Carrying a balance

[eternity22]

So I just got the Chase freedom and it gave me 0% apr for the first 15 billing cycles so I was thinking about taking advantage of that. I've never carried a balance before so I was wondering would it hurt my scores at all? Or Chase's impression of me?

[myjourney]

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@eternity22 wrote:

So I just got the Chase freedom and it gave me 0% apr for the first 15 billing cycles so I was thinking about taking advantage of that. I've never carried a balance before so I was wondering would it hurt my scores at all? Or Chase's impression of me?

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Make that card the one that reports a balance and all other PIF and unless your maxed out Chase won't care but depending on the size of the balance you carry could affect scores some what until paid down 

[youngandcreditwrthy]

I managed to retain a near 700 FICO with my Chase Freedom nearly maxxed for 6+ months. I also had 17 cards and about $170k of avail cred.
If you're going to max a card out to take advantage of the 0%, make sure to keep overall utilization low. My Freedom has a $5000 limit, so even maxxed out with a $5k limit out of $170k, my util was still low overall. FICO does ding you for having high individual account utilization though.
So what are your other stats? What other cards do you have?

[maiden_girl]

I just paid down my 4700 balance with Chase to 1500. My promo APR is ending soon

[eternity22]

The freedom is a 3k line. I haven't been using my others cards that much since I got it a few weeks ago. I have a BoA Cash Rewards at 4k, discover IT at 3k, and amazon rewards at 2k.

[FinStar]

Is your total revolving exposure (CLs) around ~ $12K.  Any loans, or other tradelines?

[youngandcreditwrthy]

Yeah mine ends in Nov/December. I've got it down to $2200. Lol I'm going to try to get it to $1500 or so. I hope that I dont pay interest, but if I just pay interest a month or two, it'll be fine. I've gotten like $200-300 in rewards, plus I just got CSP. I'll be in the black even if I pay a little interest.

[youngandcreditwrthy]

Sorry OP,
Keep your overall util low. I'd say don't carry an overall balance higher than 30% of your total credit lines in your case.
The lowest my recent util has ever been is like 10-11%.
And if you're going to max that Freedom, make sure the other cards report ZERO.

[maiden_girl]

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@youngandcreditwrthy wrote:
Sorry OP,
Keep your overall util low. I'd say don't carry an overall balance higher than 30% of your total credit lines in your case.
The lowest my recent util has ever been is like 10-11%.
And if you're going to max that Freedom, make sure the other cards report ZERO.

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I think it's fine to report a balance as long as you manage your credit responsibly and are able to pay all your bills on time without problem or without default.

[red259]

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@eternity22 wrote:

So I just got the Chase freedom and it gave me 0% apr for the first 15 billing cycles so I was thinking about taking advantage of that. I've never carried a balance before so I was wondering would it hurt my scores at all? Or Chase's impression of me?

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It will have an impact on your credit score in that it will effect your overall util. Your score will go back up the month after you pay the balance down. If you are going to have a high balance on your freedom then I would not let a balance report on any of your other cards. I would not max the freedom out and then make only min payments each month. That seems a great way to freak chase out, so make sure to make payments above the min if you have a balance near the top of your credit line.