question about 0% apr

[Anonymous]

just got the chase freedom unlimited card my first credit card

they offer 0% apr the first 15 months

that means i can get away with just making the minimum payments the first 15 months and not pay off the full balance and i will not be charged interest correct?

for example

within the first 15 months if i have a balance of $554 

minimum payment is $20

i pay $20 the remaining $534 will not be charged interest

which means i can split up the $534 payments into 15 months and i would not be charged interest or pay extra?

will not paying my balance off in full negatively affect my credit score even with the 0% apr offer or as long as i make the minimum payments i should be fine?

[medicgrrl]

I would make more than the minimum payment. It doesn't look good to the creditor if you're only making the minimum. 0% is nice but I wouldn't make it a long term strategy unless it's a balance transfer or large purchase, and even then I would make at least 3-4 time's the minimum payment.

[Shooting-For-800]

In most cases, yes.

The balance you have after 15 months will be just like you charged that amount the month before on a normal card.

I would pay at least 3x times the minimum monthly payment even if you have to charge more to do it.

In other words, take some cash you would have used for groceries and charge groceries and pay the card more.

How it affects your credit completely depends on your credit profile.

I have gone up and down $20k in 0% on my credit report without moving a point.

[ChessChik47]

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@Anonymous wrote:

just got the chase freedom unlimited card my first credit card

they offer 0% apr the first 15 months

that means i can get away with just making the minimum payments the first 15 months and not pay off the full balance and i will not be charged interest correct?

for example

within the first 15 months if i have a balance of $554 

minimum payment is $20

i pay $20 the remaining $534 will not be charged interest

which means i can split up the $534 payments into 15 months and i would not be charged interest or pay extra?

will not paying my balance off in full negatively affect my credit score even with the 0% apr offer or as long as i make the minimum payments i should be fine?

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Congrats on your approval!  Be careful to make sure that less than 10% of the limit is being reported from month to month since this is the only card you have.  You want to make sure your utilization isn't too high.  As an example:  If your limit is $1000 don't let more than $99 report each month.   

[Anonymous]

how can i find out what % is being reported each month? what question would i ask specifically? this is all new to me? My limit is $1500 so how much would you recomment i use each month? how much should be reported?

[rmduhon]

Ideally you'd want 120 at the most to report to the CRA's. You can use the card as much as you want to each month, even up to the limit multiple times, as long as you pay it down before the statement cuts (and make the minimum payment before the due date of course). Call Chase and ask them what your due date and statement dates will be.

[Anonymous]

so your saying even within the 15 moth 0% apr period try to not go above a balance of $120 at the end of the billing cycle / due date?

[rmduhon]

That ideally. But as long as you keep the balance fairly low you'll be fine. It'll get easier when you have more than 1 card.

[ChessChik47]

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@Anonymous wrote:

how can i find out what % is being reported each month? what question would i ask specifically? this is all new to me? My limit is $1500 so how much would you recomment i use each month? how much should be reported?

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You can use whatever amount you'd like, just try not to let more than 10% (in your case $150) report when your statement cuts.  So pay your balance off (or no more than $149) before your statement cuts.  

You have two dates to pay attention to, the statement date and the pay by date.  The statement date is the date that the company will report the balance owed to the credit bureaus and the due date is just that, the date your minimun payment is due.  You want the balance that the Chase is going to report to the credit bureaus to be as low as possible.  So if you choose to use $1000 today and your statement cut date is June 30th, then you'd want to pay at least $850 or more BEFORE June 30th so that Chase reports the lower balance.  Then you can use your card again on July 1, 2, 3, etc., just make sure you've made your minimum (or more) payment by your due date (which would be a couple weeks after the statement cut date).  

[Anonymous]

what would be considered a fairly low balance with a credit limit of $1500?