

Seriously! That is awesome and not expected at all 😃 Thank you for sharing that. It makes me feel good about paying it back. Thanks again!!

Re: Utilization Question, Unexpected Expense.

Anonymous — Fri, 19 May 2017 15:51:41 GMT

If you have 0% interest options do not dip into your savings.

Re: Utilization Question, Unexpected Expense.

Anonymous — Fri, 19 May 2017 15:56:14 GMT

Be super cautious about "personal" loans because some of them will report as a "consumer finance" loan which will actually HURT your FICO scores for just reporting.

Re: Utilization Question, Unexpected Expense.

Anonymous — Fri, 19 May 2017 19:00:52 GMT

Agreed Fordguy89! The only thing is that I was originally going to do just that and utilize my 0% interest on both my AMEX, Wellsfargo and Capital1 cards so that I could minimize the amount I was going to take out of my savings but I was afraid of maxing multiple cards and getting a huge drop in my score. I don't care about my score decrease (in garden anyway) but I am fearful of AA for no longer meeting the requirements of certain cards.

Thanks ABCD2199! I didn't know that. I just assumed they all showed up as installment types. In the future if I ever look into getting a personal loan I'll be sure to do my research and make sure it's a legitamite installment one. Hopefully as I build my credit up I won't need to worry about it.

Thanks to everyone that responded. All the advice and insights are so very much appreciate! Thanks again! 😃😃😃😃