Using as an 'everyday' card best practices?

[AvadaKedavra]

Hi all!

I've recently been approved for a Chase Freedom card with a $500 CL. I want to really build this card up to start a great relationship with Chase and prove my credit worthiness to them for a better CLI in the future.

The card came two days ago and I have been and plan to use this card as my everyday card for all normal purchases I would normally use my debit card for (I also bank with chase). What is the best way to pay off this card with high usage like that? Wait until statements post? Pay off weekly? Every two weeks? I want the best for my CR of course.

Thanks in advance for the advice!

[Kenny]

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@rebzer wrote:

Hi all!

I've recently been approved for a Chase Freedom card with a $500 CL. I want to really build this card up to start a great relationship with Chase and prove my credit worthiness to them for a better CLI in the future.

The card came two days ago and I have been and plan to use this card as my everyday card for all normal purchases I would normally use my debit card for (I also bank with chase). What is the best way to pay off this card with high usage like that? Wait until statements post? Pay off weekly? Every two weeks? I want the best for my CR of course.

Thanks in advance for the advice!

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I think everyone is pretty individualized when it comes to their payments. I think banks like to see you can make large payments one time/month personally. So I try to pay it all right before the statement closes unless it's the card that I would like to report a balance and then it doesn't matter. I try to be cognizant of my number of cards with balances, because I can let that go sometimes and then 7 report a balance and I'm mad at myself!

[SomeGuyNamedFred]

Hi I started with a chase freedom with a $500 limit.  The more $$ you can run through it the better.  Just pay off the card as many times as needed each month to ensure you don't go over the limit.  Keep in mind chase makes you wait at least three days between payments.  Also, before the statement cuts pay it down so that it's less than 10% of the limit.  That way when it reports to the CRAs your score won't crash due to high utilization.  You'll probably receive an auto cli in about 3- 6 mos.   I got a $300 limit increase when the 4th statement cut.  After the 6th statment I called and asked for an increase to 5K and was approved.   Good luck!

[Kenny]

I've never had chase tell me to wait 3 days. Is that new? They just won't let me pay more than one time in one day.

[SomeGuyNamedFred]

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@KennyRS wrote:
I've never had chase tell me to wait 3 days. Is that new? They just won't let me pay more than one time in one day.

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Wow really?  Lucky you!  I always get a message saying i can't make a payment b/c i've made one in the past three days, which has happened ever since i got the card 1.5 years ago.  And I've read other threads which say the same, such as this one:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Chase-online-pay-Only-1-payment-every-3-days-allowed-pr...

I really wished i could've paid more frequently back when i had a toy limit... such a PITA

[Kenny]

Weird! Never ran into that.. but then again I try not to pay too often, either.

[score_building]

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@KennyRS wrote:
Weird! Never ran into that.. but then again I try not to pay too often, either.

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For those who pay monthly, this may only come up if mistakenly trying to create a payment when had already done so recently. Sounds like you just never tried to pay twice within a 3 day period, which makes sense. I agree that banks ideally like to see card holders who can pay off their expenses in one fell swoop monthly but have a few balances on cards that I manicure making a few payments a month. In a perfect world would PIF all but one card once a month before the statement date.

In any case, I think OP can have great results with heavy usage and PIF either once or a few times a month.

[Kenny]

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@score_building wrote:

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@KennyRS wrote:
Weird! Never ran into that.. but then again I try not to pay too often, either.

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For those who pay monthly, this may only come up if mistakenly trying to create a payment when had already done so recently. Sounds like you just never tried to pay twice within a 3 day period, which makes sense. I agree that banks ideally like to see card holders who can pay off their expenses in one fell swoop monthly but have a few balances on cards that I manicure making a few payments a month. In a perfect world would PIF all but one card once a month before the statement date.

In any case, I think OP can have great results with heavy usage and PIF either once or a few times a month.

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Amen --- in a perfect world. I have a BT that I'm currently paying off and cards that I can't afford to PIF unfortunately right now. (Where is that utopia? lol)

[SevenNEW]

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@SomeGuyNamedFred wrote:

Hi I started with a chase freedom with a $500 limit.  The more $$ you can run through it the better.  Just pay off the card as many times as needed each month to ensure you don't go over the limit.  Keep in mind chase makes you wait at least three days between payments.  Also, before the statement cuts pay it down so that it's less than 10% of the limit.  That way when it reports to the CRAs your score won't crash due to high utilization.  You'll probably receive an auto cli in about 3- 6 mos.   I got a $300 limit increase when the 4th statement cut.  After the 6th statment I called and asked for an increase to 5K and was approved.   Good luck!

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+1. These are the most important things you want to do. Congratulations!

[elim]

I recieved an auto CLI from $500 to 1k right after my 2nd statement. Here is my Usage/Util on those 2 statements. I used the card for small purchases and paid it down to 5% whenever the balance reached 30%. (3 payments in may)

Keep us posted on yours? GL