Bad timing for Amex CLI, should I wait?

[Mischa]

My 61 days from opening Amex BCP is coming up next week and I'm trying to decide if I should request a CLI at that time or wait until circumstances change. 

I'm carrying a balance. I wanted to hit the SUB quickly and take advantage of the 0% APR intro period. I've ran approximately $5500 through the card so far, and currently owe about 3k of that. This should be paid off within the next few months at the most. Utilization has remained under 30% on this card since my limit is 15k. Is this frowned upon though? I would assume carrying a balance would be somewhat common during the 0% period? All my cards are PIF each month unless doing a 0% promo. 

Another concern is my EX 8 score is 9 points lower than when I applied and I have a recent new inquiry on EX (in the process of getting a mortgage). 

Has anyone successfully gotten a first CLI with Amex while carrying a balance? If I decide to request it how much should I ask for? I was thinking 25k and maybe they'd counter offer? I'm aware asking for higher may result in an income verification request. 

If I wait until it's paid down I'm worried the mortgage will have lowered my scores further. 

I did browse through the Amex 3x CLI guide post, but couldn't find much on my specific questions. 

[Ficoproblems247]

AMEX likes PIF, but if you're making very large payments toward a balance that isn't taking up your entire CL in the first place, they're probably cool with that. They don't like it when people let their balance linger (0% promo or not, they could care less.) They usually don't ask for IV unless you request north of 35k on a single line. What reason do your really have to not ask? If they deny you your CLI, you only have to wait 91 days until you can ask again-not the end of the world. If it were me I'd go for it! It all boils down to only the AMEX algorithms knowing whether they will say yes or no. Good luck if you go for it and let us know what happens for DPs sake.