@Anonymous wrote:Alright so I took advantage of this ongoing offer that I received from Barclay to transfer balance at 0% APR till December of 2017.
My Credit Line is 11.5K and they sent me one of those blank checks and I transferred 6K to my savings account. Just letting it sit there just in case for emergency I needed to pull out cash.
Last night I requested a CLI from PenFed. I was denied and spoke to the LO which I was told the 6K revolving balance is hurting me, even though I explained my situation that I was just taking advantage of an offer and come December before the offer ends for the 0% APR I will definitely pay it off and returned back the balance.
Was also told of a revolving Amex balance for 5K which I told em its a charged card and its been paid off.
My question is.. Is the revolving 6K balance at 54% utilization ruining my scores?
Yes it lowers your scores.
I mean the reason you get these offers is because you work hard to improve your credit right?
No. The main reason you get these offers is because people who take advantage of 0% promo offers often wind up paying the bank big bucks down the road.
*shakes head*
This isn't a smart thing to do by any means.
First of all you're just messing with Barclay's and that's never a good thing to do.
AMEX charge card is fine since it's PIF monthly.
Telling any lender you're using a BT check to keep cash on hand is not advised EVER. Some of them get a little squirrely when you hint at shuffling money around and doing things that aren't the best idea. This sort of thing will get you in trouble if you hit the right lender with the info and they don't like it then they'll just shut you down completely.
The whole working so hard to get to a point is to have it available as an option when it is needed. Just pay off the BT and get your scores back in line. PF LO probably made a note of the activity on your account for when you try again. There's no need to be "creative" when trying to show usage on any account. There are plenty of stories where this has backfired and it resulted in shutdowns and AA from other lenders.
Concentrate on good habits and the $$$ will come with time. Being impatient will drive you crazy as well while working on getting those bigger limits so you better find another hobby in between those CLI attempts 
In my opinion you should pay the whole thing off and never do that again.
@Anonymous wrote:Just be careful about paying the BT back 'too soon'...Barclays has taken AA for less
I disagree with that. I do frequent balance transfers to Barclays, almost always paying them off within weeks.