CLI Question / How much do you spend on CC's a month

[Anonymous]

Correct, I have both Cap One  and Credit One cards.  

The Credit One card I paid their $75 annual fee already.  I plan to cancel that card eventually but figured I could leave it on my report for awhile until my scores rebound a little more.  I do NOT use the Credit One card anymore, I only put an initial purchase on it when I got it and then paid that purchse plus their annual fee off in one payment.  Credit One actaully shows that I somehow over paid by $0.03, whatever that means.

Cap One card I use a lot for purchases because I've been figuring I am showing them that a $300 limit is not enough.  I've made a few $150 payments and my first bill isn't even due yet.  The due date is the 9th and the cut date is the 12th.  I'm submitting a payment to Cap One once my last pending clears and then I'll go add a cup of coffee back to the card on the 6th so it hopefully posts by the 12th.  (They take 5 days to post it seems).

[myjourney]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Ty Myjourney!  I honestly didn't even notice the personal info and feel pretty stupid!  Hopefully that doesn't come back to bite me in the butt!  Was balancing time with the kiddo before bed with replying so kinda rushed into posting the pic.  

Thanks again 

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Lol trust me it happens so don't feel bad at all 

I see you've learned how to edit so job well done and you're now safe (anonymity)

[Shooting-For-800]

$5,000 - $10,000 per month on 2 Cap One cards.

Gotta love that free money!  

[nachoslibres]

The only time I ask for CLI's is when I'm hitting the limit / having to make more than 2 payments a month.  To me CL's don't matter much as long as they aren't in the way - and honestly I would prefer lower CL's in order for me to minimize my risk to banks (especially Chase since I currently have 4 cards with them).  I did ask for a CLI on my Barclaycard Arrival+ (which I've since PC'd to the Arrival) because I would hit the initial CL of $5,000 with a week or two of spend (and it was my first credit card that I applied for since getting back into the credit card game 3 years ago).  They did up me to a $20k limit once I could verify my income and tell them exactly why I needed it and prove that I was putting a decent amount of spend on it.  Now that it's PC'd I put maybe $10 on it every other month - so now I look at that $20k CL as a big risk for Barclaycard - especially since I'm not using it.

When I got approved for the Citi Double Cash over a year ago I only received a $9k limit - and while I've hit that limit a couple of times in a month of higher spending - it hasn't gotten in the way and so I haven't asked for an increase (besides, I don't want the HP anyway).  I always pay all my cards to $0 on that statement closing date and then pay the Double Cash down to $900 on it's statement closing date - that way I'm showing some utiliziation (10% on that card) but show 0% for everything else.  It seems this has helped me the most with respect to keeping my scores high.

[Stryder]

I am new here and diligently working to repair my and my wifes credit since a bad 2009. I had a 680 last November. I thought it would help my score by taking on a new Conns credit card for a 36month no interest deal on a TV...they gave me $3,300 credit for a total price on the tv of $3,250. My credit plumeted to 630. This was my first understanding of what "Credit utilization " meant. I had one other card that was a BOA  with a $500 CL.

After reading up and figuring out the perecentage levels, I became an ardent Credit Card flexer. I would use the BOA card for everything I had to spend anyway (Groceries, gas, phone, electric, etc...) then turn right around and pay them off...i would do that 2 to 3 times a month...they raised my limit to $1,000. In Jan, 2016 I got a Cap one card with a $750 cl...I started flexing it...after 4 months they raised the limit to $2,750. With the new cl's my utilization went down to 49%, but my TU was still only 645. I started working on the tv balance and got it down to 37%, wwent to 655. For September my CCard utilization was 16% and my scores went to almost 700, my wife's (who I added her to the cards) went to 715. What is sweet about this is, I'm not spending any new money..this would have all gone to bills anyway.

I applied and got both of us an Amex Blue Everday Cash this weekend with a $2,000 cl so I now have $11,000 total cl up from $500 in one year (Conns also increased me up from $3,300 to $5,300) so Cards are a great tool if you use them right

I have 2 questions because I am still learning... I used MyFico for a TU report and it says that my revolving credit is over utilized??? I also see people on here recommending to not use you card over 30% of its cl?? I am running mine up over 90% sometimes, but I always clean them off to zero for the statements. Are they saying my utilization at 16% is too high (my tv card still has $1400 on it) or that I am running too much money through them??

Second question is about paying them down to zero...some people say to leave some on the card? I think the Cb's want to see what I am doing and paying them off.

I built a chart from a a web page I found that showed (from their data) the Average Credit score for people that had certain levels of utilization. That chart almost exactly matches what my scores have done as I brought the percentages down. i know there are other factors, but these are averages, so it sort of takes that into account. It showed I should have a 703 at 16%, im a little under that, but i still have some deragetories on it (that will fall off this year). According to that, zero utilization should put me up over 740.

I would be glad to post it if anyone's interested.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Correct, I have both Cap One  and Credit One cards.  

The Credit One card I paid their $75 annual fee already.  I plan to cancel that card eventually but figured I could leave it on my report for awhile until my scores rebound a little more.  I do NOT use the Credit One card anymore, I only put an initial purchase on it when I got it and then paid that purchse plus their annual fee off in one payment.  Credit One actaully shows that I somehow over paid by $0.03, whatever that means.

Cap One card I use a lot for purchases because I've been figuring I am showing them that a $300 limit is not enough.  I've made a few $150 payments and my first bill isn't even due yet.  The due date is the 9th and the cut date is the 12th.  I'm submitting a payment to Cap One once my last pending clears and then I'll go add a cup of coffee back to the card on the 6th so it hopefully posts by the 12th.  (They take 5 days to post it seems).

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Hi UUicked, welcome! I started out with Credit One also, and will probably keep it up to month 10 or 11, and then close it to avoid the next AF. The $0.03 is probably cash back that you earned. I have about $0.65 cash back on mine, and it shows as -$0.65 on my account. I have read before that Credit One does not report if you have a $0 balance, but that is not the case for me. They reported last month for me when I had no balance on it. I'm not sure if it is because of the cash back amount being on there, or if it's because I made a small purchase a few days before the statement cut date and paid it off immediately. I figure as long as it's reporting a $0 balance every month it will be useful in helping my scores. Just something to think about. 

[nachoslibres]

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@terryj wrote:

I have 2 questions because I am still learning... I used MyFico for a TU report and it says that my revolving credit is over utilized??? I also see people on here recommending to not use you card over 30% of its cl?? I am running mine up over 90% sometimes, but I always clean them off to zero for the statements. Are they saying my utilization at 16% is too high (my tv card still has $1400 on it) or that I am running too much money through them??

Second question is about paying them down to zero...some people say to leave some on the card? I think the Cb's want to see what I am doing and paying them off.

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Typically you don't want over 10% to report if you are going for the best credit score.  If you run them up to 90% and then pay it before the statement cuts then whatever balance you have when you have the statement cut is what will be reported and is considered your utilization.  I've run up one of my cards to about 90% utilization a couple of times but I paid it down below 10% before the statement cut - so all that was reported on my credit report was a 10% utilization.  Typically the best utilization is max 10% but you always want at least one card to report a balance (that can then be paid off after the statement cuts with no interest charges).  You will typically see your credit score go down if you have all cards reporting a $0 balance on your credit report.

That's why I personally keep all of my cards reporting at $0 (I know when the statement is going to cut and I pay them on that day or before) except my main card - and that one I keep at 10% utilization or less when the statement cuts (it has a $9k credit limit - if I charge $7k on it I typically pay $6,100 before the statement cuts so that it reports a balance of $900).  Hopefully that makes sense.

[Stryder]

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@nachoslibres wrote:

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@terryj wrote:

I have 2 questions because I am still learning... I used MyFico for a TU report and it says that my revolving credit is over utilized??? I also see people on here recommending to not use you card over 30% of its cl?? I am running mine up over 90% sometimes, but I always clean them off to zero for the statements. Are they saying my utilization at 16% is too high (my tv card still has $1400 on it) or that I am running too much money through them??

Second question is about paying them down to zero...some people say to leave some on the card? I think the Cb's want to see what I am doing and paying them off.

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Typically you don't want over 10% to report if you are going for the best credit score.  If you run them up to 90% and then pay it before the statement cuts then whatever balance you have when you have the statement cut is what will be reported and is considered your utilization.  I've run up one of my cards to about 90% utilization a couple of times but I paid it down below 10% before the statement cut - so all that was reported on my credit report was a 10% utilization.  Typically the best utilization is max 10% but you always want at least one card to report a balance (that can then be paid off after the statement cuts with no interest charges).  You will typically see your credit score go down if you have all cards reporting a $0 balance on your credit report.

That's why I personally keep all of my cards reporting at $0 (I know when the statement is going to cut and I pay them on that day or before) except my main card - and that one I keep at 10% utilization or less when the statement cuts (it has a $9k credit limit - if I charge $7k on it I typically pay $6,100 before the statement cuts so that it reports a balance of $900).  Hopefully that makes sense.

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Thank you! that was what I was asking...I just watched another YouTube credit guru saying to NOT put more than 30% on a card or it would hold your credit score back for not handling your money correctly? I think running it up and paying it off consistantly shows you can manage money. I will start leaving small balances here and there just as a  precautionary measure.

Now that I have 3 cards, I won't be flexing them as much anyway.... I will be spreading the usage around more. 

Another thing I am hearing is to have more cards.... like 10 or so? Any thoughts on that?

Thanks, I really appreciate your time!

[nachoslibres]

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@terryj wrote:

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@nachoslibres wrote:

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@terryj wrote:

I have 2 questions because I am still learning... I used MyFico for a TU report and it says that my revolving credit is over utilized??? I also see people on here recommending to not use you card over 30% of its cl?? I am running mine up over 90% sometimes, but I always clean them off to zero for the statements. Are they saying my utilization at 16% is too high (my tv card still has $1400 on it) or that I am running too much money through them??

Second question is about paying them down to zero...some people say to leave some on the card? I think the Cb's want to see what I am doing and paying them off.

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Typically you don't want over 10% to report if you are going for the best credit score.  If you run them up to 90% and then pay it before the statement cuts then whatever balance you have when you have the statement cut is what will be reported and is considered your utilization.  I've run up one of my cards to about 90% utilization a couple of times but I paid it down below 10% before the statement cut - so all that was reported on my credit report was a 10% utilization.  Typically the best utilization is max 10% but you always want at least one card to report a balance (that can then be paid off after the statement cuts with no interest charges).  You will typically see your credit score go down if you have all cards reporting a $0 balance on your credit report.

That's why I personally keep all of my cards reporting at $0 (I know when the statement is going to cut and I pay them on that day or before) except my main card - and that one I keep at 10% utilization or less when the statement cuts (it has a $9k credit limit - if I charge $7k on it I typically pay $6,100 before the statement cuts so that it reports a balance of $900).  Hopefully that makes sense.

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Thank you! that was what I was asking...I just watched another YouTube credit guru saying to NOT put more than 30% on a card or it would hold your credit score back for not handling your money correctly? I think running it up and paying it off consistantly shows you can manage money. I will start leaving small balances here and there just as a  precautionary measure.

Now that I have 3 cards, I won't be flexing them as much anyway.... I will be spreading the usage around more. 

Another thing I am hearing is to have more cards.... like 10 or so? Any thoughts on that?

Thanks, I really appreciate your time!

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I think for the highest credit score you want to have 22+ accounts - but those could be accounts that were closed and in the past (i.e. previous student loans, auto loans, closed credit cards).  So yes, more cards could help with this, but more cards also equal more new accounts and HPs - things which lower your score - at least for the short term.  Also, remember some banks will not allow you to get new cards if you have too many new accounts (Chase won't normally approve you now if you have 5 or more new credit card accounts in the last 24 months - and that is with any bank - and even if some of those accounts you are just an authorized user on).  Also, some banks will close down your current accounts with them if you have applied for too much credit recently (i.e. see Chase again - they have been known to close down all credit card accounts of users that apply for too many new accounts in a certain period of time - usually 12 months).  Also, for the most optimal score you need a good mix of credit accounts - so credit cards, auto loans, mortgages, etc. - having all just credit card accounts isn't going to give you the best score.

My personal advice is to maximize what you have now: keep reported utilization down to 10% or lower, don't apply for CLIs unless you absolutely have to or unless you know they will only result in a soft pull, and only apply for cards that you know you will use and benefit from in the long term.  I personally only have 4 personal credit cards that are currently open in my name - and have one that I'm an AU on my wife's card that doesn't report to my credit report.  I need just one more account to hit that 22/23 account threshold for maximizing my credit score but in my opinion I will get that when the time comes - I'm not going to go apply for a credit card or some other account just to help boost my score.  That's what I recommend for you as well.  Use the products you need that will benefit you - but don't open accounts just to help boost your score.

[Stryder]

That sounds like very solid advice! I have 3 good cards right now, BoA Rewards Plus, Cap1 Quicksilver, and AMEX Blue Everyday. I will just garden these..I have too many HP's right now anyway.

thanks so much! Great info!