How do you get a zero balance on First Premier Card?

[Anonymous]

I have two FP cards and want to pay them to zero.. My problem, I can pay the balance to zero, but the $7.00 monthly fee is charge at statement time, so the $7.00 shows on my report instead of $0.00.. The website won't let me overpay the balance by $7.00....  Any ideas of how to get the balance to report zero?

Thanks

[chasmith]

I use a billpay service to send an overpayment that posts the day before the statement.

[DI]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have two FP cards and want to pay them to zero.. My problem, I can pay the balance to zero, but the $7.00 monthly fee is charge at statement time, so the $7.00 shows on my report instead of $0.00.. The website won't let me overpay the balance by $7.00....  Any ideas of how to get the balance to report zero?

Thanks

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Pay the balance plus $7.00 using bill pay.

[Anonymous]

Hi jayjay -

Welcome!  Glad you're here and posting on the forums!

IMO:

Pay them to zero and close the account - check the account online for the next month or two to make sure they haven't added any additional fees. 

Okay - that's probably not the answer you were looking for, but FP is fee-laden and not consumer friendly.

Some folks feel that they require a FP card for rebuilding - I don't recommend them for anyone.  There's other options out there.

But my thinking is that nobody needs two FP cards.  One - at the most - is more than enough. 

[Anonymous]

Thanks guys for the response!!

When I tried to add them to my bill pay, they weren't listed in the common biller list .. I was able to add my other bills because they were listed in the list of billers.....I was given the option to add it by address, would the address be the same p.o. box? 

beamMeup - I have read in other post that FP is not worth keeping... However, they are my oldest cards..  would that hurt my score by closing them?? I've never been late.

[MarineVietVet]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks guys for the response!!

When I tried to add them to my bill pay, they weren't listed in the common biller list .. I was able to add my other bills because they were listed in the list of billers.....I was given the option to add it by address, would the address be the same p.o. box? 

beamMeup - I have read in other post that FP is not worth keeping... However, they are my oldest cards..  would that hurt my score by closing them?? I've never been late.

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Look on your statement to find the correct address for making payments. You want to make sure you get it right!

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 3/11 pulled by lender- 835, EQ - 2/11-816, TU - 2/11-782

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".

[Anonymous]

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jayjay21us wrote: However, they are my oldest cards..  would that hurt my score by closing them?? I've never been late.

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The only way it would hurt your score by closing them is if it would raise your util (credit to debt).

Do you have any other CC's? If you do and you have low or no balances on them I would say close at the very least one of the FP cards, it will stay on your report/s (listed as closed) for the next ten years, so it will still be your oldest acct, just closed, so it will not impact your score at all unless it raises your util like I said before, and its best to keep your util <9% at all times if at all possible.

Best of luck!!

[tinuviel]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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jayjay21us wrote: However, they are my oldest cards..  would that hurt my score by closing them?? I've never been late.

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The only way it would hurt your score by closing them is if it would raise your util (credit to debt).

Do you have any other CC's? If you do and you have low or no balances on them I would say close at the very least one of the FP cards, it will stay on your report/s (listed as closed) for the next ten years, so it will still be your oldest acct, just closed, so it will not impact your score at all unless it raises your util like I said before.

Best of luck!!

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I just closed out one of my FP cards this month -- felt great! The CSR that I spoke with kept trying to talk me into keeping it, stating that it would hurt my score if I closed it. I just wanted to reassure the OP that if you do decide to close the account and are told this, then the CSR is giving you incorrect information. The info posted above by Mustanglvr2006 is correct, so please keep that in mind.

[Anonymous]

So basically get everyone else to zero balance and if I close both, then it really shouldn't hut because my util will be low anyway...

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So basically get everyone else to zero balance and if I close both, then it really shouldn't hut because my util will be low anyway...

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Say you have 5 CC's total, you always want 4 of them at a 0 balance when they report to the CRA's and leave a small balance on one, something like 10-20$ (or under 9% of the CC's CL) then PIF after the statement drops. You do not want to have a 0% util, that will most times hurt you score.

Its always best to have a 1-9% util listing on your reports (for maxing your score and keeping your debt low) some people 2% util yields them the best score and others have better scores with 8% util, you will just have to try different utils until you find your best score. Keeping your util below 9% is just best for maximizing your score each month, its not that important if you're not going to be apping for a CC or a Car loan etc.....

Most of us here just like to see our scores maximized so we try to keep a <9% util every month, that and we don't want to be in debt too much either LOL!

Keep us updated!!