topic Re: Can I pay off my 65% utilization before AMEX statement cutoff in Credit Cards

Can I pay off my 65% utilization before AMEX statement cutoff

joestay — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 22:45:16 GMT

Okay, so my AMEX cutoff date is tomorrow 10/11/10. I just charge an airfare today due to unforseen circumstance in another state. It hasn't posted yet to my account and my cutoff date is tomorrow. I don't have enough in bank account(the account I use to pay my credit card bill) to payoff the amount today or tomorrow. I'll have to go to bank tomorrow and transfer money from my other bank to the bill paying bank account, which I can do after 4:00 pm pacific time. Then the earliest I can pay if it post tomorrow is after 9:00 pm pacific time. Now, my 6 month of AMEX is coming up in 2 weeks and I really want to push the luv button for a cli if it shows up. I'm afraid that my 65+% utlization will prevent me from getting a cli. Any ideas on what to do or sure I be okay to get my cli on my first 6 month aniversary with AMEX?

Re: Can I pay off my 65% utilization before AMEX statement cutoff

iloveboston — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 23:27:57 GMT

I thought banks were closed tomorrow (Columbus Day)?

Re: Can I pay off my 65% utilization before AMEX statement cutoff

joestay — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 23:53:53 GMT

Man, this makes it worse.

Re: Can I pay off my 65% utilization before AMEX statement cutoff

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 06:06:48 GMT

I'm not sure this is a problem.

Although I had Blue for about 8 years at the time, I distinctly remember getting an auto CLI last year when my charging had me somewhere between 30%-50% utilization but PIF after every statement closed for several straight months. I'm pulling the statements from last fall to confirm the timing of the auto CLI right now, but Amex says that may take 24 hours.

Whatever you do, PIF ASAP and don't ask for a CLI until you do. Also, I personally would make sure I was not reporting any large balanced with other cards (though I'm not sure what was reported for the auto CLI, I do know that I had zero balanced on all my other cards when I requested and received a CLI from Amex in June/July -- I just tried to find the soft on my EX report to confirm the date and it looks like Amex did not even pull a soft. Weird.).

Re: Can I pay off my 65% utilization before AMEX statement cutoff

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 07:27:10 GMT

@joestay wrote:
Okay, so my AMEX cutoff date is tomorrow 10/11/10. I just charge an airfare today due to unforseen circumstance in another state. It hasn't posted yet to my account and my cutoff date is tomorrow. I don't have enough in bank account(the account I use to pay my credit card bill) to payoff the amount today or tomorrow. I'll have to go to bank tomorrow and transfer money from my other bank to the bill paying bank account, which I can do after 4:00 pm pacific time. Then the earliest I can pay if it post tomorrow is after 9:00 pm pacific time. Now, my 6 month of AMEX is coming up in 2 weeks and I really want to push the luv button for a cli if it shows up. I'm afraid that my 65+% utlization will prevent me from getting a cli. Any ideas on what to do or sure I be okay to get my cli on my first 6 month aniversary with AMEX?

Why are you going to do this? Instead, add more bank accts information at your Amex online acct. Then you don't have to run to the banks to transfer the money.

Re: Can I pay off my 65% utilization before AMEX statement cutoff

TangMeister — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 19:49:27 GMT

@joestay wrote:
Okay, so my AMEX cutoff date is tomorrow 10/11/10. I just charge an airfare today due to unforseen circumstance in another state. It hasn't posted yet to my account and my cutoff date is tomorrow. I don't have enough in bank account(the account I use to pay my credit card bill) to payoff the amount today or tomorrow. I'll have to go to bank tomorrow and transfer money from my other bank to the bill paying bank account, which I can do after 4:00 pm pacific time. Then the earliest I can pay if it post tomorrow is after 9:00 pm pacific time. Now, my 6 month of AMEX is coming up in 2 weeks and I really want to push the luv button for a cli if it shows up. I'm afraid that my 65+% utlization will prevent me from getting a cli. Any ideas on what to do or sure I be okay to get my cli on my first 6 month aniversary with AMEX?

I wouldn't stress it because:

1. You can pay it off and zero out the account BEFORE you ask for the CLI in two weeks. Your internal history on the card is most important to Amex.

2. If it's like mine and many other Amex cardholders, this stmt balance won't even report to the CRAs for 6 weeks due to their huge lag in reporting.

3. Even if it DOES report, you can zero out the card balance, call Amex and have them update the CRAs with the zero balance..which they will do as a courtesy.

4. Amex seems to report the balance to the CRAs that's present 3-4 days BEFORE the statement cuts on many accounts. Sooo....you may ok anyway.

Don't sweat it. Clean up afterward.

Re: Can I pay off my 65% utilization before AMEX statement cutoff

Watchmann — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 23:58:30 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Why are you doing to do this? Instead, add more bank accts information at your Amex online acct. Then you don't have to run to the banks to transfer the money.

Good point, I have two accounts registered for my AMEX cards and although I use only one on an ongoing basis I have, on occasion, used the backup account, depending on how the balances stack up. It costs nothing to register a second account, 'just in case'.

Re: Can I pay off my 65% utilization before AMEX statement cutoff

joestay — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 04:18:32 GMT

The reason for this is because I don't want one of my bank account to be used online for anything. I made the bank account that I used to pay my credit card for everything that requires it online. I'm paranoid like this.

@Anonymous wrote:
@joestay wrote:
Okay, so my AMEX cutoff date is tomorrow 10/11/10. I just charge an airfare today due to unforseen circumstance in another state. It hasn't posted yet to my account and my cutoff date is tomorrow. I don't have enough in bank account(the account I use to pay my credit card bill) to payoff the amount today or tomorrow. I'll have to go to bank tomorrow and transfer money from my other bank to the bill paying bank account, which I can do after 4:00 pm pacific time. Then the earliest I can pay if it post tomorrow is after 9:00 pm pacific time. Now, my 6 month of AMEX is coming up in 2 weeks and I really want to push the luv button for a cli if it shows up. I'm afraid that my 65+% utlization will prevent me from getting a cli. Any ideas on what to do or sure I be okay to get my cli on my first 6 month aniversary with AMEX?
Why are you doing to do this? Instead, add more bank accts information at your Amex online acct. Then you don't have to run to the banks to transfer the money.

Re: Can I pay off my 65% utilization before AMEX statement cutoff

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 07:35:28 GMT

@joestay wrote:
The reason for this is because I don't want one of my bank account to be used online for anything. I made the bank account that I used to pay my credit card for everything that requires it online. I'm paranoid like this.
@Anonymous wrote:
@joestay wrote:
Okay, so my AMEX cutoff date is tomorrow 10/11/10. I just charge an airfare today due to unforseen circumstance in another state. It hasn't posted yet to my account and my cutoff date is tomorrow. I don't have enough in bank account(the account I use to pay my credit card bill) to payoff the amount today or tomorrow. I'll have to go to bank tomorrow and transfer money from my other bank to the bill paying bank account, which I can do after 4:00 pm pacific time. Then the earliest I can pay if it post tomorrow is after 9:00 pm pacific time. Now, my 6 month of AMEX is coming up in 2 weeks and I really want to push the luv button for a cli if it shows up. I'm afraid that my 65+% utlization will prevent me from getting a cli. Any ideas on what to do or sure I be okay to get my cli on my first 6 month aniversary with AMEX?
Why are you going to do this? Instead, add more bank accts information at your Amex online acct. Then you don't have to run to the banks to transfer the money.

Sorry ... I just wanted to advise you the easier way to manage the payments.

Well, joestay ... if that is your choice ... then you have no choice but to make the trips to the banks.

Re: Can I pay off my 65% utilization before AMEX statement cutoff

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 07:41:59 GMT

@Watchmann wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Why are you going to do this? Instead, add more bank accts information at your Amex online acct. Then you don't have to run to the banks to transfer the money.
Good point, I have two accounts registered for my AMEX cards and although I use only one on an ongoing basis I have, on occasion, used the backup account, depending on how the balances stack up. It costs nothing to register a second account, 'just in case'.

Watchmann, you are smart! Yes, that's right. It's FREE!!

Re: Can I pay off my 65% utilization before AMEX statement cutoff

joestay — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 15:37:15 GMT

Okay, so I just check my fico score from equifax and because of the high utilization, my score dropped to 704. That's a 22 point drop with they took into account my overall utilization of 40% from all credit account. Man, this is not good. I'll check again in a month after they update my new credit limit and new % utilization, which is under 5% now.

Re: Can I pay off my 65% utilization before AMEX statement cutoff

haulingthescoreup — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 18:14:17 GMT

For people without bad derogs on their reports, revolving util can easily be the biggest drivers of their scores, triggering wild swings. The good news is that it's the element over which a consumer has the most control. Assuming that the consumer has money available to pay down the balances, that is...

Re: Can I pay off my 65% utilization before AMEX statement cutoff

larinoriani — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 20:28:47 GMT

@haulingthescoreup wrote:
For people without bad derogs on their reports, revolving util can easily be the biggest drivers of their scores, triggering wild swings. The good news is that it's the element over which a consumer has the most control. Assuming that the consumer has money available to pay down the balances, that is...

100% true. My scores went up 40 points in one month when I paid almost 90% of my balances!

Re: Can I pay off my 65% utilization before AMEX statement cutoff

TangMeister — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 02:57:11 GMT

@joestay wrote:
Okay, so I just check my fico score from equifax and because of the high utilization, my score dropped to 704. That's a 22 point drop with they took into account my overall utilization of 40% from all credit account. Man, this is not good. I'll check again in a month after they update my new credit limit and new % utilization, which is under 5% now.

You know, you can just call them and request they update with the CRAs now, rather than after the next stmt cut.

Re: Can I pay off my 65% utilization before AMEX statement cutoff

Watchmann — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 05:33:15 GMT

@TangMeister wrote:

@joestay wrote:
Okay, so I just check my fico score from equifax and because of the high utilization, my score dropped to 704. That's a 22 point drop with they took into account my overall utilization of 40% from all credit account. Man, this is not good. I'll check again in a month after they update my new credit limit and new % utilization, which is under 5% now.
You know, you can just call them and request they update with the CRAs now, rather than after the next stmt cut.

True, but unless the OP is going to apply for credit before they next update it it really doesn't serve any purpose. Just let it update next month and make a note in the future to keep your balances down when the CC's report. Micromanaging your score might be a fine activity, but it can be overworked.

Re: Can I pay off my 65% utilization before AMEX statement cutoff

joestay — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 02:58:03 GMT

Thanks everyone. I will be looking for a house at the end of december and want to get the best rate possible. That's why I need to keep my score as high up as possible. Do you think it'll be a problem with the longest account being about 3 years old?

Re: Can I pay off my 65% utilization before AMEX statement cutoff

joestay — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 19:10:40 GMT

Okay, so I just check my EQ score again today and I'm back up to 740 now. My new 5k CL has reported and my utilization on revolving is less than 1%. I went from 704 to 740 just because of that. This is a huge difference.

@joestay wrote:
Okay, so I just check my fico score from equifax and because of the high utilization, my score dropped to 704. That's a 22 point drop with they took into account my overall utilization of 40% from all credit account. Man, this is not good. I'll check again in a month after they update my new credit limit and new % utilization, which is under 5% now.

Re: Can I pay off my 65% utilization before AMEX statement cutoff

larinoriani — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 17:40:28 GMT

@joestay wrote:

Okay, so I just check my EQ score again today and I'm back up to 740 now. My new 5k CL has reported and my utilization on revolving is less than 1%. I went from 704 to 740 just because of that. This is a huge difference.
@joestay wrote:
Okay, so I just check my fico score from equifax and because of the high utilization, my score dropped to 704. That's a 22 point drop with they took into account my overall utilization of 40% from all credit account. Man, this is not good. I'll check again in a month after they update my new credit limit and new % utilization, which is under 5% now.

That's great!