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Here's the question that I would have to think about it was me paying off Kay...
Assuming the store will accept a payment by running a charge on a credit card, if you're not able to PIF when the Chase bill arrives, there might be better alternatives, even if rewards are lost.
If you plan to carry a balance anyway, many times you can get a true balance transfer with a 0% APR period, which would likely be more profitable than earning the rewards and paying interest. Of course, if you plan to PIF the Chase bill none of this matters, and getting rewards is the obvious best way to go.
If you plan to let the balance on the Chase card 'ride' for a few months, though, you might want to do the math and see which method will be the most lucrative for you.
Thanks for all the help guys...Reward and cash back are not my biggest concern on this, i just wanted to know if I will be rewarded or not thats all.
The MAIN reason why I am doing this is to lower my utilization and raise my score. Here is what I have in mind, please let me know what's your thought and this may work?
Right now I have credit limit of $4,000 with KAY, I charge $3,500 back in Dec. 2014 and I have been paying it down to $2000 balance now. With this being balance my utilization is 50% out of $4,000 which is high. My way of thinking is using my Chase Freedom to paid OFF KAY balance. My Chase Freedom have $12,500 credit limit and I have 0 balance. With that being said, I want to paid it off with Chase, now that will bring my KAY card to 0% and my Chase card around 16% utilization.
Does this make any sense? good or bad ideas?
Well, it sounds like you would get some points. I guess Kay must just process it differently.
What is the APR you are paying on the Kay card now? What is the APR on the Freedom card?
@Anonymous wrote:Thanks for all the help guys...Reward and cash back are not my biggest concern on this, i just wanted to know if I will be rewarded or not thats all.
The MAIN reason why I am doing this is to lower my utilization and raise my score. Here is what I have in mind, please let me know what's your thought and this may work?
Right now I have credit limit of $4,000 with KAY, I charge $3,500 back in Dec. 2014 and I have been paying it down to $2000 balance now. With this being balance my utilization is 50% out of $4,000 which is high. My way of thinking is using my Chase Freedom to paid OFF KAY balance. My Chase Freedom have $12,500 credit limit and I have 0 balance. With that being said, I want to paid it off with Chase, now that will bring my KAY card to 0% and my Chase card around 16% utilization.
Does this make any sense? good or bad ideas?
It does make sense to me, and I commend you're taking 'control' of the situation and actively managing the situation.
Now, the 'question of the hour' is will your action have the desired effect?
Honestly, I'm not sure it will make a difference. It's said that credit scores are generally impacted by overall utilization, i.e. over all of your accounts combined. That's while many folks will hang on to cards with high credit lines knowing they'll never use it... they want it to 'pad' their utilization, thus making their numbers more attractive to lenders (and the scoring algorithms).
What you're describing is moving the debt from one lender to another, but it's the same debt. Unless having the debt on your Chase card will make it easier for you to get the debt paid off (like with a lower APR, or a possible 0% APR offer like I mentioned in a previous post) I'm not sure I would bother. Of course, I have no idea what kind of APR you're being charged by Kay, and if it's like most store accounts it's probably high... in that case, moving the debt to Chase will help you save interest, but as for scoring it will likely make little (or no) difference at all.
There's a time to actively manage your score (getting ready for a mortgage, etc.) and there's a time to be more concerned about APR and saving 'real' cash. In this case, unless you are about to start working on a mortgage, I would do whatever it took to help work on the balance... if that means moving it to Chase, then I would do so. If that means doing 0% APR balance transfer, I would do that.
Just do the numbers, and whatever saves the most money, that'll be what you want to do. Once the balance is paid down, then be concerned with the intricacies of your score.
Thanks guys..
YES KAY APR are really high 17.99% right now which is why I want to pay if off with Chase. My Chase is 0% APR and 0 Fee with BT for 15months (I just got the card). So Yes i want to do which is my original plan. I would not paid off Chase right a way, just going to pay what I normally pay with KAY to Chase.
I am looking for mortage next year, Im trying to lower my utilization before that time come and increase my score.
@Anonymous wrote:Thanks guys..
YES KAY APR are really high 17.99% right now which is why I want to pay if off with Chase. My Chase is 0% APR and 0 Fee with BT for 15months (I just got the card). So Yes i want to do which is my original plan. I would not paid off Chase right a way, just going to pay what I normally pay with KAY to Chase.
I am looking for mortage next year, Im trying to lower my utilization before that time come and increase my score.
Knowing this, it's a no-brainer... just like you plan on doing, I'd pay off the account using my Chase card, and enjoy both the rewards and the new account 0% APR!
Those new account 0% promos are sweet... it's almost worth getting the account just for that alone!
@UncleB wrote:Honestly, I'm not sure it will make a difference. It's said that credit scores are generally impacted by overall utilization, i.e. over all of your accounts combined. That's while many folks will hang on to cards with high credit lines knowing they'll never use it... they want it to 'pad' their utilization, thus making their numbers more attractive to lenders (and the scoring algorithms).
Some consensus is that score is impacted by both, i.e. overall utilization but also per card to some extent. So an overall utilization of 1% with a single card at 95% will still get dinged (presumably maxing out a card can be the beginning of a financial crisis, where you max out one card and move on to the next).
But in the OPs case, they reduce high util on one card and reduce interest charges, so certainly a win.
@UncleB wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Have you guys ever use Chase Freedom card to pay down any store card or balance? If so does you earn point or cash back by doing this? I have a KAY jewelers store card that I would like to pay down maybe paid off by using my chase freedom, just curious by doing so will earn point or cash back?
If you're paying down the Kay account with a balance transfer, it's doubtful you'll earn any rewards. (I'm not speaking in definites since I don't have a Chase card, however this is generally universal across all issuers.)
However, if you're able to pay on the Kay account by making a 'charge' on the Chase card then it should be treated like any other purchase. I don't remember if it was you or not (forgive me if it was you) but somebody a few days back mentioned it was possible to pay on a Kay store account by using a credit card, i.e. Kay would accept the actual card for payment. If this is the case, you should be golden as far as earning rewards goes.
Only card I can think of that might give you a reward is the BoA balance rewards card but that might be just for holding a balance vs a BT?