What would look better? CC troubles

[Anonymous]

That's what I think too! But I just get some anxiety seeing the balance there even though I know I can pay it off. What will the bank think of me if I leave on more than 30%??? lol But I've also seen cases of people who have had their CL's lowered for little to no usage, so you can't win I guess!

[mikesonthemend]

My 2 cents: If you are not planning on applying for more credit, do not worry about utilization thresholds or credit scores. Take advantage of any 0% interest you can if you are going to carry debt.

Pay your bills timely and whatever hit your score takes will recover.

Good luck!

[tacpoly]

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@Anonymous wrote:

"I frankly don't see why you would even consider only transfering half and having to pay interest" by rule of thumb we're supposed to maintain less than 30% on a card. 30% of 13K card is $4,200. Dividing the balances by 50/50 = 3K on DC, 3K on plat which would amount to less than 30% on each card by util. 

I don't mind people commenting on the rest of the post at all, I added the info so people would have an overall profile, but centering your advice on solely a judgment you're taking out of a completely vague statement is what I'm not okay with. I've given data points on my financial situation before, including my income, but I didn't in this post. Which would mean I don't think it's relevant to my question. I'm pretty sure what I'm emphasizing makes a lot of sense. 

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@tacpoly wrote:

If you’re not going to pay off the Amex bill in full, then of course transfer whatever remaining balance to a card with a 0% offer. It’s the best way to save money on interest. Unless you’re worried about your score (ie applying for a loan) the goal is really to save as much money as possible. If you’re worried about cc applications, I don’t think new cards report immediately so your balance transfer may not be on your credit report when you apply (others will have to confirm as I don’t follow scoring or reporting closely). 

And while you may may think that your (and your husband’s) spending are not relevant to this issue, the fact that you even have to resort to balance transfers or use high balances to deter your shopping suggests you may not have complete control over your finances or have the healthiest financial habits.  It seems like you have enough income that you can easily spend $13,000 on a trip — shouldn’t you also have enough savings to easily pay off $6,000 (without having to wait for a bonus)?

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I believe I answered your main concern on my first post first and foremost.  I added the second paragraph as counsel/caution -- to which you reacted negatively.  You seem to have been frustrated that people were not answering your primary question so I suggested a solution. 

[Anonymous]

OP, I think you should sit down and tally up the amount of interest you are really spending. You seem to think that leaving $6000 running on a card is not really costing you much and somehow having "savings" elsewhere is a greater value. I think you should look closely at that.

It may be true. Some people have zero interest balance transfer deals and can get more from a savings account than the card charges--though don't forget the fees! A lot of these offers have a 2 or 3% fee that really wipes out any advantage of "saving" the money. 

But most likely you are carrying regular credit card interest at perhaps something like 18% or so. That's costing you $1000/year for that $6000 balance and I'm guessing from your posts that $1000 is money that you could put to a much better use. 

I saw your comment that having a high balance on your card helps you avoid spending. That's good. But I think you should find some better way of avoiding over-spending because as mentioned that way is costing you a lot of money that you could otherwise have been spending.

[HeavenOhio]

I'd do the balance transfer if it saves you money vs. keeping the balance on the AMEX card. Don't worry about a short-term score ding.

One thing a thread like this naturally does is prompt suggestions on how to avoid the same situation in the future. The first thing I'd suggest is that if a charge comes up that puts a monkey wrench in your plans, put it on a revolver. An AMEX revolver would be great for this because of its Plan It feature.

The second thing I'd suggest is to stop paying interest and reset the grace periods on your cards. One card with a monkey-wrench charge can be an exception. Doing this would entail budgeting so you're spending the bonuses after receiving them instead of before.