DaveHanson said:
I use billpay heavily, but always pay down the account to 0 on the closing date of the billing cycle. [and the card is used for some purchases -- Eric] I've had several MBNA analysts tell me my usage pattern "looks wonderful."

Thanks, DH.
This is probably all one needs to know, and follow. I remember you also pay down your Balance Transfers when possible before cycles end, so that your credit utilization appears much lower than it really is. Very smart methods.

I am starting to use MBNA for bill pay since I just notice this funtion. But are there any benefit for it? I mean if I use MBNA to pay other credit card are there any Cash Back (mine is Cash Back card) or etc?

miniid said:Same here.

Yesterday I got a call from MBNA and was told two cards were closed due to billpay. They asked me use citi, chase and discover instead of MBNA.

Two MBNA credit cards: $2000 CL and $6000CL.

I made eight transactions this month, and all of them are billpay. The current balance is $7500/$8000.

Would you mind providing a bit more info?

Have you been carrying a balance or paying off your MBNA balances every month?
Have you been regularly been using BillPay at about this utilization ratio? If so for how long?

Thanks

xerty said:76hhma said:Assume that there is $10K cc bills each month. At the exact due date of each bill, one pays it with MBNA BillPay... Thus all 10K is delayed by at least a month (MBNA grace period) thus the one-month interest for 10K.

One repeats the process each month continually for twelve months; thus it is just like $10K for twelve months (should be slightly more with the compounding). With a 4% annual interest, it is $400 annually.
While this strategy does result in the $400 savings in the above example, it assumes you have $10K in credit card bills each month. I don't know about you, but I can imagine saving a lot more than $400 by looking carefully at what exactly I was blowing $120K a year on in expenses .If you float the original 10K cc purchase, you'll earn $400 annually in interest at 4% savings without spending another dime unless I'm missing something. I don't think most of us have the CLs to support floating 10K/month or 120K total.

tooshy said:If you float the original 10K cc purchase, you'll earn $400/mo in interest at 4% savings without spending another dime unless I'm missing something. I don't think most of us have the CLs to support floating 10K/month or 120K total.That should be $40/month, not $400.

EricGo said:tooshy said:If you float the original 10K cc purchase, you'll earn $400/mo in interest at 4% savings without spending another dime unless I'm missing something. I don't think most of us have the CLs to support floating 10K/month or 120K total.That should be $40/month, not $400.
Actually $33.33 (10,000 X 0.04 / 12)

tooshy said:DH, I think MBNA CSR's will always tell you you've handled your account well (if you've never been late perhaps) and that is not an indicator IMO that you are safe. Sloth911 already confirmed this.I certainly agree that CSR's remarks don't confirm I am safe. And in light of reports here, I'll be a bit more conservative in my behavior in the future.

But it isn't clear to me that Sloth911 confirmed that using billpay heavily will result in likely closure PROVIDED (1) purchases are made too, and (2) closing balances are not a high % of utilization (which ALWAYS gets fraud's attention. Note Sloth911 said he didn't "carry a balance", which I interpret as paying MBNA interest. It's very easy to do this yet still show a high % utilization month after month.

It would be useful if Sloth911 (and other posters too) clarified a bit just what s/he did:

-how high a % of the CL was the closing balance?
-Were any purchases made?

DaveHanson said:tooshy said:DH, I think MBNA CSR's will always tell you you've handled your account well (if you've never been late perhaps) and that is not an indicator IMO that you are safe. Sloth911 already confirmed this.I certainly agree that CSR's remarks don't confirm I am safe. And in light of reports here, I'll be a bit more conservative in my behavior in the future.

But it isn't clear to me that Sloth911 confirmed that using billpay heavily will result in likely closure PROVIDED (1) purchases are made too, and (2) closing balances are not a high % of utilization (which ALWAYS gets fraud's attention. Note Sloth911 said he didn't "carry a balance", which I interpret as paying MBNA interest. It's very easy to do this yet still show a high % utilization month after month.

It would be useful if Sloth911 (and other posters too) clarified a bit just what s/he did:

-how high a % of the CL was the closing balance?
-Were any purchases made?

Some Sloth911's account closure info here, Page 4.

Bottom Line: It is not a matter of fraud/abuse, it is a matter of profit/risk from MBNA's perspective.

Thanks 76hhma.

That post suggests billpay likely had little or nothing to do with Sloth911's account closure, so I'm puzzled why s/he writes above that they were closed "due to my Billpay activity". Seems the like the proximate cause was his request for an line increase that triggered a manual account review. GIVEN THAT, the recorded income, and the outstanding available credit, the heavy billpay usage was a factor.

Just for another data point: I have over $650K in available credit, and over $1M if authorized users are included. MBNA has seen all of this, I have had them manually review my account a couple of times in the past year, and I use billpay heavily (on about $90K of MBNA lines all told.) The main differences in our situations seem to include (a) MBNA wasn't uncomfortable with my income, (b) I never show a closing balance much above zero, and (c) I also make lots of purchases on my MBNA accounts.


Again, I think with the pending BofA merger, it's prudent to be a little cautious. (And I wouldn't be shocked if they wanted to close my accounts.) But it's far from clear precisely what usage patterns trigger account reviews among heavy billpay users.