jakeru said: Visa Signature "no pre-set spending limit" (NPSL) feature... worthless? I've only done this once, on a FIA (ex-MBNA) Fidelity card, and I was still able to make multiple purchases over the $4k limit. (But not run billpay over the limit)
So it's probably lender or situation-specific. Which card was it?
markkundinger - it was the new BoA NEA Visa Signature card "upgrade" I just received. I noticed after activation, as the account number updated to the new one in online banking, the transaction history in online baking also got wiped clean. (No transactions listed in history at all, there used to be some with the old account number.) As an extra precaution to make the current "high balance" stick with the new account number going forward, I was thinking I'd try and coax a small transaction out of the card before the next statement cycle (while the balance is still high - I've got a "rolling BT" on it taking it up to 100% utilization at the moment.) To accomplish that - I've now got a small billpay payment scheduled, which I'll let go through first, after which I'll try making another purchase.
Updates: As soon as the small Billpay payment to the new NEA Visa Signature card went through to the new NEA Visa Signature card number, the online banking transaction history changed and is now showing the full transaction history, including the transactions and payments that were made to the previous card number (prior to the "signature upgrade".)
Citi Home Rebate statement closed with a ~$40k balance and 81% utilization (up from 4%.) It is showing so far only on EX, which dropped from 778 to 765. I have plans to try for additional reallocation on this account in the next month or so, which if successful would drop the utilization down to 69%.
All balances that are going to report are now reporting, except for Am Ex IN:LA (which I haven't pulled the BT trigger on yet... thinking I might go for the 30 day CLI request, although that option just got riskier due to the other reporting balances.)
Another interesting discovery: Citi Home Rebate did not report the highest momentary or daily ending balance in the "high balance" credit report field, as other issuers I am familiar with (BoA and Cap One) have done. Citi Home Rebate instead reported the highest statement closing balance. If this applies for Citi's "NPSL" cards as well, it might require I take a temporary 100% utilization hit on my Platinum Am Ex to bump up its High Balance. (If it worked like BoA or CapOne, I could pay off the balance right before statement close and wouldn't need to take the 100% utilization hit.)
markkundinger
Senior Member - 2K
posted: Mar. 14, 2008 @ 9:31a
I was used to my BofA/FIA card not reporting "high balance" until a statement cycled with that balance. Go figure.
If you plan to keep the card for a while, and have the opportunity to spike the high balance, I'd go for it, even if it takes a util hit. (and even though the benefits of having a spiked "high balance" are unclear)
I let my new Citi Platinum Am Ex NPSL close with its first positive balance and as that balance hit the credit reports, it had a very ugly effect on scores...
$1091 bal / $1091 "high bal" (100% "apparent" utilization, due to $11k credit limit being "hidden")
Aside from that I am very pleased with the Citi Platinum Am Ex card. Nearly 20k points have already posted (15k from sign-up), and my average rebate level was a very healthy 4.x%.
New accounts reporting
Still waiting for Capital One and 2 x Am Ex cards to hit the credit reports.
Am Ex CLI attempt, take two
I put in an Am Ex IN:LA CLI request at 31 days got rejected (7-10 day response, followed by letter.) The letter came back identically worded to the earlier rejection letter, except the language about "no increases in 30 days of opening new account" was altered to 60 days. Kind of funny how they can just change their rejection policy to suit their needs.
I did also execute a $24.5k BT off the Am Ex IN:LA (70% utilization of it's $35k limit).
jakeru said: Aside from that I am very pleased with the Citi Platinum Am Ex card. Nearly 200k points have already posted ($150k from sign-up), and my average rebate level was a very healthy 4.x%.
Please tell me that above is a typo and you got 15K TYPs for sign-up and 5K more for purchases made.
Although PM123 has been on the fritz (not allowing reviewing detailed account information, including credit limits) it appears that my BOA NEA Visa has updated to the NPSL reporting. First clue: drop of credit scores across the board for unknown reason. (It may be difficult to tell, but it may be due to NPSL reporting causing a drop in overall available credit and increase in overall utilization) Second clue: in pm123 the account is now being shown as a "Flexible Spending Credit Card" account type, instead of just "Credit Card" account type.
And finally, when I check my experian detailed report, it shows that indeed the credit limit is no longer being reported, and the "account type" has even changed from "revolving" to "flexible spending" on there. The "high balance" last reported (of ~45k) has still "stuck" with the credit report, but the credit limit is no longer on there. The account number has also changed to reflect the new BOA NEA Visa signature card.
So... this is just in time for me to pay off the balance (end of 0% APR period) and reallocate to credit limits to my other BOA NEA card! (NEA Am Ex... which is not a NPSL card and so it will report the reallocated credit limits.)
----------------------------
In investing updates, I put $30.1k into TD Ameritrade to grab their $1k bonus when held for 9 months offer and got it! (Thanks SinglePapa!) Also managed to grab another $100 sign on bonus deal at the same time as well (I hope they don't take that one back, but I think they were supposed to, so they might!)
Now I am planning what investment to put it in for 9 months... at the moment the money is being held in a "sweep" TD ameritrade money market yielding in the 2%'s range. I'm leaning towards a 9 month CD @ 3.4% rate (puerto rican bank available with monthly interest payments, or Wa Mu or Gmac with interest payment at maturity.) Alternately, a more aggressive fund no transaction fee fund option is RYPQX "pseudo money market" fund, giving low 3%'s yields but a bit worried about risks incurred to get those higher rates (and at 1.06% expense ratio to boot!) It has some corporate bond holdings.
Assuming I dont lose any of the bonuses posted already, if I just went with the 3.4% CD, I'd lock in around 8.6% APY on this... truly outstanding in today's rate environment.
markkundinger
Senior Member - 2K
posted: Mar. 25, 2008 @ 12:07a
If a bank advertises a 3.4% APY, but it's only a 3 month CD, that means that the return to maturity will be approx 0.8%. "APY" is an implicitly annualized figure.
So either the Puerto Rican CD isn't yielding as much as you thought, or it's invested in the banana derivatives market.
lhendricks92
Senior Member - 1K
posted: Mar. 25, 2008 @ 10:04a
I think he's factoring in the $1K bonus in his APY calculation. Sort of like how we figured the 7 month SECU CDs were yielding 9.5%.
win333
Senior Member - 2K
posted: Mar. 25, 2008 @ 10:21a
markkundinger said: If a bank advertises a 3.4% APY, but it's only a 3 month CD, that means that the return to maturity will be approx 0.8%. "APY" is an implicitly annualized figure.
So either the Puerto Rican CD isn't yielding as much as you thought, or it's invested in the banana derivatives market.
Since my last update, TDA has withdrawn the $100 bonus from the initial promotion they gave me, but I still have the $1000 "big one" (and to keep that, I just need to keep $30k invested with them for 9 months.) The $100 loss would make a slight negative adverse effect to the previously calculated ~8.6% "net APY".
markkundinger said: If a bank advertises a 3.4% APY, but it's only a 3 month CD, that means that the return to maturity will be approx 0.8%. "APY" is an implicitly annualized figure.
So either the Puerto Rican CD isn't yielding as much as you thought, or it's invested in the banana derivatives market.
The 3.4% Doral Bank CD rate quoted was an annual rate, not an APY or a "yield to maturity" rate. The APY (listed at 3.453% APY) is higher than the annual rate due to compounding of the monthly interest income cashflows.
Doral bank (the puerto rican headquartered US bank with FDIC insurance) actually has a direct lending outlet you can check out (which has a little bit higher direct lending rates than those available through TDAmeritrade) here.
Reallocated from "NPSL" BOA NEA Visa Signature to NEA Am Ex, building $49k limit and leaving behind ~1.5k. Result: The $49.6k "High Balance" still shows on the NPSL Visa Signature card, (with no limit being reported) while the card reporting the limit now shows $49k.
Also, Capital one finally started reporting their new account. They waited until the second statement close to start reporting the account. This account gave a favorable credit score impact, due to low utilization and a $30k credit limit (helping reduce overall utilization) and also already 2 months "aged" from the moment it started reporting. At this point the only new accounts that have not yet been reported are my two new Am Ex cards.
Result from above changes: TU: 722 -> 731 EX: 752 -> 776 EQ: 671 -> 682
markkundinger
Senior Member - 2K
posted: Apr. 2, 2008 @ 9:19a
jakeru said: Result: The $49.6k "High Balance" still shows on the NPSL Visa Signature card, (with no limit being reported) while the card reporting the limit now shows $49k. Nice. Is still don't know how much, if any, this matters. For instance, I've seen Equifax's utilization % figures, and they dont' seem to care about "high balance". But I still like doing it just on general principle.
2 months since performing the applications, my Am Ex accounts are now finally being reported, so now all current accounts and balances are shown on my report. (Except the "rolling" BOA NEA, which won't be showing any utilization despite nearly always being 100% utilized. )
PM123 FAKO score change result from the Am Ex accounts reporting (also likely in combination with favorable account aging and/or small balance paydowns happening as well): TU: 731 -> 713 EX: 776 -> 777 EQ: 682 -> 706
So 2 months since the applications, my credit report has now stabilized, and my scores have reached or passed hitting their bottoms. From here on out, they should only get higher. I still have a few more tricks I may also be pulling to get some additional credit score boosts as quickly as within the next 30 days: 1. A total payoff of my discover card (will report in ~1 week) 2. I will pay off Citi Platinum Am Ex NPSL card before the statement date, dropping "apparent" 100% individual utilization down to hopefully < 35%. (will report in ~1 week) 3. Having wife add me on as AU to her CapOne card, after paying off a soon expiring 0% BT (~2 weeks) 4. Yet another citi reallocation (Citi has now paid ~$200 in home rebate rewards to my HELOC account, so I may now proceed with converting the account to a Diamond or Platinum M/C, then reallocating ~8k from Citi Platinum Am Ex to drop utilization from 81% to 69% and also increase my largest reporting credit line from ~$49k to ~$57k.)
I was also pleasantly surprised to find I am still receiving the occasional juicy pre-approved offer. Last week I found: Chase Platinum pre-approved, 0% for 15 months, then 7.9% (non-introductory rate), no bt fee on application.
Cap One also sent my wife a moderately juicy BT offer on her existing Cap One card: 0% BT for 15 months, with a $199 capped, 3% BT fee. Too bad her credit limit isn't higher (only $10k) compared to that $199 cap, or I'd be all over it. But I am thinking we would probably be better off passing on this BT offer, and hoping for some no fee purchase checks instead.
[5/22 update: shortly after paying off wife's Cap One balance, they sure enough sent us a little booklet of those wonderful "no fee" purchase checks I was hoping for!]
To make my Chase Freedom "no pre set limit" World Mastercard report a new, larger "High Balance" on my credit report, after I place a large balance on the card, can I pay it off quickly or do I need to maintain it through statement close?
swishyx
Senior Member
posted: Apr. 18, 2008 @ 2:02p
I have a "high balance" figure on at least 2 cards reflecting balances that were zeroed before statement close. But I don't have an example specifically from Chase.
Edit: correction, 1 card. That card is from GE Money Bank and is the GE Money Net Rewards Visa. Thought I had a 2nd but doesn't look like it.
Another data point - BofA will report to all 3 bureaus on successful completion of a CLI/CLR (have seen this multiple times on CLI, once on CLR), and possibly/probably on a soft pull by a CSR.
I wrangled with a CSR this week over an APR reduction on one card, and they budged to get a BT on another card - both accounts updated, including reflection of the current balance, within 24 hours on EX.
Bump - I still don't know if Chase reports "high balance" on a balance paid off prior to statement close or not.
I just reallocated and initiated a purchase (Citi account funding) for over $30k on my Chase Freedom card, and I want to determine if I should pay the balance off before the statement close, or wait until after. Thanks!
markkundinger
Senior Member - 2K
posted: Apr. 20, 2008 @ 6:14p
I'd recommend waiting until the statement cuts to make sure it reports the "high balance". Not that "high balance" is necessarily used as a true replacement for "credit limit" for all lenders... but at least it's better than nothing!
Also, due to mysterious FICO logic I can't understand, my FAKO scores dropped about 4/5 months into my AOR, even though the situation was no worse than only two months after the AOR. So there might still be some room to drop, for mysterious reasons.
jakeru said: Bump - I still don't know if Chase reports "high balance" on a balance paid off prior to statement close or not.
I just reallocated and initiated a purchase (Citi account funding) for over $30k on my Chase Freedom card, and I want to determine if I should pay the balance off before the statement close, or wait until after. Thanks!
Why would you want to pay the balance before the statements cuts? Is this utilization vs. float $30K for 20 days question? BTW, Chase does not allow (in my experience, of course) to pay more than $25K at once at its web-site (perhaps there's no restriction if an external billpay is used). If you're using Chase's interface, then another consideration is that individual payments should be separated by at least 3 days.
Thanks for the info, cyberkost, on separating Chase payments by 3 days and having a 25k max payment... very useful.
The reason I would prefer to pay off an NPSL account's high balance before statement close is to keep that balance off the credit report. This would result in: 1. significant reduction of individual utilization of the NPSL account (which would be shown as 100% utilized on the credit report otherwise) 2. reduction of overall utilization 3. reduction of % of combined unsecured revolving balances to HHI ... the benefits would be a reduced chance of A/A, and an increased chance of being able to jump on a profitable mortgage refi opportunity (should such opportunity arise.)
markkundinger
Senior Member - 2K
posted: Apr. 21, 2008 @ 7:31p
Hopefully, the cost of spiking your utilization for one day is less than the benefit of having a ridiculously high reported "high balance".
The Citi account funding got delayed, so I used the extra time to perform a little experiment on my Chase Freedom NPSL card to see how Chase reports "high balance." On my Chase Freedom World Mastercard (previously reporting $0 balance and $0 high balance in experian) I charged $134 onto the card and then paid the balance off before statement close. When Chase next updated my experian credit report, it reported a balance of $0 and a "high balance" of $134.
Therefore, with Chase it is not necessary to report a large "balance" in order to increase the reported "high balance".
--------------------------------- First Snafu Encountered with BOA NEA "rolling 0% BT"
A BoA CSR changed the closing date of my BoA NEA Am Ex card differently than I had requested (so the account ended up closing a few days later than I thought it would... and my bad for not "testing" it through a cycle first; the 0% money was too tempting to give up for that long.) So anyway, when the statement cycled it "caught" me at 100% utilized balance, ($49k out of $49k credit limit), sending this toxic credit profile data on to the credit bureaus. I caught it right away, so paid off the balance in full and performed a reallocation with BoA to spur them to send a new update to the credit bureaus. It worked and the $0 balance was reported a few days later (hopefully I didn't get any account reviews pulled during that period, or I might have looked like a much higher credit risk.)
--------------------------------- $3045 of Economic Stimulus Gift Cards Purchased
I spiked utilization pretty good (about 3x my normal spending level) on my Citi platinum Am Ex card by purchasing $1200 of gift cards with one grocer (QFC / Kroger) and $1500 with another (Top Food and Drug), taking advantage of their economic stimulus deals (10% and 15% extra gift card values, respectively.) My family likes to shop at both grocers, so this is definitely gift card money we should be able to put to use. Both chains also sell wide variety of gift cards (which can be purchased using the grocer's gift cards) so I can convert the gift cards as I can best use them - to gas (Shell), e Bay, home depot, best buy, etc gift cards. Getting the 5% thank you points on the $2700 gift card already posted to my thank you account (extra thank you points posted last cycle resulting from this = 13.5k, so $135 cash worth) was also pretty nice.
--------------------------------- New Customer Citi Bank Account Bonuses and Credit Card Funding
I made some moves to take advantage of Citibank's new customer 40k thank you point promotion when opening new Checking and Ultimate Savings accounts.
For my citi accounts, I funded $33k from Chase Freedom (had it pay off the Chase 0% BT and reallocate to Freedom to prepare) giving 1.25% rewards, and $29.5k from Capital One (giving .5% rewards but also 0% on purchases card I've been meaning to run up.) Neither statement has closed yet, but so far both transactions have posted as purchases (and well above cash advance limits.)
For wife's citi accounts, we are working on getting through the hoops to get the accounts fully opened and funding $48k from BoA NEA Visa (Reallocated from NEA Am Ex as described above in "rolling 0% BT snafu" above) and after I pay off my chase freedom and reallocate it to my other chase 0% card, will fund about $33k from there. More info in this post.
What profit will this bring us? If all goes to plan and all purchases are posted by the end of month deadline, we will see $800 cash worth of promotional Citi thank you points, and ~$1,370 cash worth of credit card purchase rewards (based on total $143.5k credit card purchases). Also as added bonuses, "high balance" of my Chase Freedom will get bumped from $134 to ~$33k, and I will place some balance on my 0% on purchases until 3/2009 $30k CL Capital One. I plan on generally paying down the highly utilized credit card accounts at least before their statements cycle, in order to maintain a clean credit profile.
------------------------------------------- Wa Mu Heloc Temporarily Tapped
With BoA $49k and Chase $18k BTs temporarily paid off in order to take advantage of Citi new bank account promotions described above, my rewards checking had some unused 6% APY earning capability in it being unused, so I went ahead and tapped $45k of my $45.1k HELOC (at a borrowing cost of Prime = 5%) to place in my 6% APY rewards checking. This leaves my HELOC lender unable to substantially reduce my Heloc line (if they should happen to feel like trying when I have this move executed) and I also get to pocket the arbitrage difference of an after tax .75% on the $45k amount. This opportunity was made profitable because of paying back my BoA $49k and Chase $18k BTs to take advantage of Citi new account promotions described above.
------------------------------------------------ Discover Card Made Slightly "More" Useful
After paying off my Discover Motiva card balance, I got a $10k -> $12.5k CLI and converted the card from the "Motiva" (pay on time type of rewards) to the "More" (rotating category 5% rewards), all with one easy phone call, no hard pull, and no resetting of account history or change of account number.
6-month Post-A O R Update Due to a poor outlook on mortgage refinancing opportunities, I've taken on a little bit of increased aggressiveness of introductory 0% credit card borrowings. Things with my credit cards have been chugging along nicely however, with no adverse action. I made some moves (previously reported Citi deposit account funding by Capital One 0% on purchases) to transfer the debt showing on my credit report from six month 0% expiration (Am Ex IN:LA) to longer term 12 month expiration. This move leaves me poised to continue a fairly constant level of credit card utilization through the next six months as I have been enjoying through my first six months without any new credit.
Due to national instability in the housing markets, I've decided to prioritize elimination of reliance on all revolving debt, including my HELOC. To do this, I monthly track balances and "net revolving debt" (credit card debt + heloc debt - liquid funds). The monthly tracking has been nice for knowing where we stand with all (non-retirement) accounts in aggregate, as well as knowing how have performed financially each month (monitoring changes from the previous month.) As of the end of July, we stood at $14.7k net revolving debt and 4.7k of wife's student loan debt (5.825%, with tax deductability jeopardized by increasing income.) My goal over the next six months is to get to zero net revolving debt and also paying off the last of wife's student loan debt.
So far my home purchase finance strategy from early 2007 has been panning out well: pay points to buy a fairly long term fixed (10 year ARM), low rate (5.375%), low monthly obligation (interest only) mortgage and divert the extra cashflow towards paying off other higher rate debt and/or making other higher yielding investments.
Risk Free Gambling on Live Search Cash Back Racking up several large transactions from the e Bay +20-25% live search cash back promotion, I was able to put a number of e bay gift cards to use, purchased with +%10-15 economic stimulus promotion grocery store gift cards. The profit from the economic stimulus gift card shenanigans basically offset the e Bay and paypal transaction fees, allowing me to gamble "risk free" at making some live search Cash Back profit. (The risk being if live search fails to pay out.) I sure enough drew some attention by e bay/paypal for the abrupt spike in transaction history, however I managed to get them to clear up all account limitations, leaving $2250 pending Cash Back now seeming like a pretty sure thing. I'll know for sure in about a week after they pay out the first $250.
Updates: * I experienced the "new A O R accounts aged by six months" credit score boost on September 1st, exactly. The boost was significant: some ~20 point increase across the board!
This happened in longer than six months but shorter than seven months since actual most recent A O R date. Apparently, the PM123 FAKO scoring algorithm cares about what the current month is, but might ignore "the day of the month" for its aging calculations.
* I found a large (79% utilized) reporting HELOC balance causes the PM123 EQ FAKO score (only the Equifax!) to be penalized. PM123 TU and EX FAKOs were not penalized, and neither were any other scoring algorithms tested: Am Ex Credit Secure (all three bureaus), and Citi Identity monitor (all three bureaus.)
* Disputing a "paid off $0 balance" can be a bad idea... maybe especially if it's a Wa Mu account. I tried disputing my Wa Mu HELOC's 79% utilized balance on EQ, since the balance was indeed paid off (and reflected online). EQ investigated, but reported that wa mu denied the dispute. This seems to be causing the outdated 79% utilized balance to remain on the EQ report ~1 month longer than if I had never requested the dispute in the first place.
* Shortly after TU put five "bumped" inquiries back on my credit report (which were bumped using PM123), I signed up for Credit Karma and started doing daily updates. These inquiries started to bump off again this morning.
PM123 FAKOs as of this morning: 749 TU / 785 EX / 722 EQ
There are three large balances over 50% utilization reporting (80%, 72%, 63% utilized), with a total reported unsecured revolving debt of $92k. (I am currently borrowing 152k at 0% APR when the nonreporting debt is included.)
* Just this last week has been a good week for getting tasty pre-approved offers (and hopefully, this is a sign of more to come!) I got from Juniper: 0% on purchases and BTs for 15 months (but 3% uncapped BT fee.) No annual fees, ~8% nonintroductory APR, no rewards.
And my Wife got from Am Ex: pre-approved Hilton HHonors. The terms were no better than could found publically on the web, but it's good to know she's back on Am Ex's "wanted" list.
Hey Venturion - interestingly, there was not a single point gained on this month's citi identitymonitor scores (which I trust to be more faithful representations of real FICO far more than TC/PM123's scores.) As of 9/12, my citi indentity monitor scores remained (since the previous month) at: 683 EQ / 673 EX / 684 TU. I imagine the three BT accounts utilized > 50% individually are heavily dinging these.
Since I am carrying some decent 0% balances which are still good for another ~5 months, there is no *need* to do another round of apps right now, but I could consider it if some really juicy pre-approved's come my way. If I did do any "rolling A O R" new account application activity right now, I'd want to include at least one Chase app. (As I believe they would extend me more CL. I already have 0% offer for 12 months from Citi, and could consider stringing BoA along after introductory 0% expiration via Billpay.)
Upon the government takeover of Fannie and Freddie, mortgage rates fell from the sky, but not low enough to justify refinancing. They probably would have had to drop about 1/4% below the lowest they got to get me seriously interested in refinancing my 5.375% (8.5 years fixed remaining) interest only ARM. With the day to day rate volatility however, the possibility of a mortgage refinance is still on my radar. I believe I could make a strong refi candidate right now if I just paid down my BT accounts to 50% utilized. (Which I will only do if I need to.)
Discover called me and offered me with a new account application, 0% for 6 months with no BT fee, "up to 50k credit limit" (which I thought an interesting claim by them...) then after 6 months, BT rolls over to 1.99% for life. I don't have faith the guy I spoke to represented to me the complete offer (he mentioned nothing about the purchase requirements to maintain 1.9% others have reported with similar discover "for life" offers), so I am hoping they send me the written offer terms in the mail. He said the offer would remain available to me if I called the main discover number to apply. I told him I'd "think about it".
Discover also sent me a sorta decent BT offer on my existing account: 1.99% BT for ~11-12 mo with $99 fee cap. However, the measly 12.5k CL makes it for now not worth it. Maybe once my Am Ex IN:LA $0 balance reports early next month, I will do a CLI request with them and see if they give it a bump. At least I will try for a soft-pull, and see where that gets me. I suspect if I just wait longer, the BT offer on my existing account will likely remain, if not improve.
Edit: forgot to add, wife's CapOn< keeps getting a constant stream of no fee purchase checks, which we keep churning each month to make profit without showing any utilization on her report. Too bad her CL is only $10k on this one but hey, that's still $30+ a month profit. They also sent out again their BT offer on her existing account of 0% for 12-mo, although it had the full uncapped 3% BT fee.
Wife received the following pre-approved: * Am Ex blue, 0% on purchases and BTs for 12 months, $99 BT fee cap
She currently has no Am Ex account of her own, but is AU on one of my Am Ex accounts. The pre-approved offer mentions this, and asks her if she wants her own account.
Not yet, but DW and I have been recently discussing the idea of performing a small handful of apps for her.
In the past, she has generally not been on board with the idea of owning very many credit cards, however she may be coming around to the idea as I gain more BT experience of my own that I can speak to. (I have been at this successfully over 1.5 years now.)
Waiting further also likely won't provide her with any additional benefits. Assuming I cleaned up her AU accounts, I'll bet she has "ultra-prime" FICOs > 800. Her most recently opened tradeline is ~1.5 years ago.
Balance Transfer Investments Snapshot * ~$80k in verity rewards checking accts (4.5% apy) * ~$31k in tdameritrade 9-month CD, @ 3.4% + $1k bonus (8% net apy) * ~$16k in citi ultimate savings (3.5% apy) * ~$10.5k early heloc paydown (4.5%)
Profit from Balance Transfer Activities * $137.5k BT money borrowed at 0% interest * 5.17% apy weighted average BT investment yield * $593 monthly BT proceeds * $30 monthly BT fees * $563 monthly BT profit ($6,750 annualized)
Credit Profile Snapshot * $78k total reporting credit card debt * 37% total reporting credit card utilization * High (>50%) individually utilized credit cards: 76%, 70%, 61% * TU FICO score: 717 (as of 10/07) * Citi Indentitymonitor FAKOS: 700 TU / 684 EX / 699 EQ (as of 10/14) * PM123 FAKOs: 764 TU / 794 EX / 739 EQ (as of 10/20) * 47% total reporting credit card debt to disclosed HHI * No adverse action to date
WOR Planning I brought up with Wifey the additional profit she could contribute by permitting some credit card applications and 0% BTs in her name. She agreed to go along with at least a small number of new card applications. (The exact number is TBD; she wants it low, we'll see).
So today we began the process of grooming her credit profile by pulling an EX FACTA report. I found everything to be in order with it except: 1. There are two active revolving accounts that I don't think she is aware of: Chase credit card (unknown card type, opened 1998, $500 CL) and Ma<y's department store card (opened 1988, $500 CL). Despite the measly limits, I believe both of these to be worth keeping alive, due to favorable age. The Chase might also be CLI'able for reallocation to future Chase 0% card. Heck, maybe the Ma<y's can be CLI'ed, just to help increase her average revolving account limit. (Ma<y's has issued her other revolving accounts with significant limits that she has since closed out. Their limits were: $1.7k, $3k, and possibly an $8k "Visa department store card".) Another funny thing with Ma<y's is, they keep updating on her credit report all those old account, despite them being closed!
2. She has Authorized User status on five of my credit cards, some of which are likely hurting her credit. I'm going to drop her from those with high balances (0% BTs) to try and nudge her more into the "ultra-prime" segment, for those tasty pre-approveds. I'm planning on keeping her AU status on my Citi Platinum Am Ex (our daily spender giving 3-5 typ per dollar, but only 8 mos old) and maybe also my BoA "NEA Visa Signature" NPSL card ($0 balance, ~49.6k High Balance, 1.5 year age)
Maybe after those items are cleaned up, I will help her do a round of CLI's (as it makes sense, soft and/or hard pull type.) Then, wait for those new larger limits to report, and for some even juicier pre-approveds to (hopefully) roll in. Then when the mix of offers available is looking really good and she has possibly some larger credit limits reporting, pull the trigger on a small batch of card apps.
Tasty pre-approveds already saved: 1. Wa Mu rewards (intro 5-10% gas, up to 5% EDP) w/ 0% on purchases for ~1.5 years (with no fee BT) 2. Am Ex Blue 0% on BTs+purchases, $99 capped BT fee
She also does have a sole proprietorship business, so we could possibly dabble in some business credit to her name as well.
markkundinger
Senior Member - 2K
posted: Oct. 24, 2008 @ 7:36p
With the old lines, are they younger or older than her average credit age (Equifax computes that figure automatically). If they're older, I would also keep them in place for sure. Are they open or closed?
I also think removing AU from maxed out accounts is a good idea. It's often useful to segregate your debt in general.
As to the AU accounts, I've found that you sometimes have to dispute even after removing them - FWIW.
I would jack up her Biz cards in this A0R. Main reason being that its good to have one of you with close to clean personal profile in case you need rapid deleveraging. Of course, that HELOC would serve the same purpose if it's got enough CL and a decent rate. I just applied for BofA's HELOC (Prime - .75%, $280K) to expand and optimize my current FedChoice HELOC (6% promo rate fixed until 2010, $150K CL). Once it's open and active, then I'll follow your lead with W-O-R and focus on biz cards for her.
markkundinger - The 1988 Macys is the oldest account showing on her report. The 1998 Chase (at 128 months old) is older than her average tradeline shown on her report (108 months) and older than her average open tradeline on report (87 months). (I calculated those figures myself; She has 8 open tradelines, and 20 open+closed tradelines showing on her report.)
venturion - interesting proposal to have her go for only biz accounts at this time... My only two hesitations are - I'm thinking she would get juicier sized biz CLs if she first beefs up her reporting personal accounts CLs, which are currently small. The other would be she would need to bite on the idea. But it would definitely be a good way for her to keep her utilizations hidden off her personal credit report.
Her average credit limit of her four open unsecured revolving tradelines (excluding NPSL cards, which don't report credit limits) is just $5,125 (The CLs are: $500, $500, $9.5k, $10k) Possibly offsetting these low CLs are a Joint owned $45k CL HELOC, and an AU $49k high balance NPSL card.
She went ahead and called Macys and Chase about those old accounts to confirm ownership and report the address update. The Macys rep couldn't confirm ownership of the old (1988) account! He was only able to find her closed accounts, which is a bit curious. He suggested she dispute the accounts off her credit report (yeah right! ...why spoil a good thing?) Chase on the other hand found her account, updated its address, and is sending out a new card to arrive in 3 days. Sweet! Once that arrives, we'll run some transactions through it (to get Chase buttered up) and possibly have her request a major (hard-pull) CLI.
Macys is routinely updating her credit report on 4 accounts each month, even through three of them are reporting as closed! The three closed accounts that they keep reporting were opened in 2003 (60 months old) so I think we'll want to maintain all of those reporting and not "rock the boat". I think keeping these updating will help her maintain an old average age after she applies for some new personal accounts.
I submitted requests to remove her as AU from my (large BT balance showing) Chase, CapOne, and Citi Cards. Chase and CapOne processed the AU removal requests, but Citi said she was not currently an AU, so I disputed the tradeline on her EX, and found it quickly removed. Chase and CapOne just statement cycled, and I found her CapOne AU tradeline just got removed, so now all that's left is Chase AU tradeline which I'll be monitoring and disputing if it doesn't disappear soon. Then it will be time to pull her TU and EQ FACTA reports.
Wife and I pulled her EQ and TU last night, and put in dispute requests with each to remove large balance AU tradelines.
However I will keep a "stale" Citi AU tradeline that is still showing as open on her EQ (although not updated for several months), which now has a "decent" 21 month age, $1850 balance, and a very nice $49k CL. (She needs some help with the large reporting CL department.) To help further with getting more large reporting CLs on her report, I am contemplating adding her as AU to my Am Ex IN:LA/Blue, which has a $0 balance and $35k CL. The only downside is that it only has a short 8 month age... hmm.
There is an Am Ex Gold AU account reporting on her TU and EQ, with no balance and no credit limit (NPSL), and a paltry $500 "high balance" and short 8 month age. The only redeeming qualities of keeping her on it are free roadside assistance benefit of the card, plus it might be the key to why she's receiving those juicy Am Ex pre-approved's (seemingly targeted to AU's.)
-update- Wife also received her "long lost" $500 CL Chase card in the mail. Turns out it's a Free Cash Rewards Visa.
-update2- Am Ex keeps upping the ante on Wife's juicy pre-approved's. The latest is "Rewards Plus Gold" with 50k point bonus after $500 purchase. (Redeemable for two round trip tickets or $500 Home Depot gift card)
My 8 month old, $30k CL Cap-One account just got its first set of no fee purchase checks! Wo-hoo!!! What surprised me is that cap-one would send these out when the account still has 4 months remaining of introductory 0% APR on purchases.
They came as a pair attached to the billing statement, with a "use by" date about 1.5 months out. So at least through the end of 2008, I will be switch my management of this account from "BT and hold" into "rolling BT" technique. I've already deposited the first purchase check, which will take my utilization up to ~99%. (As a data point, I was running about 61% utilization when the checks arrived.)
Cap-One is also cutting their minimum payment requirement drastically, from 3% down to 1%.
Rate chasing update
I applied to open a CNB Bank Direct 4.0% APY online savings, with the hopes that this great rate will stick around for a little while. I'm planning on stashing all the liquid BT funds that don't fit into my 4.5% rewards checking accounts in there, plus my $45k HELOC (to ensure it stays available). What triggered this was Citi dropping my ultimate savings rate down to 3.15% APY, while my Wa Mu savings rate has now dropped to an even lower 2.5% APY.
BoA "check for pre-approved offers" results
Wife and I checked our pre-approved BoA credit card offers. (This incurs a soft pull and may provide interesting info about what BoA is currently thinking about you.) For me, BoA pre-approved offers said "no soup". For my wife they gave various "firm" pre-approved offers with a predefined $11.5k CL, which I think is interesting and absolutely makes sense (it's a little bit higher than her current largest individually owned credit card (a $10k Cap-One.)
I am thinking it would be interesting to see if she could get her discover to increase her $9.5k CL up to a new high, to go back to BoA self-pre-approved check and see if they respond with higher CL offers.
I received a very juicy pre-approved Am Ex 50k MR point Rewards Plus Gold offer today! This one expires 1/26, so perhaps that will serve as a target "deadline" for a follow-up Micro-AOR.
Also, my TU FAKO got a big boost (764 -> 780) when my Capital One account recently reported a $0 balance (previously was 76% utilized). I have successfully switched it from a "BT and hold" to a "rolling 0% BT" strategy, and Capital One sent me another pair of no-fee purchase checks with their recent billing statement, good through mid-January.
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