Pay American Express right away or wait?

[jamesdwi]

If this is your first AMEX card, they are very picky when you add your first checking account to the system it will only allow you to make first payment then you can't make another payment for 30 days or untill a payment is actually due. You can push money from your checking account to make more payments. 

After the first month you can make as many payments as you want.  I pay my charge card once a month a couple days before the statement cuts, I like having the extra money in my checking account. 

[tinuviel]

---

@Revelate wrote:
CA: it's actually FICO '98 rather than TU which has the issue of counting charge cards in the revolving utilization metric.

That said, I am firmly in the once a month camp if your internal limit supports your spend rate. The vast majority of people use their charge/credit cards this way, standing out is usually not good when it comes to one's finances. Lenders like predictability, though as RR proves, FICO doesn't care.

---

As you see, opinions vary, but I tend to agree with this approach. I wait for my statement to cut and then PIF within a few days, well ahead of the due date. I think that this presents a fairly typical, ho-hum customer image to Amex.