Amex Plan It warning.... Read if you plan on using Plan It while still using card!

[NRB525]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Wait a minute, so you're not saying that they will apply anything over the minimum to the Plan it if you have curent charges, right? Otherwise how would current charges ever get paid off. If your Planit payment is $45 per month and you charge $150 to the card, wouldn't you then pay $195 for the total payment which satisfies the minimum and pays the new charge off?

I don't generally have a Plan it on the same card I use daily, but recent used my ED card for something by mistake. So I paid the minimum plus the new charge, I guess I'll see how that works out. 

On this particular subject I have the free plan it offer as well and I wished I would have waited to buy a new bed. Though rigth now I just don't have any  major purchases, at least not by August 10th. 

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Your statement has three "Balances" for determining what you want to pay:

New Balance is everything all in. Pay this to pay off any new charges, plus the remainder of any Plan It.

Adjusted Balance is the Plan It payment amount, plus new charges. Pay this to avoid interest charges on the new charges.

Minimum Payment Due is the Plan Payment and Minimum on new charges, if you are OK with starting to pay interest on those charges.

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

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@TSlop wrote:

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Wait a minute, so you're not saying that they will apply anything over the minimum to the Plan it if you have curent charges, right? Otherwise how would current charges ever get paid off. If your Planit payment is $45 per month and you charge $150 to the card, wouldn't you then pay $195 for the total payment which satisfies the minimum and pays the new charge off?

I don't generally have a Plan it on the same card I use daily, but recent used my ED card for something by mistake. So I paid the minimum plus the new charge, I guess I'll see how that works out. 

On this particular subject I have the free plan it offer as well and I wished I would have waited to buy a new bed. Though rigth now I just don't have any  major purchases, at least not by August 10th. 

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The payment for the month was already made. Any new payments will go towards the existing balance, not any new charges. You'd have to wait until the next statement to make sure it goes where it's supposed to.

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I was about to ask this question before you answered it. I was going to say Best Buy is the opposite of Amex, but your post explains why I "think" it is opposite, when it really isn't. I always let my statements cut and PIF, so I've never ran into this issue.

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Best Buy has a specific way of applying payments, and just like this case, it doesn't always benefit you.

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

Pay attention to the last 2 lines.

[joltdude]

Not gonna lie the first time I used plan-it i fell into this trap... You have to wait for the statement to pay for the normal monthly spend on non plan-it purchases. otherwise you might end up paying off your plan it and not your monthly purchases... 

-J

[RickNATL]

Agreed.

[MunchieMom]

Good to know! Thank you!

Honestly, I don't use Plan It because I am trying to limit spending as a personal goal but if I do, this will be a good nugget for the treasure trove in the dragon's lair. LOL 

[Anonymous]

The Plan It feature finally showed up on my Gold Card the other day. Unsure yet as to whether I'll use it, although it may be useful and then i can just close my ED Card. I mean if i can make monthly payments on a Charge Card (and not pay high interest) then there's no point in having one of their revolvers, right? lol

[NRB525]

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@Anonymous wrote:

The Plan It feature finally showed up on my Gold Card the other day. Unsure yet as to whether I'll use it, although it may be useful and then i can just close my ED Card. I mean if i can make monthly payments on a Charge Card (and not pay high interest) then there's no point in having one of their revolvers, right? lol

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Yes, this is in the back of my mind as well. 

[Anonymous]

And just to test it out I used it on a $350 purchase yesterday and it gave me only one choice at 24 months, honestly was suprised because all plan offers in the past were usually only 3-6 months.  I'll likely pay it off much sooner, the fee is $2.73 per month which is much cheaper than the APR would be. 

Whare as for the same exact amount on my Delta Blue the fee was $2.79 a month, which I thought was a bit odd.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I'm pretty bummed about this, as I used to pay off my entire balance every month right BEFORE balance was officially posted. That way I would have zero balance reported to the credit bureaus. My score kept going up & up.

  NOW they see the Plan It balance AND my entire month's spending every single month.

(Scores took quite a hit)

Guess I've gotta stop using my Amex for normal spending if I want to go back to increasing my scores.

(It was a zero $ 24-month Plan It promotion for some surgery expenses)

I saw this in the fine print, but didn't realize what a PITA it would be.