topic Re: Is Paying GE cards in full the best strategy for CLI? in Credit Cards

Is Paying GE cards in full the best strategy for CLI?

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 16:55:17 GMT

I was thinking about this. I see a lot of folks here say pay walmart, dillards etc in full every month. I can understand the logic for a visa/ms/amex since they make transaction fees on these accounts. But is your account profitable for them on a branded store card if they dont collect any interest? Or is the store still paying them a fee for each transaction? I normally pay all my bills in full every month, just wondering if it makes sense to throw them few dollars in interest to look profitable.

Re: Is Paying GE cards in full the best strategy for CLI?

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 17:15:05 GMT

I got a CLI on my Old Navy card from $200 to $1,200 during my fourth month of having the card. I used it and paid in full each month. It reported a balance the first month, which was paid immediately after the statement cut, and then reported zero each month after.

They don't seem to care if you pay in full, or possibly just post a small balance and then pay it right away the next month. They're still making money from the transaction fees, the interest isn't really the important part.

Re: Is Paying GE cards in full the best strategy for CLI?

youngandcreditwrthy — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 17:17:23 GMT

I'd say pif the first few months to get an auto cli, then maybe carry a small balance just to toss 'em a bone (interest money). Lolll

Re: Is Paying GE cards in full the best strategy for CLI?

kese — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 17:27:47 GMT

I have my walmart card since February 2012. I started @ $500. Called for a cli and got $400 more.

I recently called the UW department and my credit limit now stands at $5500- my highest limit so far.

The lady told me they use internal scoring and I am sure the secret was I was using it and PIF.

They got 0.0000 interest from me and I think that is the secret.

Re: Is Paying GE cards in full the best strategy for CLI?

flowfaster — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 17:41:36 GMT

I went from $400 to 10K in one year and never paid 1 cent in interest.

Re: Is Paying GE cards in full the best strategy for CLI?

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 20:11:15 GMT

Good info guys... I'm trying to garden both my Amazon and Walmart cards up. Had both for a year and stuck at the same CL forever until last week. Put some charges on 'em and now gonna pay 'em off and callback in January for another CLI.

Re: Is Paying GE cards in full the best strategy for CLI?

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 20:21:59 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I was thinking about this. I see a lot of folks here say pay walmart, dillards etc in full every month. I can understand the logic for a visa/ms/amex since they make transaction fees on these accounts. But is your account profitable for them on a branded store card if they dont collect any interest? Or is the store still paying them a fee for each transaction? I normally pay all my bills in full every month, just wondering if it makes sense to throw them few dollars in interest to look profitable.

For stores that issue their own cards, you are still profitable because they don't lose money to merchant fees when you swipe. They may incur a cost to process your monthly payment, but it will be greatly less than the per-swipe merchant fees.

For store cards underwritten by another bank, the store may very well pay a merchant fee to the bank, but as an incentive to offer the cards in the first place, the fee is probably much less than the fee to go through a major credit card network. That is if they even have to pay a swipe fee at all -- I would venture to guess that the banks make enough money off of people revolving balances on store cards.

EDIT: As far as getting a CLI from GE, YMMV. Every one of my auto CLIs from GE was granted while my card was maxed out.

Re: Is Paying GE cards in full the best strategy for CLI?

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 01:48:42 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I was thinking about this. I see a lot of folks here say pay walmart, dillards etc in full every month. I can understand the logic for a visa/ms/amex since they make transaction fees on these accounts. But is your account profitable for them on a branded store card if they dont collect any interest? Or is the store still paying them a fee for each transaction? I normally pay all my bills in full every month, just wondering if it makes sense to throw them few dollars in interest to look profitable.

Very bad idea. You look like a bigger credit risk if you can't afford to PIF.

For me, Heavy usage and PIF gets me unsolicited CLI from GE (Paypal smart connect).