Maxxing out a CC for the intro APR and it killing my ability to get a CL on another card.

[gpfirestone]

I'll paint my credit profile first:

Mortgage in good standing approx $300k

Auto Loan in good standing approx $25k

Chase Freedom Card: $8500 CL $3000 B

Amazon Chase Visa: $3000 CL $200 B

Capital One Business Cash Spark: $5000 CL $4900 B

Citi Thank You Card: $500 CL 0 B

Citi Diamond Preferred: $14000 CL $13800 B

American Express BC: $5000 CL $3000 B

American Express Business Platinum/Plum: NPSL $27000 B Combined (Spend ability of approx 100k)

I don't pay any monthly APR on any of my CC's.  Despite lots of balances on them, I pay in full every month on everything except for the Citi Diamond Preferred which has 0 APR on that balance for 16 more months.  I didn't do a balance transfer, just spent $14000 on it when approved after transferring all of my Thank You Card credit to that one.

My frustration is that despite paying every CC I have in full every month, my credit reports seem to show that I have really high balances all of the time.  While those are the current numbers, my Amex BC and my Chase cards have been maxxed out or gone over the limit in the past, but they were still paid in full at the end of the month.  Amex clearly understand that I spend a lot and am responsible so they are giving me a ton of credit on my business charge cards which run entirely off my personal credit but this doesn't help my credit utilization since they are charge cards...

Anyway, I really want to get my CL up much higher on the Capital One 2% Spark Card but I can't just pay off every card and have a 0 balance on them for 30 consecutive days because I use these for my business cash flow.  I'm 29 so I feel I built up my credit profile very quickly, but I was a victim (or so I consider myself one) of the Schwab credit card meltdown.  My schwab card through FIA was at one point up to a CL of $58,000 and then it was converted to FIA cash back which was fine, but once it was forced to become the BOA Cash Rewards Visa, they cancelled my entire account out of the blue despite a perfect history with FIA.  I was a bit shocked, but over the past 12-18 months have  gone from relying on that card to getting the new credit cards above for busines purposes.  I have only been with Amex business for about 14 months but am already up to a great spending limit...

SO...What can I do to get a CL increase on the Spark Card without reducing my limits on my CC's for a long enough period that the balance will report that way?  If there is nothing I can do so be it, but I figured I would ask if there was some way to speak with higher ups at Capital One to maybe have a special underwriter consider my case rather than just auto decline me based on my high CU.

[LS2982]

Unfortunately your going to have to get the util. down close to 15% or below reported  when you request the CLI. I'm not sure how much success you would have explaining the situation on a recon but it would sucks to waste HP's (3) on it.

[bettercreditguy1]

+1, reduce utilization. On your lessor used card or two, pay them off, let them sit at zero for a month or two. If you really use your ccs for cash flow, pay mid term, on line, once or twice a month before statement. This will let you charge more in less time w/o going over your limits. You are going to need some time to get the limits back up and build the trust level so you don't appear to be screaming for money/cash flow problems.

[bs6054]

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@gpfirestone wrote:

I'll paint my credit profile first:

Mortgage in good standing approx $300k

Auto Loan in good standing approx $25k

Chase Freedom Card: $8500 CL $3000 B

Amazon Chase Visa: $3000 CL $200 B

Capital One Business Cash Spark: $5000 CL $4900 B

Citi Thank You Card: $500 CL 0 B

Citi Diamond Preferred: $14000 CL $13800 B

American Express BC: $5000 CL $3000 B

American Express Business Platinum/Plum: NPSL $27000 B Combined (Spend ability of approx 100k)

I don't pay any monthly APR on any of my CC's.  Despite lots of balances on them, I pay in full every month on everything except for the Citi Diamond Preferred which has 0 APR on that balance for 16 more months.  I didn't do a balance transfer, just spent $14000 on it when approved after transferring all of my Thank You Card credit to that one.

My frustration is that despite paying every CC I have in full every month, my credit reports seem to show that I have really high balances all of the time.  While those are the current numbers, my Amex BC and my Chase cards have been maxxed out or gone over the limit in the past, but they were still paid in full at the end of the month.  Amex clearly understand that I spend a lot and am responsible so they are giving me a ton of credit on my business charge cards which run entirely off my personal credit but this doesn't help my credit utilization since they are charge cards...

Anyway, I really want to get my CL up much higher on the Capital One 2% Spark Card but I can't just pay off every card and have a 0 balance on them for 30 consecutive days because I use these for my business cash flow.  I'm 29 so I feel I built up my credit profile very quickly, but I was a victim (or so I consider myself one) of the Schwab credit card meltdown.  My schwab card through FIA was at one point up to a CL of $58,000 and then it was converted to FIA cash back which was fine, but once it was forced to become the BOA Cash Rewards Visa, they cancelled my entire account out of the blue despite a perfect history with FIA.  I was a bit shocked, but over the past 12-18 months have  gone from relying on that card to getting the new credit cards above for busines purposes.  I have only been with Amex business for about 14 months but am already up to a great spending limit...

SO...What can I do to get a CL increase on the Spark Card without reducing my limits on my CC's for a long enough period that the balance will report that way?  If there is nothing I can do so be it, but I figured I would ask if there was some way to speak with higher ups at Capital One to maybe have a special underwriter consider my case rather than just auto decline me based on my high CU.

---

I am confused!  When you say you pay in full on all but the 0% card, so these balances are just the monthly snapshot, and if you didn't use a card in a particular month, the balance would be 0?

If so, then all you need to do is pay each card shortly before the statement cuts, this will greatly reduce the reported balances on your credit report.

Or do you mean something else, in which case the other responses about utilization make more sense.

[09Lexie]

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@bs6054 wrote:

---

@gpfirestone wrote:

I'll paint my credit profile first:

Mortgage in good standing approx $300k

Auto Loan in good standing approx $25k

Chase Freedom Card: $8500 CL $3000 B

Amazon Chase Visa: $3000 CL $200 B

Capital One Business Cash Spark: $5000 CL $4900 B

Citi Thank You Card: $500 CL 0 B

Citi Diamond Preferred: $14000 CL $13800 B

American Express BC: $5000 CL $3000 B

American Express Business Platinum/Plum: NPSL $27000 B Combined (Spend ability of approx 100k)

I don't pay any monthly APR on any of my CC's.  Despite lots of balances on them, I pay in full every month on everything except for the Citi Diamond Preferred which has 0 APR on that balance for 16 more months.  I didn't do a balance transfer, just spent $14000 on it when approved after transferring all of my Thank You Card credit to that one.

My frustration is that despite paying every CC I have in full every month, my credit reports seem to show that I have really high balances all of the time.  While those are the current numbers, my Amex BC and my Chase cards have been maxxed out or gone over the limit in the past, but they were still paid in full at the end of the month.  Amex clearly understand that I spend a lot and am responsible so they are giving me a ton of credit on my business charge cards which run entirely off my personal credit but this doesn't help my credit utilization since they are charge cards...

Anyway, I really want to get my CL up much higher on the Capital One 2% Spark Card but I can't just pay off every card and have a 0 balance on them for 30 consecutive days because I use these for my business cash flow.  I'm 29 so I feel I built up my credit profile very quickly, but I was a victim (or so I consider myself one) of the Schwab credit card meltdown.  My schwab card through FIA was at one point up to a CL of $58,000 and then it was converted to FIA cash back which was fine, but once it was forced to become the BOA Cash Rewards Visa, they cancelled my entire account out of the blue despite a perfect history with FIA.  I was a bit shocked, but over the past 12-18 months have  gone from relying on that card to getting the new credit cards above for busines purposes.  I have only been with Amex business for about 14 months but am already up to a great spending limit...

SO...What can I do to get a CL increase on the Spark Card without reducing my limits on my CC's for a long enough period that the balance will report that way?  If there is nothing I can do so be it, but I figured I would ask if there was some way to speak with higher ups at Capital One to maybe have a special underwriter consider my case rather than just auto decline me based on my high CU.

---

I am confused!  When you say you pay in full on all but the 0% card, so these balances are just the monthly snapshot, and if you didn't use a card in a particular month, the balance would be 0?

If so, then all you need to do is pay each card shortly before the statement cuts, this will greatly reduce the reported balances on your credit report.

Or do you mean something else, in which case the other responses about utilization make more sense.

---

+1

[jamesdwi]

You have the power to have all your cards report 0, except for the two cards that are exempt from UTL calculations. You may loose a few dollars in rewards by doing it, you can run all expenses/charges through your AMEX cards, this is the undisputed reason why AMEX charge cards are so valued, NPSL and not included in UTL calcuations, pay down the other cards, let each one report 0, after reported you can resume using the card. It won't be easy and may take some planning but it can be done. Personally CapOne isn't known for great CL's but perhaps you have escapted the rebuilder card hell and they may work with you. Having all cards reporting at or near 0 except for the charge cards will make your credit score go up and may have other lenders salivating for your bussiness as they can see you spend X thousands of dollars per month and pay it off, so low risk and high swipe fees may get you additional CLI's and probably a few pre-selected offers in the mail. 

[gpfirestone]

You guys are missing the point i guess and maybe im asking for too much. I dont want to oay anymore than the minimun on my citi 14k card bc i have 16 more months of 0 apr on the balance. This is free money...but the downside is it makes my util in that one car over 90% which is hurting. I was wondering if there is a way to get a real person on the phone at c1 to have them look at me as a person with all of my circumstances rather than just a credit report with numbers that look risk prone. I have flawless credit and have never paid interest on any cc balance in my life...

[09Lexie]

The confusion for me lies in what is actually reporting on CR's. If you are paying your bills (all but the Citi) in full before the statement cuts then your CR should post 0 bal. waiting to pay them after the statement cuts but by 'the end of the month' will post to your CR affecting your score cause your util is high. Yes, you are paying in full but  you will need to have a manual review of your application  

[bs6054]

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@gpfirestone wrote:
You guys are missing the point i guess and maybe im asking for too much. I dont want to oay anymore than the minimun on my citi 14k card bc i have 16 more months of 0 apr on the balance. This is free money...but the downside is it makes my util in that one car over 90% which is hurting. I was wondering if there is a way to get a real person on the phone at c1 to have them look at me as a person with all of my circumstances rather than just a credit report with numbers that look risk prone. I have flawless credit and have never paid interest on any cc balance in my life...

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OK, but the advice is about the other balances as well, you can 0 those out and make your overall reported credit balances smaller.   I would also reduce the citi balance to say 80% (which is still very high but not at the 90+ danger level).    Yes, you lose "free money" but really not a whole lot with current rates, and this will make things easier with other cards.

[j_casteel]

are you running a business using your credit cards? What do you do that makes you nearly max out every card you have plus have nearly $30k on your charge card?

Also, to go along with what everyone is saying. yes you definitely need to get util down before you're going to get a CLI. Just because you PIF each month doesn't mean you're doing it "right" and what I mean is that you could be paying after the statement cuts and therefore your credit file looks as if you max your cards out constantly (and leave them that way).