"You have the flexibility to skip a payment"

[haulingthescoreup]

American Express offered this to me on my Gold. I ignored it, as it looked an awful lot like the apple offered to Snow White by the evil Queen.

[Anonymous]

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:
American Express offered this to me on my Gold. I ignored it, as it looked an awful lot like the apple offered to Snow White by the evil Queen.

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She wasn't evil, just misundertood.   

Message Edited by txjohn on 05-04-2009 05:03 PM

[Anonymous]

I actually took BofA up on this offer about 2 yrs ago - used it to further my snowball strategy.

Scenario:  I had a tidy little sum owed to BofA at approx 4% due to a lovely BT offer.  Meanwhile, I was chipping away at another balance at a much higher rate on a different card.

Action:  I took the amount I would have paid to BofA for my monthly minimum and put it on that other card, along with its monthly payment as well.

Worked out well for me but only because I took that payment and applied it elsewhere (vs spending it).

[Anonymous]

Weird coincidence - just had "skip a payment" offered on one of my Chase accounts - one of those low-APR life-of-balance BT accounts.

So, in January, Chase decides one of my low-APR BT accounts isn't being paid down fast enough, so they apply the 5% minimum and the (later rescinded) $10 fee.

Now, in May, they do the exact opposite and offer to let me pay slower on a different low-APR BT account.

Models of consistency, they are not ...

[smallfry]

Flexibility huh? More like bend over and touch your toes. 

[Anonymous]

I also received this "flexibility to skip a payment" offer this past month and I would like to know one thing.  I already know that I don't have to pay anything this month (so my balance will not go down).  I also know that they will still charge me the regular APR for the month (so my balance will in fact increase). 

What I would like to know is, if I do accept their offer what other consequences will there be, if any, for me?  Will anything happen to my credit rating?  Will there be a black mark against me on my credit score?  Will my credit be affected? I called chase and asked them but they said that there would be no consequences other than I would get charged the APR for the month.  They said my APR would stay the same and my minimum payment percent would not change. 

Can anyone help me to find out what, if any, unforseen consequences there might be?  Thank you in advance for your reply!

[Anonymous]

fanblade,

I don't think it will have a negative impact on you CR.  I would imagine Chase will show "paid as agreed" for the month ($0 minimum due, $0 paid).  The only negative impact will be the interest on the outstanding balance that was not paid will increase, but that should be negligible for utilization purposes.  I think Chae is trying to promote goodwill, while still squeezing additional interest from you.

[Anonymous]

I had this same thing come up last month.  When I saw the balance due to be zero, I thought it was a mistake.  Finally found the notice at the very bottom of the statement about the "flexibility to skip a payment".  I'm trying to dig out from a mountain of debt right now, so skipping a payment was not exactly in my best interest.  I paid my usual amount, which is unfortunately just a bit over the minimum.  I also had my credit limit slashed in half, down to just over the balance, a few months ago, when I attempted to transfer a higher interest rate balance to this card.

[itsjustmeibe]

Let's not forget that next month's payment will be 1% of balance + 2 months worth of finance charges or 2% of balance, whichever is higher.

[Anonymous]

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Message Edited by jaybird201 on 06-01-2009 01:06 PM