topic Amex keeping balance question in Credit Cards

Amex keeping balance question

pat0812 — Wed, 24 Sep 2014 07:08:01 GMT

I started to build my credit 2 years ago and did pretty well and after 6 months I was approved for AMEX gold charge card.

I used it a lot and always paid on time and after 6 months applied for the BLUE cash reward credit card and was instantly approved $3500

I than asked for a 3x increase limit after 2 months and was approved to $13,200

In the last year I have opened a business so now i have a $8500 balance on that card and I pay it off slowly and hopefully by January I will pay it all off

All my other cards have limits around $3500 with zero balance on them

I wanted to know if AMEX see's me as a bad lendor ? I used to pay off in full every month and now I left that high balance but I still pay in time, just small amounts until I get more money saved up.

Will my relationship with AMEX be badly affected because of that? Or once I pay it off they won't "remember" me that for long ?

If my credit report is clean with no negatives and I never missed a payment is there any chance they will reduce my credit limit ?

Any thoughts guys ?

Re: Amex keeping balance question

pat0812 — Wed, 24 Sep 2014 07:29:19 GMT

Should I open a new credit card account and transfer some of the balance ?

Chase Slate has 15 months interest free on transfer from other credit card, should I apply for it and increase my credit line so my ratio of debt will go down ?

Is this a good card ?

What credit line would I get if my average is $5000 on all cards ?

Re: Amex keeping balance question

Anonymous — Wed, 24 Sep 2014 08:14:25 GMT

How long have you been carrying a balance?

Re: Amex keeping balance question

Chris679 — Wed, 24 Sep 2014 09:44:14 GMT

If I'm following this timeline correctly then this card is about a year old and after you did 3x CLI you racked up $8500 balance on the $13500 limit and you are paying it off slowly. Yes this could be viewed as risky behavior by them but I wouldn't worry. Pay off as quickly as you can and don't open new accounts that can look even more risky. Worst thing they would do is maybe lower your limit but I doubt it as long as you play it cool.

Re: Amex keeping balance question

ezdoesit — Wed, 24 Sep 2014 10:52:52 GMT

@pat0812 wrote:
I started to build my credit 2 years ago and did pretty well and after 6 months I was approved for AMEX gold charge card.
I used it a lot and always paid on time and after 6 months applied for the BLUE cash reward credit card and was instantly approved $3500
I than asked for a 3x increase limit after 2 months and was approved to $13,200

In the last year I have opened a business so now i have a $8500 balance on that card and I pay it off slowly and hopefully by January I will pay it all off
All my other cards have limits around $3500 with zero balance on them

I wanted to know if AMEX see's me as a bad lendor ? I used to pay off in full every month and now I left that high balance but I still pay in time, just small amounts until I get more money saved up.

Will my relationship with AMEX be badly affected because of that? Or once I pay it off they won't "remember" me that for long ?

If my credit report is clean with no negatives and I never missed a payment is there any chance they will reduce my credit limit ?

Any thoughts guys ?

I don't think it is to risky with the $8500 balance since you are paying down about $1500-2000. Now if you were paying $500 dollars a month and charging $500 then that might send up a red flag. The risky part is opening up a business and putting business charges on a personal card obviously I don't know if that is the case here or not.

Also if you open up a new CC to transfer balances that could be since as risky behavior to some CCC because depending on how much your paying down they might consider that pyramiding debt.

Re: Amex keeping balance question

jamesdwi — Wed, 24 Sep 2014 12:04:49 GMT

@ezdoesit wrote:
@pat0812 wrote:
I started to build my credit 2 years ago and did pretty well and after 6 months I was approved for AMEX gold charge card.
I used it a lot and always paid on time and after 6 months applied for the BLUE cash reward credit card and was instantly approved $3500
I than asked for a 3x increase limit after 2 months and was approved to $13,200

In the last year I have opened a business so now i have a $8500 balance on that card and I pay it off slowly and hopefully by January I will pay it all off
All my other cards have limits around $3500 with zero balance on them

I wanted to know if AMEX see's me as a bad lendor ? I used to pay off in full every month and now I left that high balance but I still pay in time, just small amounts until I get more money saved up.

Will my relationship with AMEX be badly affected because of that? Or once I pay it off they won't "remember" me that for long ?

If my credit report is clean with no negatives and I never missed a payment is there any chance they will reduce my credit limit ?

Any thoughts guys ?
I don't think it is to risky with the $8500 balance since you are paying down about $1500-2000. Now if you were paying $500 dollars a month and charging $500 then that might send up a red flag. The risky part is opening up a business and putting business charges on a personal card obviously I don't know if that is the case here or not.
Also if you open up a new CC to transfer balances that could be since as risky behavior to some CCC because depending on how much your paying down they might consider that pyramiding debt.

+1 carrying a balance is okay, if you are paying on it, carrying a balance and letting it grow monthly is a bad thing, always pay more than you charge when you are carrying a balance. It will make AMEX happy, may not get you a CLI quickly, but it earns them money and you paying down your debt shows you are in control of your debt, stuff happens AMEX knows that sometime you need to carry a balance on the card sometimes.

Re: Amex keeping balance question

takeshi74 — Wed, 24 Sep 2014 16:32:07 GMT

@pat0812 wrote:
I than asked for a 3x increase limit after 2 months and was approved to $13,200

In the last year I have opened a business so now i have a $8500 balance on that card and I pay it off slowly and hopefully by January I will pay it all off

I always find calculating utilization to be helpful. 8,500 / 13,200 is 64%. 64% is high. The faster you can get it down the better, generally speaking. Prolonged high utilization can lead to adverse action with any creditor. The general recommendation is to keep utilization under 30%. I can't say if your payoff timeframe is something that AmEx would consider risky or not but there's certainly a chance that they could take adverse action.

@pat0812 wrote:
What credit line would I get if my average is $5000 on all cards ?

It really doesn't work that way. It's a matter of the usual factors, your income and the creditor's critiera. Creditor don't just simply match limits.

@pat0812 wrote:
I wanted to know if AMEX see's me as a bad lendor ?

No but that's because AmEx is the lender. You're the lendee.