Credit One Shenanigans

[vertekal]

My Credit One balance has been $0 for a few months now. On the 15th of each month, Credit One charges me a $8.25 annual fee, and a few pennies in interest. Then they report to the credit bureaus on the same day, so it looks like I'm carrying an $8 balance each month. I tried making a payment today before the annual fee hits, but it won't let me since my balance is currently $0. I pay the $8.25 each month, but there's no way to pay it before it gets reported.  

I'm trying to get a mortgage, and really want this card to report $0. I don't want to close it, as I have no idea what it would do to my credit score. 

Any ideas?

[AllZero]

Have you considered pushing a payment?

[OmarGB9]

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@AllZero wrote:
Have you considered pushing a payment?

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This. Simply "push" a payment using your primary bank's billpay feature maybe a week in advance for the monthly fee amount + interest.

[vertekal]

Thanks @AllZero and @OmarGB9  .. i just pushed $9 and there's 10 days til the 15. Let's see what happens ...

[M_Smart007]

When all else fails, get out and "push"

[OmarGB9]

Oh by the way, unless this is your only credit card and/or makes up a significant portion of your total credit limits, meaning closing it would significantly increase your utilization, then closing it shouldn't really do much, if anything, to your scores.

[Anonymous]

I have a similar issue. I pay $20 each month (I put a small charge on it every month as well) and it covers the upcoming annual fee charge so that the card never reports a balance. They allow you to make a payment larger than the amount owed when you select Other Amount. 

[nwa479]

I have two cards with Credit One and also trying to report zeroes. One of my cards as the monthly fee like yours and I have another card with them with a 39 AF.  

 Last month I pushed a payment to them to cover the 8.25 but did not factor in the 1 dollar minimum interest charge.  I called to tell them I'm ready to close both cards.  They forwarded me to their specialist who canceled the next three months on the monthly fee and credited me 20 percent on the AF.  They did not forgive the min interest though.  They also lowered the interest rate for six months which didn't matter to me since the cards are paid off

i told them I wanted to PC into one of there better cards with cash back and no AF since my credit has improved. They would not agree to do a product change now but said they may be able to do more in a few months when I call bavk

I would close the card now but trying to avoid any new accounts or HPs until after get a new mortgage.  

If you combine pushing the payments to them to cover any fees with pressuring them to remove the fees it'll work for now. I know they are mostly doing rebuild cards but have a couple cards with cash back and low or no AF.  

[vertekal]

Thanks again, everyone! I checked this morning and now I have a $9 credit. 

I'll make a note on my budget spreadsheet to do that each month. Once I get a mortgage and get the house keys in my hand, I'm cancelling this card!

[SPChaser]

Glad the push method worked out for you. All I can say is Credit One helped my rebuild immensely and would recommend them to anyone in rebuild mode, but once I didn't them anymore, I had to cut ties. I couldn't stand the annual fees and paying for CLIs.