topic Re: Multiple Credit Cards Payments Per Month in Credit Cards

Multiple Credit Cards Payments Per Month

mmajer4211 — Sat, 30 Mar 2019 17:04:02 GMT

I just received my first rewards card (Citi AAdvantage) and want to utilize it as much as possible. Rather than using my debit card for each transaction and certain bill payments each month I'd like to use my rewards card. I know this can be a slippery slope if not careful budgeting wise but my question is does it look bad if I make multiple payments on my credit card each month to adjust to this? My initial plan is to make a payment once a week in order to keep things on track. Will this look bad? Do they frown upon this? Should I do something different? As always, I appreciate your advice. Thanks.

Re: Multiple Credit Cards Payments Per Month

Adkins — Sat, 30 Mar 2019 17:10:07 GMT

No, lenders do not frown on this. The only time this is an issue that I know of is when it's a new Amex card. You can only pull one payment in the first month, after that, you can pay as many times as you want. I've made multiple payments on both of my Citi accounts. They don't care, as long as they get their money!

Re: Multiple Credit Cards Payments Per Month

Revelate — Sat, 30 Mar 2019 17:42:17 GMT

On the flip side this is divergent behavior compared to the average consumer.

YMMV as a result if we get into a round of credit tightening; while I doubt lenders would get to the point of penalizing for it in terms of their first rounds of portfolio pruning, anything that is abnormal will likely be considered interesting in today’s data driven world. That may not be where you want to be when portfolios are being scrutinized.

Also from a credit building perspective you want other lenders to see you are a good credit user too, hence I just let my balances report and then PIF after the statement cuts... but ultimately do whatever let’s you sleep better at night.

Re: Multiple Credit Cards Payments Per Month

CreditInspired — Sat, 30 Mar 2019 18:50:46 GMT

@mmajer4211 wrote:
I just received my first rewards card (Citi AAdvantage) and want to utilize it as much as possible. Rather than using my debit card for each transaction and certain bill payments each month I'd like to use my rewards card. I know this can be a slippery slope if not careful budgeting wise but my question is does it look bad if I make multiple payments on my credit card each month to adjust to this? My initial plan is to make a payment once a week in order to keep things on track. Will this look bad? Do they frown upon this? Should I do something different? As always, I appreciate your advice. Thanks.

You’ll be okay. You may want to start out easy by paying bills you normally pay using the CC—like utilities, subscriptions (Netflix, Hulu), etc. Then start using it for groceries. As long as you get in the habit of only buying what you can afford, you’ll be okay.

Enjoy.

Re: Multiple Credit Cards Payments Per Month

Kforce — Sat, 30 Mar 2019 18:57:45 GMT

@Adkins wrote:
No, lenders do not frown on this.
The only time this is an issue that I know of is when it's a new Amex card.

I have had credit cards for at least 40+ years.

Have always paid at minimum 2 times a month.

I am sure they incur some slight processing cost, so I would not pay daily, however they also have your money early to earn interest while you give up the float.

Never had any issues, get CL increases, good starting limits on new cards, etc.

My current CL's are capped because I don't want or need high limits, however at one time had limits over 50k on cards that had small spend and paid twice a month. I don't believe issuers like to see large balances report as much as customers that pay on time, always.

They don't mind getting paid early.

Note: Some credit card issuers take a little time to set things up, and like a slow start.

As a new customer I usually start slow and don't scare them with extreme spend, or make multiple payments first couple of months.

There are other CC issuers like Amex who allow only one payment for the first month or two.

If the card has a "Sub" you need spend to get you reward, but avoid extreme over spending first month or two.

After two statements and payments, I have never had any issue paying 2-3 times a month, or large spend.

Treat a new credit card like a new car, take it easy first month or two.

Don't race it day one.

Re: Multiple Credit Cards Payments Per Month

Remedios — Sat, 30 Mar 2019 19:20:35 GMT

@mmajer4211 wrote:
I just received my first rewards card (Citi AAdvantage) and want to utilize it as much as possible. Rather than using my debit card for each transaction and certain bill payments each month I'd like to use my rewards card. I know this can be a slippery slope if not careful budgeting wise but my question is does it look bad if I make multiple payments on my credit card each month to adjust to this? My initial plan is to make a payment once a week in order to keep things on track. Will this look bad? Do they frown upon this? Should I do something different? As always, I appreciate your advice. Thanks.

OP, you're going to get two sets of answers

One will be pay after the statement is cut, the other will be to pay however works for you. Both camps are firmly rooted and I've never seen anybody change their mind.

There is no right or wrong way. Mostly it's just philosophical musings on how to handle payments and credit in general.

You do whatever works for you. Lenders just want their money back.

Re: Multiple Credit Cards Payments Per Month

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Sat, 30 Mar 2019 19:26:42 GMT

@Remedios wrote:
@mmajer4211 wrote:
I just received my first rewards card (Citi AAdvantage) and want to utilize it as much as possible. Rather than using my debit card for each transaction and certain bill payments each month I'd like to use my rewards card. I know this can be a slippery slope if not careful budgeting wise but my question is does it look bad if I make multiple payments on my credit card each month to adjust to this? My initial plan is to make a payment once a week in order to keep things on track. Will this look bad? Do they frown upon this? Should I do something different? As always, I appreciate your advice. Thanks.

OP, you're going to get two sets of answers

One will be pay after the statement is cut, the other will be to pay however works for you. Both camps are firmly rooted and I've never seen anybody change their mind.

There is no right or wrong way. Mostly it's just philosophical musings on how to handle payments and credit in general.

You do whatever works for you. Lenders just want their money back.

Amex allows up to 5 payments a day soooo, yeah. Pay as many times as you need to. I just made 3 payments on my amex in 2 weeks because my limit isn't high enough. I'm going to use that to leverage a CLI.

Re: Multiple Credit Cards Payments Per Month

flyingmd — Sun, 31 Mar 2019 04:10:29 GMT

You may want to doublecheck. Citibank only allows 3 payments on the account online in a billing cycle. It is the only CC I have ever had that put this kind of restriction on payments to the account.

Re: Multiple Credit Cards Payments Per Month

Anonymous — Sun, 31 Mar 2019 04:45:16 GMT

@Revelate wrote:
On the flip side this is divergent behavior compared to the average consumer.

YMMV as a result if we get into a round of credit tightening; while I doubt lenders would get to the point of penalizing for it in terms of their first rounds of portfolio pruning, anything that is abnormal will likely be considered interesting in today’s data driven world. That may not be where you want to be when portfolios are being scrutinized.

Also from a credit building perspective you want other lenders to see you are a good credit user too, hence I just let my balances report and then PIF after the statement cuts... but ultimately do whatever let’s you sleep better at night.

Yes, apart from the obvious (no late payments, fraud etc) the best way to minimize the chance of AA is to appear "normal", as much like a usual consumer as possible. Not doing so MIGHT cause extra eyes on the account. Most of the time that isn't an issue, but if things are otherwise borderline (util, new accounts, inqs) manual reviewers might decide to be more cautious than the automated processes....

While I don't think that paying multiple times a month will have an impact, variations such as paying from lots of different banks certainly might get flagged (and this may not cause an issue if things are fine).

IMO the major reason not to pay several times a month, at least in the longer term, is simply that you are giving up one of the advantages of credit cards, that the issuers are floating you money. Paying early wastes this. But if you are concerned with budgeting, and want to test the waters in this way, that's fine.

Re: Multiple Credit Cards Payments Per Month

Anonymous — Sun, 31 Mar 2019 05:01:22 GMT

On the cards I use daily (Citi DC and USAA), I PIF every 2 weeks on my payday. I do it to ensure I stick to my budget. Once I get higher income my plan will change, but I now it's just good for me to get those CCs cleared before I start looking at other spend.

Re: Multiple Credit Cards Payments Per Month

Andypanda — Sun, 31 Mar 2019 05:34:53 GMT

Discover has a policy that if a pymakes 2 payments within 3 days, the available credit for the second payments won’t be credited until 8 days, beyond that, you can make multiple payments a month.

Re: Multiple Credit Cards Payments Per Month

Anonymous — Sun, 31 Mar 2019 12:23:07 GMT

I pay all my cards as soon as the transaction posts. I hate waiting until statement cuts or anything for that.
Just the thought of having debt makes gives me a headache and insomnia(weird I know).

Re: Multiple Credit Cards Payments Per Month

SouthJamaica — Sun, 31 Mar 2019 12:32:00 GMT

@mmajer4211 wrote:
I just received my first rewards card (Citi AAdvantage) and want to utilize it as much as possible. Rather than using my debit card for each transaction and certain bill payments each month I'd like to use my rewards card. I know this can be a slippery slope if not careful budgeting wise but my question is does it look bad if I make multiple payments on my credit card each month to adjust to this? My initial plan is to make a payment once a week in order to keep things on track. Will this look bad? Do they frown upon this? Should I do something different? As always, I appreciate your advice. Thanks.

No it doesn't look bad at all, it looks great. They don't frown on it, it will make them happy.

Re: Multiple Credit Cards Payments Per Month

sarge12 — Sun, 31 Mar 2019 13:10:10 GMT

@mmajer4211 wrote:
I just received my first rewards card (Citi AAdvantage) and want to utilize it as much as possible. Rather than using my debit card for each transaction and certain bill payments each month I'd like to use my rewards card. I know this can be a slippery slope if not careful budgeting wise but my question is does it look bad if I make multiple payments on my credit card each month to adjust to this? My initial plan is to make a payment once a week in order to keep things on track. Will this look bad? Do they frown upon this? Should I do something different? As always, I appreciate your advice. Thanks.

I will respectfully disagree with those who say that making multiple payments never looks bad. I always make multiple payments, and while it does lead to very high credit scores, it has also resulted in CLI's being denied. While paying in full will rarely ever cause a score decrease, it actually can in very rare occasions. If it results in your credit utilization being 0%, it can look like you are not using credit at all, and lower your score. My credit scores are always over or very close to 800, but I am almost never granted credit limit increases. The reason given is that I have only used a small percentage of my existing credit lines. If you are like me, and always PIF, every single month, and never pay interest, you are a transactor. Credit card issuers often call transactors deadbeats. Transactors reap the credit cards rewards, but never pay the issuers any interest. A transactor is therefore much less profitable for the issuers, if profitable at all. While the only way being a transactor will cause scores to drop is if it looks as if you are not using credit, it can and likely will result in declines for CLI's with existing card issuers. While I am not saying you should ever carry a balance in order to increase scores or the likelyhood of credit limit increases the chance of CLI's being denied is very likely. I still PIF, and make multiple payments every month without regret, even though I don't ever get CLI's anymore.

Re: Multiple Credit Cards Payments Per Month

GApeachy — Sun, 31 Mar 2019 13:46:47 GMT

@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:
I just made 3 payments on my amex in 2 weeks because my limit isn't high enough. I'm going to use that to leverage a CLI.

Yes, this is what I did yesterday....requested cli for a specific purchase that would have put me over my limit and it was granted.

I have to pay weekly (weakly) every week due to low sl/cl's.

Re: Multiple Credit Cards Payments Per Month

Remedios — Sun, 31 Mar 2019 13:58:53 GMT

OP is dealing with one card only and attempting to budget the way it works for them

There will be plenty of time to play CLI/credit reindeer games later.

I think it's by far more important to pay on time versus when a person pays. OP should stick to what works for them instead of trying to induce future increases or please lender's computer.

Once they have more experience, they can choose whichever camp would be the best for them instead of unnecessarily complicating their life from a get go.

While paying before the statement is generated might be a waste of time for some, it's not a CLI Doom and Gloom scenario.

That's just my opinion, and like the rest, I have no intentions of changing it.

Re: Multiple Credit Cards Payments Per Month

Anonymous — Sun, 31 Mar 2019 14:07:53 GMT

@Remedios wrote:

That's just my opinion, and like the rest, I have no intentions of changing it.

I'm happy to change my opinion for fairly small amounts of money. There is an opportunity cost in sticking to your beliefs!

(The major issue if finding people willing to pay. Anyone?)

Re: Multiple Credit Cards Payments Per Month

Remedios — Sun, 31 Mar 2019 14:17:39 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Remedios wrote:

That's just my opinion, and like the rest, I have no intentions of changing it.
I'm happy to change my opinion for fairly small amounts of money. There is an opportunity cost in sticking to your beliefs!
(The major issue if finding people willing to pay. Anyone?)

You'll get your paypal card soon, no need for a second gig.

Re: Multiple Credit Cards Payments Per Month

HeavenOhio — Sun, 31 Mar 2019 15:49:59 GMT

Most banks are happy with multiple payments. Those that aren't are an exception. It's good that the OP asked. I don't see any problem with Citi.

In this case, the OP wants to get some use out of the card on a low limit. Multiple payments are a necessity to make that happen.

Another reason to make multiple payments is if it's what works best with your budget. Taking that further, I'd call "paying as you go" a necessity if you've just spent three years paying off a mountain of credit card debt. You absolutely want to ensure that you don't land in that situation again.

Re: Multiple Credit Cards Payments Per Month

Kforce — Sun, 31 Mar 2019 16:23:06 GMT

@flyingmd wrote:
You may want to doublecheck. Citibank only allows 3 payments on the account online in a billing cycle. It is the only CC I have ever had that put this kind of restriction on payments to the account.

Somewhere in the fine print for my Citi double cash it said only 4 payments per billing cycle.

When I posted that in another post, I got bombarded with users that paid many times a month.

It was a limit they do not enforce. I only pay two time a month, and know this is not a problem