Do Credit Card Issuers Have A Problem With Negativ... - myFICO® Forums

Iusedtolurk · ‎02-02-2021

I am slowly reducing balances to zero on some of my cards and just paid 2 down to zero. Then it occurred to me that I have 1 card that has a monthly fee so that means when my statement cuts although balance is zero the monthly fee will be tacked on thus negating a zero balance being reported.

Not really a big deal right now but sometime in the future I will be practicing AZEO.

So to avoid a fee balance showing when a statement cuts I will have to pay more than the balance causing a negative balance.

As I stated earlier my intent is to slowly reduce accounts with balances so with the one card with the monthly fee I have down to zero balance if I wanted to keep this card reporting ZERO I would have to overpay each month causing a negative balance.

As there are so many things that happen behind the credit door we don't see until we see them (like getting penalized for CFAs) I was wondering if anyone had any experiences or thoughts of AA occuring if you constantly cause a negative balance to an account.

BAD_UP · ‎02-02-2021

I went through that with Applied Bank couple years ago until I closed it. Most predatory Card issuers utilize that tactic and each time I thought I paid it down to zero It will report the monthly fee(also it didn't allow me to pay more to avoid the fee from reporting). Its hard to strategize AZEO method with cards that tact on their fees monthly. Though that was my oldest card back then I had to let it go it began to make me feel like I was renting credit with their so call (monthly maintenance fee).

See if it allow you to pay extra to reflect a negative balance so the fee wouldn't report

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Anonymous · ‎02-03-2021

I’ve never had a problem doing so.

Iusedtolurk · ‎02-03-2021

@BAD_UP wrote:
I went through that with Applied Bank couple years ago until I closed it. Most predatory Card issuers utilize that tactic and each time I thought I paid it down to zero It will report the monthly fee(also it didn't allow me to pay more to avoid the fee from reporting). Its hard to strategize AZEO method with cards that tact on their fees monthly. Though that was my oldest card back then I had to let it go it began to make me feel like I was renting credit with their so call (monthly maintenance fee).
See if it allow you to pay extra to reflect a negative balance so the fee wouldn't report

@BAD_UP Interesting point (also it didn't allow me to pay more to avoid the fee from reporting) IIRC seems I read something similar to that effect where payment wouldn't go through cc payment system or PUSH payment being rejected?

As card is my second card in rebuild no thoughts of closing it are in my mind now and it has treated me well with auto cli and such. Perhaps way down the line after achieving excellent credit closing would be considered/maybe not. ( note I have 2 such monthly fee cards).

Next month I will experiment with this (See if it allow you to pay extra to reflect a negative balance so the fee wouldn't report) to find out if it falls into this category.

Some other cards may do similar as "Applied Bank" did you hopefully the 2 I have will not. I will fare well even if one of the 2 I have acts this way because being a major card I could always deem it to be the one to report a small balance in a AZEO scenario and so far as AA ramifications I see @Anonymous has stated none were experienced by him with the particular cards he had performed negative balances on.

Anonymous · ‎02-03-2021

Set the card up in your checking account's online billpay and you can "push" a payment in excess of your current balance to cover the fee when it hits.

I do this to cover purchases I make on cards I like to report $0 before the charges even final post. Also lets you earn rewards while essentially treating your budget as paying in cash.

Anonymous · ‎02-03-2021

Nah, it won't cause any problems.

As an aside, have you considered getting rid of your card(s) that have monthly fees associated with them?

Iusedtolurk · ‎02-03-2021

@Anonymous wrote:
Set the card up in your checking account's online billpay and you can "push" a payment in excess of your current balance to cover the fee when it hits.

I do this to cover purchases I make on cards I like to report $0 before the charges even final post. Also lets you earn rewards while essentially treating your budget as paying in cash.

@Anonymous I do this with this one particular cc I just paid to zero (checking account's online billpay and you can "push" a payment) in fact that is the only way I have ever paid them due to the fact I saw so many complaints about their payment system not working, trouble with the website and additonal cost to pay by phone. As I was just starting a rebuild I was not taking any chances.

I will try including the fee in next months payment to see how it works. My main concern was if anyone had experienced any AA when they create a "Negative Balance" consistently.

You would think not but I have learned logical reasoning doesn't always give expected results in the credit world. (for example paying off all your accounts and showing no debts. You would think you would receive higher scores showing no debt and handling your credit positively but instead you get hit with a All Zero Penalty).

Iusedtolurk · ‎02-03-2021

@Anonymous wrote:
Nah, it won't cause any problems.

As an aside, have you considered getting rid of your card(s) that have monthly fees associated with them?

@AnonymousNo not any time soon. Just letting everything progressively age from their not too long ago embryonic stages and want to keep the CL utilization buffers in place also.

When I get Big and Bad with my scores down the road I probably will ax a few accounts off (being careful not to substain any damage) but I do derive a little fun jockeying my 12 accounts.

That's my mindset right now but who knows I might go in the other direction and add even more...never know.

Anonymous · ‎02-03-2021

Gotcha, it's all up to the individual. I was just thinking that since you've got plenty of accounts that there likely wasn't much of a benefit of having a monthy fee account open at this point. Your call of course and you know best.

SouthJamaica · ‎02-03-2021

@Iusedtolurk wrote:
I am slowly reducing balances to zero on some of my cards and just paid 2 down to zero. Then it occurred to me that I have 1 card that has a monthly fee so that means when my statement cuts although balance is zero the monthly fee will be tacked on thus negating a zero balance being reported.

Not really a big deal right now but sometime in the future I will be practicing AZEO.

So to avoid a fee balance showing when a statement cuts I will have to pay more than the balance causing a negative balance.

As I stated earlier my intent is to slowly reduce accounts with balances so with the one card with the monthly fee I have down to zero balance if I wanted to keep this card reporting ZERO I would have to overpay each month causing a negative balance.

As there are so many things that happen behind the credit door we don't see until we see them (like getting penalized for CFAs) I was wondering if anyone had any experiences or thoughts of AA occuring if you constantly cause a negative balance to an account.