Payment Pattern AMEX Likes Best?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@axledobe wrote:

FWIW, I just came home from work today to a PRG 50K bonus targeted prequal offer after 1K spend in the mail.  It's probably nothing special (I don't know how much 50K MR points are worth) but I'm feeling okay about my usage.  One would think they wouldn't offer a second card to someone where usage or multiple payments is an issue.

I, like Stralem, didn't think about the days Revelate mentioned.  It's a very good point and explains some of the 'tread lightly' responses.  

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Unfortunately, that's really not evidence of anything much, offers come from marketing who are often way behind current "operational" statusus.  Last year, people were getting all their Citi cards closed (for "abuse" of Citi 5x TYP) and coming home to multiple Citi offers.

Not saying that your payment pattern is/was bad, just don't read too much into receiving offers!

On the multiple payment front:  I do this a lot but don't exceed my CL (just to keep balances fairly small).  The only slight evidence whymultiple payments followed by spending that exceeds the CL might bad,  is from a single reported instance, someone doing MS on the Blue Cash was told, by Amex, to keep spending under the CL because "CL is there for a reason".

You can  think of the credit limit as the maximum amount that the creditor is happy to allow to be at risk, so if you don't pay, they are out at most the CL.  But it's possible that some issuers, particularly an analytics heavy company like Amex, attach a slightly different meaning, the maximum amount that they want you to spend a month based on your declared income.   So they didn't want this user to exceed the CL, and paying multiple times is a way to do this.  (Wells Fargo also made a similar comment to another user).

But this is a tiny sample, and may also be specific to this card and MS, so until we here of lots of negative consequences, just make sure you pay on time, doing it as many times as you wish!

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Amex is a different kind of company than the rest. I have 40k income and a BCE card with 6k 'limit', if I check spending ability on their site I am approved for 11k no problems on the card. My 4.5k is approved for 9k of spending. When my limit on that card was 2k I was approved to put 4k on the card without issue. I didn't do that, but they said I was allowed to. Spending ability varies per person but in general they are fine with going over the credit limit, somtimes by a great deal. 

[JustMe77]

Somewhere on this forum I read that Amex likes payments within 10 days of the statement being cut (rather than waiting until close to the due date). Not sure how much that really matters overall but not a bad idea.

[Chris679]

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@JustMe77 wrote:

Somewhere on this forum I read that Amex likes payments within 10 days of the statement being cut (rather than waiting until close to the due date). Not sure how much that really matters overall but not a bad idea.

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That is exactly the kind of forklore that people need to be warned about.  

[JustMe77]

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@Chris679 wrote:

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@JustMe77 wrote:

Somewhere on this forum I read that Amex likes payments within 10 days of the statement being cut (rather than waiting until close to the due date). Not sure how much that really matters overall but not a bad idea.

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That is exactly the kind of forklore that people need to be warned about.  

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Obviously I don't know if it's true or not. I just remember seeing it here by another poster, that's all.

I think people try too hard to do all these little things to be on 'best terms' with credit card companies, regardless of how much impact it may/may not have. Really, just pay on time...that should cover most of it. 

[Anonymous]

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@Chris679 wrote:

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@JustMe77 wrote:

Somewhere on this forum I read that Amex likes payments within 10 days of the statement being cut (rather than waiting until close to the due date). Not sure how much that really matters overall but not a bad idea.

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That is exactly the kind of forklore that people need to be warned about.  

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+1

[JustMe77]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Chris679 wrote:

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@JustMe77 wrote:

Somewhere on this forum I read that Amex likes payments within 10 days of the statement being cut (rather than waiting until close to the due date). Not sure how much that really matters overall but not a bad idea.

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That is exactly the kind of forklore that people need to be warned about.  

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+1

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Well, according to Amex's website, people with the Plum card get a discount if they pay the minimum within 10 days of statement closing date. So there's some grain of truth to it.  http://www.americanexpress.com/us/content/credit-cards/cash-back-cards/

Again, people overthink this stuff sometimes. Just trying to help OP.

[Anonymous]

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@JustMe77 wrote:

Well, according to Amex's website, people with the Plum card get a discount if they pay the minimum within 10 days of statement closing date. So there's some grain of truth to it.  http://www.americanexpress.com/us/content/credit-cards/cash-back-cards/

Again, people overthink this stuff sometimes. Just trying to help OP.

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No need to post twice, I saw what you said about the plum card and what you heard someone say awhile ago in a forum somewhere. 

[DaveSignal]

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@JustMe77 wrote:

Obviously I don't know if it's true or not. I just remember seeing it here by another poster, that's all.

I think people try too hard to do all these little things to be on 'best terms' with credit card companies, regardless of how much impact it may/may not have. Really, just pay on time...that should cover most of it. 

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+1.  Amex FR has been reported occasionally, but for someone who is meeting their obligations according to the cardholder agreement, not doing MS, and not doing anything illegal, it shouldn't be anything to worry about.  If a lender wants to see my pay stubs or tax statements, I would give it to them.  Some credit unions ask for this stuff just to become a member.  So what?  I have not lied about anything on my application.  Here you go.  Now let me continue using my credit cards. 

[Revelate]

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@Stralem wrote:

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@Revelate wrote:

Have to remember this forum has been around since the mortgage crisis, and the market was a completely different place then.

Some of our long-held conventional wisdom came from that era, and has been passed down over time.  If something seems wierd or laughable with the current market as it's been for the last 2-3 years, there may have been solid rationale for it previously: and non-zero chance we could go back to it at some point.

Not saying that walking on eggshells around Amex is necessarily part of that, but FWIW people were doing that with the majority of lenders as they were all reducing their exposure faster than their stock prices were falling at one point.

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That is a good point, one I haven't considered. I didn't get my first credit card until 2010, after the first (worst?) wave of big bank freakouts. I'm pretty fortuate in that regard.

That being said, I think it's time for at least some of the myFico lore to be abandoned.

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Stepping out of my persona as moderator: FWIW I agree with you.  I've argued for some things back when I first started as a member: 2 and change years later a few of them are now commonly accepted, some of those were awkward discussions too (like the spree methodology, that was seriously anathema here 2.5 years ago) and I also think we were recommending to rebuilders to go get a single credit card at that point (sigh)... I don't see this as being different.  Some things I'll never win on like the religious zealotry that people manage their credit card balances with, though there's more people who are arguing my point of view on that one.  Maybe like my additional 4.5 year walk to a 760 credit score on EQ Beacon 5, this one just takes more time. .

Now from a silly moderator perspective: changes in any community lore take time and that time is dependent on the community in question; I know there's other online communities which serve similar functions and are typically faster at turnover of information, but this forum is a little different and as a result it takes more time to do so.  That doesn't mean it's a bad community here, and I'm "OK" with advice being given which doesn't actively hurt anyone (and in this case, it might help, but I'm admittedly more worried about what lenders can and will do than most people from my own personal experience having worked in a couple).

Where I draw the line (if I see it, different problem), is if there's something that's either outright wrong or will hurt a member - that's a big no no, but honestly that doesn't happen all that often, and while the advice sometimes isn't ideal, it's not bad and I'm not one to throw out the good chasing the perfect.

My opinion anyway.

[Anonymous]

in regards to OP's question, i have paid several times a month but ultimately PIF once statement cuts. Ive left small balances and then PIF, that is. I eventually asked for a 3x's CLI and i passed with flying colors. so whatever that means to you