topic Re: Will carrying a balance hurt me? in Credit Cards

Will carrying a balance hurt me?

Madyun1982 — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 14:33:01 GMT

I have 3 cards.. That I'm carrying a balance on.. All have 0%apr..

Each offered something different according to my needs, and my holiday shopping.. I'm just a lil nervous because I rarely carry an balance.. I normally AZEO.. I'm gonna pay the balances down come next week.. But I'm just wondering how bad it looks to the creditors that I'm carrying a balance..

Amex Cash magnet 600 /20,000

Navy plat balance transfer 400/25000

Citi Rewards 1,373/ 6100 in which 550 is in the Citi flex pay..

My TCL is 127,750

In which order should I tackle bringing down the balance on my cards?

Thanks in advance

Re: Will carrying a balance hurt me?

fatcomic — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 15:00:35 GMT

If I'm reading that correct, you're carrying a balance of $2,373 across your cards, with a total credit limit of $127,000. That is less than 2% utilitization, I think you'll be fine.

If they are all 0%, I'd pay the Citi down first because it's the highest utilitzation.

Re: Will carrying a balance hurt me?

addicted_to_credit — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 15:02:06 GMT

The only one that's wonky is the citi, it's over 10%(it doesn't matter unless you are trying to continuously maximize your score)with that said I definitely would NOT worry, agg utli is fine.

Re: Will carrying a balance hurt me?

Madyun1982 — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 15:10:44 GMT

Thanks for the replies

I was thinking of paying Citi down first.. I think I'm just nervous because I normally don't carry a balance. And wondered how that would look to creditors..

I'm gonna pay Citi down as suggested

I'm not worried about my scores, because I know they will bounce back as I pay the balances down.

I don't plan to App for anything anytime soon..

Re: Will carrying a balance hurt me?

Anonymous — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 15:11:15 GMT

The balances are reasonably small compared to your available credit.

I would pay off the Citi Rewards because the balance used is the highest percent of credit available of the cards listed, however someone else may choose to argue that for AZEO the amount owed on Citi Rewards would pay off both the other cards.

My reply to that is that unless you are prepping for an important credit application, it may not be worth stressing over AZEO.

Unless you have one or more typos that would reveal greater debt if corrected, you are in much better shape than a very large percent of the population.

Also, if one of the cards has a zero balance transfer offer but interest IS charged for new balances, try to avoid putting new purchases on that card.

Re: Will carrying a balance hurt me?

fatcomic — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 15:23:24 GMT

@Madyun1982 wrote:
Thanks for the replies
I was thinking of paying Citi down first.. I think I'm just nervous because I normally don't carry a balance. And wondered how that would look to creditors..
I'm gonna pay Citi down as suggested
I'm not worried about my scores, because I know they will bounce back as I pay the balances down.
I don't plan to App for anything anytime soon..

You're not going to pose any type of risk or red flag with your creditors with that low of a balance being carried over a couple of months. My theory is, if they offer you 0% they have to expect that you're going to use their money.

I have a Toro (lawn equipment) account that I'm at 48% utilization on, granted the balance is at 0% for 36 months. I just divided the original balance and divided by 35 and I have it set to auto-pay that amount each month. I could pay it off but the FICO simulator only shows a 3-6 point increase if I paid it off, that isn't going to bump me into any new credit tier so I continue to use their money at 0%.

Re: Will carrying a balance hurt me?

Madyun1982 — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 15:26:25 GMT

@Anonymous

I have no other debt.. don't plan on apping or spending anything else on the cards.. My FICO scores are 799-804 between the 3 bureaus

Oh I almost forgot.. I have a $84.00 dollar balance on a loan.. That I keep to keep some sort of loan open.. My next payment isn't until 4/2021

But I still put 10 dollars on it a month..

Re: Will carrying a balance hurt me?

Madyun1982 — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 15:31:14 GMT

@fatcomic

I planned on having this balance paid off by Feb..

I decided to put my Christmas shopping on these cards.. To get the rewards.. And to take advantage of the 0%apr

I just didn't want them to slash my credit limit for carrying a balance

Like I've read they have done to others. I know it all goes back to individual profiles..

Re: Will carrying a balance hurt me?

KJinNC — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 15:45:33 GMT

Will it theoretically hurt - yeah, maybe slightly. Or maybe not, it's pretty minor anyway. I wouldn't worry about it. If they are all 0%, I'd pay the one with the highest utilization first, but, no big deal in this case. JMO.

Re: Will carrying a balance hurt me?

thornback — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 15:47:59 GMT

@Madyun1982 wrote:
@Anonymous
I have no other debt.. don't plan on apping or spending anything else on the cards.. My FICO scores are 799-804 between the 3 bureaus
Oh I almost forgot.. I have a $84.00 dollar balance on a loan.. That I keep to keep some sort of loan open.. My next payment isn't until 4/2021
But I still put 10 dollars on it a month..

If you're not applying for anything then don't stress it and enjoy your 0%. You don't have to be AZEO all the time. You're not over-extended, overall util is still extremely low and even the balance on Citi is fine. Let your credit work for you.

You may see a small dip in scores due to no longer being azeo - maybe 10 points, if that much - but it's temporary.

Re: Will carrying a balance hurt me?

fatcomic — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 15:51:06 GMT

@Madyun1982 wrote:
@fatcomic
I planned on having this balance paid off by Feb..
I decided to put my Christmas shopping on these cards.. To get the rewards.. And to take advantage of the 0%apr
I just didn't want them to slash my credit limit for carrying a balance
Like I've read they have done to others. I know it all goes back to individual profiles..

You're in a lot better shape than most people, I'm sure your lenders would not want to lose you as a customer. I wouldn't worry about them slashing your limit at all, I'm actually curious if Citi doesn't give you an auto CLI hoping you'll put more spend on their card. Definitately take advantage of those rewards!!

Re: Will carrying a balance hurt me?

AverageJoesCredit — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 16:07:21 GMT

@Madyun1982 wrote:
I have 3 cards.. That I'm carrying a balance on.. All have 0%apr..
Each offered something different according to my needs, and my holiday shopping.. I'm just a lil nervous because I rarely carry an balance.. I normally AZEO.. I'm gonna pay the balances down come next week.. But I'm just wondering how bad it looks to the creditors that I'm carrying a balance..
Amex Cash magnet 600 /20,000
Navy plat balance transfer 400/25000
Citi Rewards 1,373/ 6100 in which 550 is in the Citi flex pay..
My TCL is 127,750
In which order should I tackle bringing down the balance on my cards?
Thanks in advance

This looks bad....real bad.. . When you put $600 on a 20k credit card or $400 on a $25k credit it tells the lender you are struggling to spend...i would highly recommend maxing out your cards so that if they look they know you are not a MFer.....

JK, Happy Holidays

Re: Will carrying a balance hurt me?

HeavenOhio — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 16:08:09 GMT

@Madyun1982, the balances are small, and they haven't been around long enough to cause any concern.

If you were to go months on end paying only the minimum, it's possible that a lender might get tired of waiting.

But given the small amounts, Citi isn't going to notice AMEX or Navy, AMEX isn't going to notice Citi or Navy, etc. And Navy is pretty easy about members carrying balances to begin with.

Re: Will carrying a balance hurt me?

AverageJoesCredit — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 16:09:25 GMT

@KJinNC wrote:
Will it theoretically hurt - yeah, maybe slightly. Or maybe not, it's pretty minor anyway. I wouldn't worry about it. If they are all 0%, I'd pay the one with the highest utilization first, but, no big deal in this case. JMO.

How does less than 2% actually hurt anyone? Lol, there are bigger problems going on then someone using their credit cards and actually paying them

Re: Will carrying a balance hurt me?

Anonymous — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 16:09:42 GMT

Lenders expect customers to take advantage of 0% offers, this time of year above and beyond any other. Even if OP were to add a zero to the balances on both of those first 2 cards listed it wouldn't be any cause for worry with those strong limits, so certainly not troublesome at the low actual levels.

Re: Will carrying a balance hurt me?

Madyun1982 — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 16:15:46 GMT

@AverageJoesCredit

😂😂😂😂 I needed that laugh..

Happy Holidays to you as well

Re: Will carrying a balance hurt me?

Madyun1982 — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 16:17:57 GMT

Thanks everyone..

It's just when you work so hard with rebuilding your credit..

You wanna do everything in your power not to back slide.

I hope you all have a Happy Holiday

🎄🎄🎄🎄

Re: Will carrying a balance hurt me?

AverageJoesCredit — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 17:49:43 GMT

@Madyun1982 wrote:
@AverageJoesCredit
😂😂😂😂 I needed that laugh..
Happy Holidays to you as well

Haha, yeah we all need them

But seriously, just use your cards for their intended purposes, if a bank wants to be petty you will know where you stand and for every neener neener lender there will always be a nanner nanner boo boo to turn to😁

Re: Will carrying a balance hurt me?

RickNATL — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 18:44:46 GMT

I think you're fine. I do the same, I just ensure I pay at least 1/3 to 1/2 of those balance (never a minimum) to leverage the offer w/o risking my payment pattern with the creditor(s).

Re: Will carrying a balance hurt me?

JNA1 — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 20:50:38 GMT

I used to kill myself making completely sure I did AZEO. After reading what most people here had to say about it, I don't even both with it anymore. In playing around with letting more cards report, I have seen that it's not enough difference to both with. To test this, I went from AZEO reporting at 1% in December 2019 and let my card balance triple to 3% in Jan 2020 and I dropped 1 point.

I now just let whatever my monthly spend is report and not worry about it. My limits are much higher now, so my overall utilization stays low. I'd stay 4% or lower, there's no really no big advantage to doing AZEO. On paper, I carry @ $4K month now, but I always PIF, unless I'm taking advantage of a 0% promo.