@Anonymous wrote:Hello!
So i've gotten myself into a mess these past few years and i'm finally on the path to rebuilding my credit score (which is currently sitting around 570) I have one card with Amex i've had since 2008 with a $2000 Credit limit. It was maxed out and I paid it off 2 months ago, and I used it again, and paid it off. I want to continue this cycle to improve my relationship with American Express.
My question is if I continue using it in this way, will it improve my chances of a CLI or will it still heavily depend on my credit score? How much does Amex look at your personal relationship with them over the score?
It's definitely helpful but probably not helpful enough to get you a CLI at this point in time, but I think you should keep on doing it.
Do you have other cards open? If so, if you give us limits and balances, we can give you utilization percentage targets to optimize your score.
Your best strategy would be to find out when your statement cuts because depending on the balance on the that date is what is reported to CBs.
e.g. statement cuts on 15th of each month but your balance is $2k then $2k would negatively impact your score vs. paying 1-2 days before statement cut date and letting a balance of $275 or so report would show usage but not overutilization.
@Anonymous wrote:Hello!
So i've gotten myself into a mess these past few years and i'm finally on the path to rebuilding my credit score (which is currently sitting around 570) I have one card with Amex i've had since 2008 with a $2000 Credit limit. It was maxed out and I paid it off 2 months ago, and I used it again, and paid it off. I want to continue this cycle to improve my relationship with American Express.
My question is if I continue using it in this way, will it improve my chances of a CLI or will it still heavily depend on my credit score? How much does Amex look at your personal relationship with them over the score?
Welcome to the forums.
While credit score will be a factor, I would suggest continued heavy use up to $1,950 along with paying the entire statement balance before the payment due date, but not before statement cut. My Delta Gold card, after a year of decent use, ran up to 1,950 of the $2k limit in 2014. I paid it off, and was running it up close to $2k again when they gave me an auto-CLI to $3k. It may take a bit longer with your scores, but you can't go wrong with heavy use and PIF.
Paying before statement cut might pick up a few points, but letting that balance report will build up a long string of evidence of borrowing with no payment problems, which might be helpful in a future manual review. The few points you gain with pay before statement are fleeting, I'd rather have the record of those good borrowings for future reference.
Good luck! Keep us updated on your journey and experiences as your scores improve!
@Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the advice guys. My biggest issue right now is a delinquent account with BOA i'm trying to resolve. They want $1000 as a minimum payment to clear that deliquency, something I didn't have at the time. I'm up to date on every other account I have, and i'm slowly saving and almost at the point to pay BOA (they won't work with me, i have tried numerous times)
Thanks again for the pro advice, i've found these forums very helpful in this endeavor!
I wish you good luck in getting that worked out with BOA and getting back on track.