Question about Amex Charge cards

Anonymous · ‎03-09-2017

Hello -

I just recently got the Premier Rewards Gold card from Amex. I know that my balance needs to be paid off in full each month, but is it better to pay off the balance in full or can it be paid a little at a time throughout the month? My spending habit is usually to buy something and pay it off right away.

I also know that charge cards have a sort of invisible limit, where they may deny larger purchases if you have a smaller purchase history.

Anonymous · ‎03-09-2017

@Anonymous wrote:
Hello -

I just recently got the Premier Rewards Gold card from Amex. I know that my balance needs to be paid off in full each month, but is it better to pay off the balance in full or can it be paid a little at a time throughout the month? My spending habit is usually to buy something and pay it off right away.

I also know that charge cards have a sort of invisible limit, where they may deny larger purchases if you have a smaller purchase history.

Doesn't matter how you do it as long as it is paid off each month. In your first few months though Amex does limit how many direct payments you can make until they're comfortable with your payment method. No limits on push payments.

DeeBee78 · ‎03-09-2017

@Anonymous wrote:
Hello -

I just recently got the Premier Rewards Gold card from Amex. I know that my balance needs to be paid off in full each month, but is it better to pay off the balance in full or can it be paid a little at a time throughout the month? My spending habit is usually to buy something and pay it off right away.

I also know that charge cards have a sort of invisible limit, where they may deny larger purchases if you have a smaller purchase history.

I've made two payments since I've received my PRG - $300 two weeks ago, and $975 today.

One theory I've heard is that your max limit is figured out after three statements, and is 3X your largest spending cycle. I don't know how true that is, because the day I received my card I checked my spending power and was approved for a $5,000 purchase.

One thing that is true: Your spending ability can fluctuate with the usage (or non usage) of the card. My guess is this is recalculated monthly.

Anonymous · ‎03-09-2017

I heard that too, but I do not believe it's true. Reason I say that is because the most I've spent in a month is 4K. So 4*3=12 but when I check my spending ability I can go up to 21k. Indeed, I believe it's recalculated monthly as well. Personally I think it's best to only make one payment because it shows you have the funds immediately but like any business all that matters is they get their money.

Anonymous · ‎03-10-2017

Never understood making multiple payments in one month?

SkyCommander · ‎03-10-2017

I pay my cards through Discover's bill pay and get 10 cents per payment. I get a few dollars a month doing it but I quit paying it a week out of my card's statement end so I can still have some card balance post and report.

austinguy907 · ‎03-10-2017

@SkyCommander wrote:
I pay my cards through Discover's bill pay and get 10 cents per payment. I get a few dollars a month doing it but I quit paying it a week out of my card's statement end so I can still have some card balance post and report.

I pay my bills once a month and make $50/mo in interest on my checking Since my CU just upped the limit on the 2.5% APY to 50K from 25K it should be going up even further now. Maybe it's time to go shopping for a new account?

If you're using it as a "cash" card then just pay it when it cuts a statement. Keep your cash on hand and make some money on it in the form of interest.

Anonymous · ‎03-10-2017

Sounds like a great CU, can someone not living/working in that area join that CU?

DeeBee78 · ‎03-10-2017

@Anonymous wrote:
Never understood making multiple payments in one month?

It's just how I'm handling my new Amex account. I have a large purchase coming up tonight (retirement dinner), and didn't want to risk have the charge declined, so I made a payment to bring the balance down.

I'm also doing something similar with my Amex ED card. It's only got a $500 limit, and I racked up $408 of charges on it. I don't want that 80% utilization reporting, so I paid it down last week.

Going forward I'll be making one payment a month on my PRG, but will continue making multiple charges and payments on the ED, so I can possibly get a CLI out of them.

Anonymous · ‎03-10-2017

@DeeBee78 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Never understood making multiple payments in one month?
It's just how I'm handling my new Amex account. I have a large purchase coming up tonight (retirement dinner), and didn't want to risk have the charge declined, so I made a payment to bring the balance down.

I'm also doing something similar with my Amex ED card. It's only got a $500 limit, and I racked up $408 of charges on it. I don't want that 80% utilization reporting, so I paid it down last week.

Going forward I'll be making one payment a month on my PRG, but will continue making multiple charges and payments on the ED, so I can possibly get a CLI out of them.

First! If you have that dinner tonight and don't want it getting declined all you need to do is Check your spending power! Your allowed checking twice a day I believe. Put general purchase and enter the amount you think the dinner will be for. for **bleep**s and giggles put twice what you think it'll be! They'll tell you there if it's okay to put the charge on your card with checking your spending power.

Second get comfortable with calling! I place a lot of charges on my card monthly, and when I first got it, I had a few large purchases declined, and my card put on hold where they declined everything. I called and spoke to a creditor on their end, and they told me that they put your limit based on a rolling 12 months they give the average based on that!

Also, I once placed what I spent in a year on the spending power, and it approved it, so maybe it's just what a year of the expenses is!

But if you're never sure call and ask them if you can charge a purchase that large. I did that once when I bought a car I placed 10k on the card they just asked me where and when and said okay everything will be fine!