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Chase Freedom Questions: usage/CLI

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Slabenstein
Valued Contributor

Re: Chase Freedom Questions: usage/CLI

Whoops, I replied too early!

 


@Anonymous wrote:

@Slabenstein wrote:

It looks like youngness of overall file and the two CS negs are probably two things that held your SL down on the Freedom app.  Iirc, Chase often doesn't even approve w/o a year of revolving history.  I think your best path to improving your limit with Chase is just to use the card normally and pay responsibly while you let your accounts gain age and your negs age off.


Thanks for the info. So I'm not spending more than I normally would, I am simply charging it to a CC instead of paying with debit. My thinking behind leaving the balance on synchrony is to let something report since there is a balance on there, instead of paying it off and then having a different card report a balance. Since it's at a managble number and under 8% for my total, but about 18% for that specific card, would it be a good idea to get that card to below 10% and then pay that balance slowly. When all my cards go down to 0 my fico drops like 20 points. So for AZEO I was thinking about just paying it down slower since all others report $0. I get that the balance should technically be below 10% but with a minimum of $25 payment due I would only have a balance for 4 months and then it would be paid off.

 

As above, but you're already under 10% agg w/ where you are now (not counting your Chase balances, if you start letting it report).  Highest individual card util only needs to be below 30% (after rounding to the nearest % using regular rounding, so really 29.4% or less).  If you're not seeing a partial AZ penalty on any of the bureaus, then this Synch account should work for your AZ anchor for the remainder of your balance paydown.

 

After I pay off the bed, whick card would I want to run a balance on and what % is optimum for AZEO.  does it matter if it's 1% 2% 4%? I'm done applying for credit now and just want to let my accounts age and not be above 5/24 for a CLI in case I have to ask with chase and get a HP. If that makes sense. So that's why I'm carrying a balance on synchrony. Since it already has a balance and paying if off they would all be $0. 

But after it is paid off what card would I run a balance on?

Cap 1 secured is $600 limit 

Credit one is $300

Chase is $500

Synchrony is $1000, but it's a furniture account so not a good one for carrying a balance. 

Would I just let the $13 charge on cap1 stay on it for AZEO? I  just want to make sure I would be doing this right what do you recommend? Paying off synchrony and just letting the cap 1 report a $13 balance? Thanks for your help. 

 

Optimum for AZEO is really just posting a small balance, like $10-$20, on one bankcard, but any amount that stays at or under 9.4% agg util should be fine.  Which card you want to use for AZEO after the Synch is paid off will depend on how you want to handle Chase's quirk.  Unlike other lenders, Chase will report your balance to the bureaus both on your statement date AND whenever you have a $0 balance.  Since it can be easy to accidentally get the AZ penalty when using Chase for an AZEO anchor due to this, a lot of ppl will pick a different card.  An alternative way to handle it is to let your Chase balance report, pay it down to $10 until you have another charge post, and then pay off that $10.  With the way you plan to use the Chase card, I think it would be easier to have Cap1 be your AZEO anchor and zero out Chase if you need the score boost.


 


Message 11 of 18
Slabenstein
Valued Contributor

Re: Chase Freedom Questions: usage/CLI


@Anonymous wrote:

It's a synchrony home I got it at mattress firm but can use it for other furniture only.



@Anonymous wrote:

So it would be best to pay it off and report on cap 1? I'm concerned about synchrony closing accounts due to inactivity. Since it's only for furniture and when I pay it off idk when I would put another charge on it. I have never let chase report any type of balance. I always pay it off right away, and on the 5th when the statement drops don't use it for a few days to make sure it doesn't report a balance. 


For AZEO purposes, if none of the bureaus are showing you a partial AZ penalty for not reporting a balance on a bankcard, then it's fine.  But another important thing to keep in mind w/ AZEO is that you don't need to do it all the time.  I think it's important to practice implementing it, if you haven't done it before, so you know how to apply it to your profile, but if you don't have an app coming up then you don't strictly speaking need the boost it provides.  Everything it maximizes is a snapshot mechanic that only takes into account how your profile looks at the time your score is generated, so you only really need to do it when you need that extra boost to score.  At present, you're not planning to app so you can stay under 5/24 and you want to extend the period you're showing usage on the Synch account, so it would be reasonable to pay down the Synch balance over the next few months like you're planning, even if it wasn't the optimal AZEO anchor.  If, let's say, you want to roll the dice on a Chase HP CLI 6 mo's from now, that would be the time to have AZEO implemented ahead of your CLI request so you're in the best position when you do.

 


Message 12 of 18
ChargedUp
Senior Contributor

Re: Chase Freedom Questions: usage/CLI


@Anonymous wrote:

So it would be best to pay it off and report on cap 1? I'm concerned about synchrony closing accounts due to inactivity. Since it's only for furniture and when I pay it off idk when I would put another charge on it. I have never let chase report any type of balance. I always pay it off right away, and on the 5th when the statement drops don't use it for a few days to make sure it doesn't report a balance. 


Synch will usually let you go 6 months to a year without use before closing an account. Even if they did close the account, it will still show as positive payment history on your files for around 10 years, so it's not really worth using it just to keep it alive, so to speak. Cap One, Credit One and Chase are enough to optimize your scores as your 3 revolvers. There's nothing wrong with letting a balance report here and there if you are paying them in full. When your file ages, the derogs drop off and you're ready to app for another credit product is when you want to worry about AZEO.

 

As far as Chase and auto CLI's, they do happen... I've received 3 of them so far with my oldest card being Freedom Unlimited from 2016. I can tell you after 3 months of use, they bumped my Freedom unlimited from the SL of $4500 to $5500. About 18 months later they pushed it up to $9500. My CSP got a $1500 boost from buying $3500 in plane tickets. This tells me Chase does pay attention to useage and can be willing to give you more room to spend as long as your credit file supports the action. Of your 3 majors, Chase is the keeper card so I would concentrate my organic spend there as much as can be allowed. Cap One may graduate, but will likely never grow much and Credit One is simply for rebuilding.

Message 13 of 18
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Chase Freedom Questions: usage/CLI

Awesome thanks so much for your help. I didn't think about this but the cap 1 did report a $13 balance maybe that's why I'm not getting hit with a penalty? Thanks for all of your help This is the first time in my life having credit and I wanted to do it as best as I can. I didn't know AZEO was a bank card that needed to report a balance. I usually somehow mess up with cap 1 and they end up reporting the balance. What I mean by that is that is, it sits there until the statement drops and even though I pay it off the statement balance reports. I figured cap 1 would be the easiest card because unlike the others I can pay off right away I can't do that with cap 1. With credit one I can pay off until the day the statement drops and it Never reports a balance, it says 0 due but has a balance of like $30 I put on it a month that's it pay it off before it's due. With cap1 secured I can't seem to time it right to pay it off before the statement post a balance.  Anyway thanks for all of the help, I will just keep reading as much as I can and trying to figure this thing out. I appreciate all of the responses. Thanks so much 

Message 14 of 18
Slabenstein
Valued Contributor

Re: Chase Freedom Questions: usage/CLI


@Anonymous wrote:

Awesome thanks so much for your help. I didn't think about this but the cap 1 did report a $13 balance maybe that's why I'm not getting hit with a penalty? Thanks for all of your help This is the first time in my life having credit and I wanted to do it as best as I can. I didn't know AZEO was a bank card that needed to report a balance. I usually somehow mess up with cap 1 and they end up reporting the balance. What I mean by that is that is, it sits there until the statement drops and even though I pay it off the statement balance reports. I figured cap 1 would be the easiest card because unlike the others I can pay off right away I can't do that with cap 1. With credit one I can pay off until the day the statement drops and it Never reports a balance, it says 0 due but has a balance of like $30 I put on it a month that's it pay it off before it's due. With cap1 secured I can't seem to time it right to pay it off before the statement post a balance.  Anyway thanks for all of the help, I will just keep reading as much as I can and trying to figure this thing out. I appreciate all of the responses. Thanks so much 


From your description, it sounds like you're waiting until after the Cap1 statement generates to pay it off.  If that's what you're doing and you have a $13 recurring charge on the card, then it will always report a balance b/c the statement balance is what Cap1 reports to the bureaus.  Luckily, this will work perfectly for using it as an AZEO anchor after the Synch balance is paid off. 

 

If you want your Cap1 to report a $0 balance, you'll need to pay the balance on or before the statement close date.  One quirk w/ Cap1 is that they no longer have their statements close on the same date each month, so if you want an active Cap1 card to report $0 you kind of have to keep track of the range of dates on which your statement can close and make sure the balance is $0 by the earliest date of that range.


Message 15 of 18
ChargedUp
Senior Contributor

Re: Chase Freedom Questions: usage/CLI

One other thing of note. With Chase, even if they report a balance when the statement cuts, you can pay the balance in full and Chase will update the balance to zero within a few days instead of waiting for the next statement.

Message 16 of 18
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Chase Freedom Questions: usage/CLI


@ChargedUp wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

So it would be best to pay it off and report on cap 1? I'm concerned about synchrony closing accounts due to inactivity. Since it's only for furniture and when I pay it off idk when I would put another charge on it. I have never let chase report any type of balance. I always pay it off right away, and on the 5th when the statement drops don't use it for a few days to make sure it doesn't report a balance. 


Synch will usually let you go 6 months to a year without use before closing an account. Even if they did close the account, it will still show as positive payment history on your files for around 10 years, so it's not really worth using it just to keep it alive, so to speak. Cap One, Credit One and Chase are enough to optimize your scores as your 3 revolvers. There's nothing wrong with letting a balance report here and there if you are paying them in full. When your file ages, the derogs drop off and you're ready to app for another credit product is when you want to worry about AZEO.

 

As far as Chase and auto CLI's, they do happen... I've received 3 of them so far with my oldest card being Freedom Unlimited from 2016. I can tell you after 3 months of use, they bumped my Freedom unlimited from the SL of $4500 to $5500. About 18 months later they pushed it up to $9500. My CSP got a $1500 boost from buying $3500 in plane tickets. This tells me Chase does pay attention to useage and can be willing to give you more room to spend as long as your credit file supports the action. Of your 3 majors, Chase is the keeper card so I would concentrate my organic spend there as much as can be allowed. Cap One may graduate, but will likely never grow much and Credit One is simply for rebuilding.


Thank you for all of that info. I thought from what I read on these forums that the more you use chase the better chances you have of a CLI. But I wanted to ask others experience. I know that because it was a low SL that YMMV but I like the points and if I'm spending it anyway might as well earn the points instead of paying with debit. 

I am just going to wait this all out but wanted to make sure it was OK to charge so much on my chase and then pay it off right away, just making sure that wasn't a mistake. Like if I should keep it under 30% even though I pay it right away for a higher chance of a auto CLI. That's basically what I was wondering. But I'll just keep all of my regular spending on chase since that's the only one with rewards anyway. Even though it's only a couple of months difference between cards age, I will more than likely keep the secured even though I put $200 to have a $300 SL deposit. And eventually close the credit one since it has an AF. After the first year it's billed monthly which I don't like and not sure if I can change that. Right now I just had 1 subscription on each to show some use (cap1and creditone) but I do not expect to do much with either of these in the long run, and will eventually close the creditone but after a few years and building up positive history and after getting a few more cards I actually want. I will keep doing what I'm doing and pay off synchrony with the hopes of getting a CLI with chase. Thanks for your input I appreciate it. 

Message 17 of 18
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Chase Freedom Questions: usage/CLI


@Slabenstein wrote:
 

 

If you want your Cap1 to report a $0 balance, you'll need to pay the balance on or before the statement close date.  One quirk w/ Cap1 is that they no longer have their statements close on the same date each month, so if you want an active Cap1 card to report $0 you kind of have to keep track of the range of dates on which your statement can close and make sure the balance is $0 by the earliest date of that range.


Sounds like a headache with them so the best course of action is just to let that be the one that reports and don't try and worry about the different ranges of statement dates. Yes it's a reoccurring charge every month of $13. 

Message 18 of 18
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