Probability of a Balance Chase?

[pi-r-squared]

I have a Barclay CC with $2,800 balance on it.  I can pay $2000 on it right away.  Will they balance chase me down to an $800 CL?

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

Well, that really depends. How long have you been carrying a balance? Are you paying more than the minimum? How's the rest of your utilization on other cards? Minimum payments on those? Any over limits on any of your cards? Have they soft pulled you for the month? A lot goes into it.

[pi-r-squared]

I was balance chased once before on it from a 5K CL down to 3.8K. I’ve paid it down to 2800 by making higher than min. payments for 6 months. Now, I can pay a large chunk but I don’t want them to balance chase again. No over-limit on other cards but high utilization all around. Have not been using most of my cards and paying down using snowball method.

[Revelate]

Given that paying off debt that is sitting on the APR’s most rewards cards have, why worry about about being balanced chased anyway?

Finances > FICO.

[Anonymous]

---

@pi-r-squared wrote:
I was balance chased once before on it from a 5K CL down to 3.8K. I’ve paid it down to 2800 by making higher than min. payments for 6 months. Now, I can pay a large chunk but I don’t want them to balance chase again. No over-limit on other cards but high utilization all around. Have not been using most of my cards and paying down using snowball method.

---

If I had to guess, the balance chasing will continue until your UTI comes down not only on their card but on others.  I personally feel it is ok to temporarily have a UTI on the higher side but it sounds like this has been going on for longer than Barclays is comfortable with.  Some creditors don't seem to mind high UTI for extended periods but Sir Barclay isn't one of them.  Are you being chased on any others?

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

@pi-r-squared wrote:
I was balance chased once before on it from a 5K CL down to 3.8K. I’ve paid it down to 2800 by making higher than min. payments for 6 months. Now, I can pay a large chunk but I don’t want them to balance chase again. No over-limit on other cards but high utilization all around. Have not been using most of my cards and paying down using snowball method.

---

If I had to guess, the balance chasing will continue until your UTI comes down not only on their card but on others.  I personally feel it is ok to temporarily have a UTI on the higher side but it sounds like this has been going on for longer than Barclays is comfortable with.  Some creditors don't seem to mind high UTI for extended periods but Sir Barclay isn't one of them.  Are you being chased on any others?

---

Agreed. It might be best to pay them all down together to show that if you get in a tight spot, you won't run it up again, that you have other options. If you pay them down alone, they may slash your limit to keep you from using it again.

[SBR249]

If they are going to balance chase you then there's really nothing you can do. Keeping a high util balance on it just to keep a CL is probably just as worse as have lower available credit plus you'll be paying interest. Lenders gotta do what lenders got to do. Best thing to do as mentioned before is to focus on trying to tackle your utils across your portfolio as much and as fast as you can. Pick a method like the snowball or just go after the balances starting with the highest APR (while paying your other minimums of course) and keep at it. Not only will you be saving on the interest charges, but you may mitigate some of the AA like balance chasing as your CR improves. Good luck!

[pi-r-squared]

No other cards have been balance chased. I’ve got around 90% util on all my cards except for the Barclays. It’s at 73% (2800/3800) and will drop to 21% with a 2K payment. The snowball method will allow me to pay this off and continue with my other cards.

[pi-r-squared]

My Barclay CC has the highest APR with the lowest balance. I want to rid myself of that debt so I can tackle my next card (2nd highest APR). I’ve been making decent progress on my debt. Made a spreadsheet to calculate future interest and payments. Still can’t get the interest exactly right but it’s close! Seeing how I can finish off the Barclay and throw those payments toward 2 other cards. Unfortunately, I have yet another card (Discover) that has $1700 left and I use it to survive. I really have $1450 available to use as I get charged $250 interest per month for the balance I’m carrying there. So once I pay off 3 cards (it’ll take close to 48 months), then I can pay on Discover. But at least I have a plan!

[Anonymous]

You’re definitely in a risky position. In this case I’d pay all of them down under 87%, and with what you have left, assess your balances and see if you can get one or more down to 67% (the breakpoint for the threshold is 88.9/68.9%, but going to 87/67% should keep the balances under the thresholds when interest is added).

Common pay down plans I’ve seen from learned members here are to get all cards under 87%, then all under 67%, all under 47%, all under 27%, and them pay them off as you can most efficiently.