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Do you carrying a balance on your Amex cards? And if so, for how long?

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Bees18
Frequent Contributor

Do you carrying a balance on your Amex cards? And if so, for how long?

Went down a rabbit hole about CLD and was suprised to read about so many Amex experiences, since they seem to be a preferred lender here and a card I am hoping to app for next year.

 

So just curious, do any of you carrying a balance from time to time with them and for how long? (Both personal and biz cards)

 

For those who have recived AA what was the reason, how long have you had the card before carrying a balance and what % did you carry? 

 

Have they gotten any better about this? I'm not someone who carrys a balance, but would like to know that I could if I wanted to take advantage of a 0% offer or had a big expense I wanted to pay of slowly.

 

what is safe in Amex eyes and for whom? 

23 REPLIES 23
jbsilva21
Regular Contributor

Re: Do you carrying a balance on your Amex cards? And if so, for how long?

I have on occasion carried a balance of varying amounts. As long as you make your payments and do some pif I don’t think they will care much.
Message 2 of 24
Pikaboo-icu
Valued Contributor

Re: Do you carrying a balance on your Amex cards? And if so, for how long?

I've never experienced any AA from Amex (or any cc) fingers crossed it doesn't happen but...

I think more the issue with carrying balances is carrying a high balance and only making min pmts.

If you're going to carry a balance, 30% or above, if you make at least 2x min pmts, you'll probably be fine.

 

From what I've read when it isn't score related, much of the AA is high uti and small payments. IMHO

 

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Message 3 of 24
RonM21
Valued Contributor

Re: Do you carrying a balance on your Amex cards? And if so, for how long?

When I have carried a balance with them, I've paid it in full the next month. That is just how it worked out, so I can't speak from experience of carrying a balance on their card for months at a time. But as the above two posters said, as long as you are responsible with it, if you do carry a balance, it shouldn't be a problem.


Total CL: $321.7kUTL: 2%AAoA: 7.0yrsBaddies: 0Other: Lease, Loan, *No Mortgage, All Inq's from Jun '20 Car Shopping

BoA-55k | NFCU-45k | AMEX-42k | DISC-40.6k | PENFED-38.4k | LOWES-35k | ALLIANT-25k | CITI-15.7k | BARCLAYS-15k | CHASE-10k

Message 4 of 24
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Do you carrying a balance on your Amex cards? And if so, for how long?

I've been carrying a balance since it was a 0% balance transfer. But, and this is an important one, I always pay much more than the minimum- usually 4- 5 times the minimum. My balance started at 50% and decreased significantly after a CLI.


I received a 3x CLI after three months and they approved another card just a few weeks ago. I plan to pay another chunk of it down next month, to go along with my next CLI window.

 

My guess is that they're comfortable with a balance as long as that balance is decreasing, the payments are solid (not just minimum), and utilization on other cards is good.

Message 5 of 24
FinStar
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Do you carrying a balance on your Amex cards? And if so, for how long?

I don't carry balances, especially on AmEx revolvers biz and/or personal. That being said, I do take advantage of the ~60 day float from time to time, but that's not strictly only with Amex.

My recommendation, since it appears you may entertain that possibility at some point, try to shorten the duration (regardless of how long of an offer) and don't make just the minimum payment. Also, keep things in check with the rest of your overall profile.
Message 6 of 24
Bees18
Frequent Contributor

Re: Do you carrying a balance on your Amex cards? And if so, for how long?

What do you think is a reasonable amount of time? 2 months, 4? 

 

Some of the posts i read were suprising where the balance had only had only been carried for 2 or 3 months and much more then the min. was paid. I know it's profile dependent ...but just trying to get an idea if this would be a card I could take advantage of a 0% balance transfer for a few months if I ever needed too or if Amex really just does not like you to carrying a balance even on a 0% intro offer. Kind of seems pointless if they don't really want you to use it. My utility is always super low but I still want to invest in cards that if I ever needed I could rely on to use them responsibly without having to be paranoid about it.

Message 7 of 24
wasCB14
Super Contributor

Re: Do you carrying a balance on your Amex cards? And if so, for how long?

Some related (but limited) discussion: https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Amex-and-aggressive-use-of-0-promos/td-p/5223146/highl...

I've not pushed it very far, given that only a small part of what goes on my BBP is real business spend.

Personal spend: Amex Gold, Amex Schwab Plat., BofA PR+CCR(x2), Costco
Business use: Amex Bus. Plat., BBP, Lowes Amex AU, CFU AU
Perks: Delta Plat., United Explorer, IHG49, Hyatt, "Old SPG"
Mostly SD: Freedom Flex, Freedom, Arrival
Upgrade/Downgrade games: ED, BCE
SUB chasing: AA Platinum Select
Message 8 of 24
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Do you carrying a balance on your Amex cards? And if so, for how long?

I don't usually carry a balance, but because of how I use my card there's always at least a $200-$400 reported balance.

 

I use it for grocery shopping, so each week a new charge appears on the card, and sometimes it can be two weeks before I pay it off, so even though I pay my statement balance in full each month, those weekly charges often show up on the next statement. It is very seldom that my card has a total balance of $0. While not exactly what you are asking, Amex seems pretty ok with this.

Message 9 of 24
NRB525
Super Contributor

Re: Do you carrying a balance on your Amex cards? And if so, for how long?

I have used several low APR offers on my AMEXes in the last 4 years. These are not 0% but 4% to 8%. Those were 12 month APR promos on purchases. 

Never figured out how to get a BT onto the only AMEX that had it, the EDP for a short time.  

 

I am using 2 of the Plan It offers, one for $4k on 3 payments. 

 

Never had AA with AMEX, first recent AMEX is from 2013. So they are after my high balances, but are aware that those balances got paid down with no lates.  I think this is important, being able to show use of credit and payments of same.  Those who keep all zeros may not be letting all their banks know their capacity. 

High Bal Jan 2009 $116k on $146k limits 80% Util.
Oct 2014 $46k on $127k 36% util EQ 722 TU 727 EX 727
April 2018 $18k on $344k 5% util EQ 806 TU 810 EX 812
Jan 2019 $7.6k on $360k EQ 832 TU 839 EX 831
March 2021 $33k on $312k EQ 796 TU 798 EX 801
May 2021 Paid all Installments and Mortgages, one new Mortgage EQ 761 TY 774 EX 777
April 2022 EQ=811 TU=807 EX=805 - TU VS 3.0 765
Message 10 of 24
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