@LTomBerry wrote:
There have been threads started by a few people, including myself, that have one of these cards that don't report a CL and the high balance gets used instead. If your high balance never gets very high, then a typical month's spending will make it appear maxed out, at least to scoring systems that don't recognize a NPSL card.
I don't usually spend enough in a month to get my balance anywhere near high enough to eliminate this problem, and I suspect there are many more of us in the same boat.
The solution that seems obvious is to buy something real expensive one month and return it the next, after the statement posts. I originally thought this was ethically problematic because I thought a merchant would have to pay interchange fees on the purchase and the return, and making a merchant pay what could be several hundred dollars in fees just so I can get a better score just doesn't seem right. But after some internet research it appears that a merchant actually gets the interchange fee back when they issue a refund so they're not really losing any money. I do realize there might be some shady CC processors that might try to cheat the merchant but I don't know how common that is. If this works out I might just skip on down to my favorite big box store and bring home a piece of electronics or jewelry or something to visit for a few days.
Any business owners out there that can verify if this is true for them?
A lot of big-ticket items come with a restocking fee. Plus, what happens if you drop and break the big item when pulling it out of your car, or something happens to make it ineligible for return? Not to mention, if you have to ask if something is ethical, usually that means it isn't.
If you don't plan to apply for credit anytime soon, you could always just make it your primary spender. Use it for everything including groceries, gas, bills, whatever you can. And buy seasonal or yearly items as well, like tags for your car, etc. Make the minimum payment and keep using it for several months, banking away the cash to pay it off. At the end of the period, PIF. Of course, you'll pay the interest if you're not still in the 0% promo period.
