Discover It. First Use

[fltn]

I got my discover last week I think.

It has a $1700 limit. I am trying to figure out how much I should charge to it. I plan to pay pif.

I just want to be able to get a cli when the time comes so I am wondering what is the best way to do this.

1 big charge, pif? Or small ones, pif? What % should I not go over, or does it matter if PIF?

I want to put $1400 but not sure if it will look bad as 1 charge or to high an amount.

It does have 0% for 6 months, could I put $1400 and pay in 2 or 3 months and not look bad?

I'd like to pay off my furniture at badcock and more since it will show as a charge ( for cash back) and save the 29% interest I am currently paying at the store acct.

Any and all imput welcome.

[dddewdrop]

   I think it is hard to tell what is best to do. Definately charge somethig on the card to show it is active and let it register a balance on a statement date.  Beyond that, reports are conflicting as to whether it makes any difference whether you churn a lot of charges through the card or not. I think the most important thing is to have an active account that has some use that is paid in a timely manner and the most important thing is probably just to less some time pass with your account being active and in good standing. Some report that CLIs are harder to come by with Discover than say with GE cards but getting some time under your belt with the card seems to be the most important thing as far as CLIs imo.

[LisaJ]

I'm interested in this as well, and need to plan for my Barclays use, too.  Excellent question.

[fltn]

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@dddewdrop wrote:

   I think it is hard to tell what is best to do. Definately charge somethig on the card to show it is active and let it register a balance on a statement date.  Beyond that, reports are conflicting as to whether it makes any difference whether you churn a lot of charges through the card or not. I think the most important thing is to have an active account that has some use that is paid in a timely manner and the most important thing is probably just to less some time pass with your account being active and in good standing. Some report that CLIs are harder to come by with Discover than say with GE cards but getting some time under your belt with the card seems to be the most important thing as far as CLIs imo.

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Thank you. Good advice.

I do not plan to request a cli anytime soon, I just heard that they are iffy on cli even with high scores and lots of use, ect. I am just trying to plan for the future.

I am happy with 1700 right now, just happy to be in.

I just don't want to spook them, but I want to save some interest.

I want to use it and for some reason I feel like I need to do it soon as they might look  bad at my acct if I wait 3 months to charge something.

There is nothing I need right now, so I would rather just pay a bill with it and soave some money in the process.

[dddewdrop]

    Sounds like a plan. i got a new walmart card a few months ago. There isn't a walmart nearby so I went online and bought a hand soap online for $1.49. I waited for the statement to come then paid it off. 2 months later i was near a walmart so i went there and bought some groceries that I would have bought elsewhere anyway and paid for them in full as soon as the charges hit my account. Since then I have charged nothing but in a month or two I will probably charge something else.

                   It is certainly imaginable to me that some companies would offer someone a CLI more quickly if they were using their card a lot and approaching the limt then paying in full. Some companies would also give A CLI if a person called and wanted to charge something specific that cost more than the credit limit like a plasma television. It is just that different people's stories vary and some report consistant CLIs while charging almost nothing.  Sometimes things that seem to make intuititive sense don't turn out to be the way things actually operate. Credit card companies change their general policies from time to time based on how they want to adjust their overall debt portfolio. Some want to take on more debt, others want to scale back. This can vary f,rom day to day, even region to region. Trying to figure it all out can be tough. It is really hard to figure out. Anyone who says they have it figure out and offers a failproof strategy I would be skeptical of. I would tell that person to keep reading these forums because they will find that results vary so much as to appear to be totally random lol .

         Armed with that info, it seems that going out of my way to churn my card or buy things i dont really need or risk going into credit card debt and risk money being tight and not being able to pay the bill or convincing myself to just pay it later, well all that stuff to me isn't worth it for the possiblility of maybe improving my chances of a CLI. I was irresponsible with cards in the past and thus it is safer in my mind not to mess with the card too much even if it means possibly maybe slightly lowering my chances of getting a CLI in the albsolute shortest time possible. That is just me thought. You know yourself and whether you can afford or handle trying different strategies to get a CLI. For me I am just keeping it simple and having no credit card debt is more important to me than trying to figure out some sneaky strategy to get a CLI by engaging in behaviors I wouldn't otherwise engage in for the sole purpose of bettering my odds of a CLI. I was in cc debt in the past and staying out of trouble is more important to me than getting a CLI more quickly. That is just me though. Others are different. 

[enharu]

I hope my CLI chances aren't killed lol.

I got my discover card and I have already bombed 6k on it. My first purchase was 3k+

I plan to pay around 5k before 1st statement cuts, which is still a month away and pay the rest over the next few months, since its interest free and also for it to report some balance. I probably will still be putting more charges during the meantime since shop discover has a lot of cashback that fatwallet or chase ur doesn't offer, or just higher cashback rates overall.

[dddewdrop]

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@enharu wrote:
I hope my CLI chances aren't killed lol.

I got my discover card and I have already bombed 6k on it. My first purchase was 3k+

I plan to pay around 5k before 1st statement cuts, which is still a month away and pay the rest over the next few months, since its interest free and also for it to report some balance. I probably will still be putting more charges during the meantime since shop discover has a lot of cashback that fatwallet or chase ur doesn't offer, or just higher cashback rates overall. lo

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      U will be fine. Remember, you are their customer. They are working for you, not vice versa. Don't try telling Amex that though lol.

[fltn]

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@dddewdrop wrote:

    Sounds like a plan. i got a new walmart card a few months ago. There isn't a walmart nearby so I went online and bought a hand soap online for $1.49. I waited for the statement to come then paid it off. 2 months later i was near a walmart so i went there and bought some groceries that I would have bought elsewhere anyway and paid for them in full as soon as the charges hit my account. Since then I have charged nothing but in a month or two I will probably charge something else.

                   It is certainly imaginable to me that some companies would offer someone a CLI more quickly if they were using their card a lot and approaching the limt then paying in full. Some companies would also give A CLI if a person called and wanted to charge something specific that cost more than the credit limit like a plasma television. It is just that different people's stories vary and some report consistant CLIs while charging almost nothing.  Sometimes things that seem to make intuititive sense don't turn out to be the way things actually operate. Credit card companies change their general policies from time to time based on how they want to adjust their overall debt portfolio. Some want to take on more debt, others want to scale back. This can vary f,rom day to day, even region to region. Trying to figure it all out can be tough. It is really hard to figure out. Anyone who says they have it figure out and offers a failproof strategy I would be skeptical of. I would tell that person to keep reading these forums because they will find that results vary so much as to appear to be totally random lol .

         Armed with that info, it seems that going out of my way to churn my card or buy things i dont really need or risk going into credit card debt and risk money being tight and not being able to pay the bill or convincing myself to just pay it later, well all that stuff to me isn't worth it for the possiblility of maybe improving my chances of a CLI. I was irresponsible with cards in the past and thus it is safer in my mind not to mess with the card too much even if it means possibly maybe slightly lowering my chances of getting a CLI in the albsolute shortest time possible. That is just me thought. You know yourself and whether you can afford or handle trying different strategies to get a CLI. For me I am just keeping it simple and having no credit card debt is more important to me than trying to figure out some sneaky strategy to get a CLI by engaging in behaviors I wouldn't otherwise engage in for the sole purpose of bettering my odds of a CLI. I was in cc debt in the past and staying out of trouble is more important to me than getting a CLI more quickly. That is just me though. Others are different. 

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I agree completely. I like my cards to be as close to zero as possible if not at zero.

I hardly use mine for anything.

I just finally got in with Discover (Prime), though not as important as it was before I got NFCU.

I think for me, paying off my furniture with it at 0% is probably best, so I save some money, get some use without actually buying anything.

If I get an increase later fine, if it sits at 1700 forever I will be ok with that too.

Thank you for all of your imput.

[fltn]

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@fltn wrote:

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@dddewdrop wrote:

    Sounds like a plan. i got a new walmart card a few months ago. There isn't a walmart nearby so I went online and bought a hand soap online for $1.49. I waited for the statement to come then paid it off. 2 months later i was near a walmart so i went there and bought some groceries that I would have bought elsewhere anyway and paid for them in full as soon as the charges hit my account. Since then I have charged nothing but in a month or two I will probably charge something else.

                   It is certainly imaginable to me that some companies would offer someone a CLI more quickly if they were using their card a lot and approaching the limt then paying in full. Some companies would also give A CLI if a person called and wanted to charge something specific that cost more than the credit limit like a plasma television. It is just that different people's stories vary and some report consistant CLIs while charging almost nothing.  Sometimes things that seem to make intuititive sense don't turn out to be the way things actually operate. Credit card companies change their general policies from time to time based on how they want to adjust their overall debt portfolio. Some want to take on more debt, others want to scale back. This can vary f,rom day to day, even region to region. Trying to figure it all out can be tough. It is really hard to figure out. Anyone who says they have it figure out and offers a failproof strategy I would be skeptical of. I would tell that person to keep reading these forums because they will find that results vary so much as to appear to be totally random lol .

         Armed with that info, it seems that going out of my way to churn my card or buy things i dont really need or risk going into credit card debt and risk money being tight and not being able to pay the bill or convincing myself to just pay it later, well all that stuff to me isn't worth it for the possiblility of maybe improving my chances of a CLI. I was irresponsible with cards in the past and thus it is safer in my mind not to mess with the card too much even if it means possibly maybe slightly lowering my chances of getting a CLI in the albsolute shortest time possible. That is just me thought. You know yourself and whether you can afford or handle trying different strategies to get a CLI. For me I am just keeping it simple and having no credit card debt is more important to me than trying to figure out some sneaky strategy to get a CLI by engaging in behaviors I wouldn't otherwise engage in for the sole purpose of bettering my odds of a CLI. I was in cc debt in the past and staying out of trouble is more important to me than getting a CLI more quickly. That is just me though. Others are different. 

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I agree completely. I like my cards to be as close to zero as possible if not at zero.

I hardly use mine for anything.

I just finally got in with Discover (Prime), though not as important as it was before I got NFCU.

I think for me, paying off my furniture with it at 0% is probably best, so I save some money, get some use without actually buying anything.

If I get an increase later fine, if it sits at 1700 forever I will be ok with that too.

Thank you for all of your imput.

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Plus I am hoping that it will count as 5% cash back ( home improvement). We will see.

[bs6054]

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@fltn wrote:

I got my discover last week I think.

It has a $1700 limit. I am trying to figure out how much I should charge to it. I plan to pay pif.

I just want to be able to get a cli when the time comes so I am wondering what is the best way to do this.

1 big charge, pif? Or small ones, pif? What % should I not go over, or does it matter if PIF?

I want to put $1400 but not sure if it will look bad as 1 charge or to high an amount.

It does have 0% for 6 months, could I put $1400 and pay in 2 or 3 months and not look bad?

I'd like to pay off my furniture at badcock and more since it will show as a charge ( for cash back) and save the 29% interest I am currently paying at the store acct.

Any and all imput welcome.

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I don't think it matters if you do big or small charges.  The usual factors to consider are not to max out the card, as that can be taken as an indicator of financial stress.  But I think $1400 out of $1700 is fine, and they expect you to take advantage of the 0% rate (and for you this is nice compared to 29%!)

Utilization concerns come up if you are planning to apply for other things.  When that is the case, you don't want a large % reported when the statement cuts, people deal with that here by PIF before the statement cuts.   But if you want to take advantage of the 0%, don't do that.

It's easy to overthink.    If you charged $1,700 and immediately defaulted, they would certainly come after you (via a collections agency) but it's not a huge emergency for the bank.  Equally, they are not closely monitoring your spending patterns either.