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WHICH CARD TO USE? HELP PLEASE

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Tsarbomba
Established Member

Re: WHICH CARD TO USE? HELP PLEASE

Hand down, use the AMEX. You wanna stay under 9%. Which the $750 would keep you under than, plus get you close to that 1k for the 150 staement credit, all the while not paying interest.

Message 11 of 15
carcdr
Established Member

Re: WHICH CARD TO USE? HELP PLEASE

Amex. Without question. Using that card will give you the longest time to revolve the balance and will affect your utilization the least.

If you're worried about Amex taking adverse action against you, don't fret. I've reolved a balance of similar size along a similar time frame on my card, and they did not care one single bit.
Discover It @ $3,300, May 2017 | Amex Blue Cash Everyday @ $7,500, July 2017 | Citi Double Cash @ $5,300, June 2018 | Chase Amazon Prime VS @ $3,000, July 2018 | Chase Freedom @ $5,100, October 2018 | Wells Fargo Cash Wise @ $2,000, February 2019 | Walmart MasterCard @ $3,000, March 2019 | Fidelity Rewards VS @ $6,000, August 2019
Message 12 of 15
CBartowski
Frequent Contributor

Re: WHICH CARD TO USE? HELP PLEASE


@Anonymous wrote:

So, I recently accumulated a hefty medical bill even with insurance and have been out of work for a month now due to my condition.  Unfortunately this is all happening in my last semester of college.  I would prefer to cough up the cash for my medical bills and charge my last two courses since they are only $730.  I intend to pay off the $730 over the next 2 to 3 months.  I would like to know which card would make more sense to use (i.e. which creditor won't mind a balance of this sort being paid over time).  I am still relatively new to this forum and learning the in's and out's of credit which is why I am asking.

 

Capital One CL $1250 -----8% usage

 

Citi CL $3500 0% APR until March 2019-------- 50% usage 

 

Discover It CL $3500 0%APR until June 2019 ----- 10% usage

 

American Express CL $10000 0% APR until August 2019 ($150 Statement Credit if $1000 spent in first 3 months)---------0.55% usage 

 

Chase CL $3600 0% APR until June 2019 ($150 Statement Credit if $500 spent in first 3 months)------------2% usage

 

All balances are being paid in full this month.  If you need anymore information let me know.  I hope you guys can help me with this one!


First off, I wish you a speedy recovery and an early congrats on college grad!

 

Secondly, not to sound like a repetitive drum beat here but if you're taking votes, the AMEX is the clear choice to me. 0%, need to spending minimum to get the cash that will even help with the situation. There should be absolutely no issues carrying a less than 1% balance on your AMEX for a few months. 

 

Good luck!

CARDS:
AMEX CS Plat | NSL -- Chase Freedom Flex | $19,000
AMEX Gold | NSL -- Citi Double Cash | $10,000
AMEX HH NAF | $1,000 -- Uber Visa | $5,000
CSR | $29,000 -- USAA Plat | $8,000
USAA AMEX | $23,000 -- MB Boundless | $11,900 -- CFU | $3,600 -- PenFed Pathfinder | $10,000 -- MS Plat | NSL

BANKS:
NFCU | USAA | PenFed | Schwab Bank | First Bank | Chase
Message 13 of 15
HeavenOhio
Senior Contributor

Re: WHICH CARD TO USE? HELP PLEASE

@Anonymous has stated that her intention is to pay off a $730 balance over two or three months. Any of her 0% cards will happily accommodate that.

 

If her intention had been to drag the balance on for months and months while paying only the minimum, I'd submit that AMEX would be the worst choice for that. There's a thread going on right now about AMEX AA (adverse action) for that very reason. AMEX loves pay in full behavior, and they're fine with balances being carried as long as substantial payments are being made to bring them down.

 

Capital One tolerates dragging out balances (although one can forget CLIs while that's going on). But in this case, CapOne is a poor choice because it's the card that doesn't have 0% interest. I'd say that Discover would be the second best choice for dragging out a balance.

 

The OP's in a good spot as long as she sticks with her plan. Four of the five cards she lists are good options. Many people come here asking for help because all of their options in a situation like this are lousy.

Message 14 of 15
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: WHICH CARD TO USE? HELP PLEASE


@HeavenOhio wrote:

@Anonymous has stated that her intention is to pay off a $730 balance over two or three months. Any of her 0% cards will happily accommodate that.

 

If her intention had been to drag the balance on for months and months while paying only the minimum, I'd submit that AMEX would be the worst choice for that. There's a thread going on right now about AMEX AA (adverse action) for that very reason. AMEX loves pay in full behavior, and they're fine with balances being carried as long as substantial payments are being made to bring them down.

 

Capital One tolerates dragging out balances (although one can forget CLIs while that's going on). But in this case, CapOne is a poor choice because it's the card that doesn't have 0% interest. I'd say that Discover would be the second best choice for dragging out a balance.

 

The OP's in a good spot as long as she sticks with her plan. Four of the five cards she lists are good options. Many people come here asking for help because all of their options in a situation like this are lousy.


Even though I've only been on this forum for about 2 or 3 months, your advice has helped me during that time.  THANK YOU!!  You mentioned something that leads me to another question.  In the event that I ran into a situation where I needed to drag the balance out for months, Discover would be the second best choice.  I've heard that they "like" people who carry a balance and it also helps with CLI.  But anyway, would splitting the $730 between Chase and Discover also be a good choice if I needed to drag the balance out.  Both have a minimum payment of $25 but I would pay atleast double that.  

 

I'm still shooting for 2 - 3 months of paying off the $730 but with these medical expenses I have to prepare for the unexpected and don't want to be in a jam.

Message 15 of 15
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