Data on Credit Card High Balance Reporting whether Statement Balance or Mid-Cycle

[NAVYCHOP]

Thought some others might find my experience helpful and might add some of their experiences with other cards:

(1). AMEX:  it appears AMEX reports a high balance based on what is the highest balance that appears on a statement.

Earlier this year I ran up my AMEX Platinum charge card because I heard that the FICO Mortgage 2 computes credit utilization of charge cards as a percentage of high balance.  (As I understand, newer FICO versions do not compute credit utilization for charge cards.)

In any case, I had a high balance mid-cycle of $65k but my closing statement was $53k and AMEX reported the high balance as the $53k balance when the statement generated.

(2). BOA: It appears that BOA reports an account's highest balance, even if it is mid-cycle and not an amount due on a statement.

This past month I put all my charges on a new Bank of America Premium Elite Rewards card.  The statement that generated had an $18k balance but the balance mid-cycle was $22k and BOA reported the $22k as the lifetime high balance so they look at the highest balance ever on the account whether or not it generated on the statement.

Interestingly, many of my various FICO scores took a dive when BOA reported the credit utilization on my new account at about 75 percent.  When I paid off the balance in full after the statement generated, this month's scores returned immediately to normal.  In contrast, when I ran up a much higher balance on the Platinum AMEX charge card, my FICO scores generally were not affected.

[Christin602Bey]

Hello!

Thank you for sharing your experience with credit card high balance reporting. It's interesting to see how different cards handle this. From your insights, AMEX reports the highest balance that appears on a statement, even if a higher mid-cycle balance exists. For instance, despite a mid-cycle high balance of $65k, AMEX reported the statement balance of $53k. In contrast, BOA reports an account's highest balance even if it is mid-cycle. In your case, BOA reported a mid-cycle balance of $22k as the lifetime high balance, which significantly affected your FICO scores. This highlights the importance of understanding how each issuer reports high balances, as it can impact credit utilization and scores differently. Thanks again for the detailed insight! 

[ptatohed]

I'm so confused.  You spend $22,000 - $65,000 per month on a single credit card?  Out of my league!  What is meant by 'lifetime high balance'??

[NoHardLimits]

---

@NAVYCHOP wrote:

Interestingly, many of my various FICO scores took a dive when BOA reported the credit utilization on my new account at about 75 percent.  When I paid off the balance in full after the statement generated, this month's scores returned immediately to normal.  In contrast, when I ran up a much higher balance on the Platinum AMEX charge card, my FICO scores generally were not affected.

---

The Amex Platinum charge card is not considered to be a revolving account in FICO8 scoring.  So, the balance is not included in total revolving balances or utilization percentages.  The charge card does factor into the "number of accounts with balances".