You see your actual credit line....but because the signature has no preset spending limit, you can go beyond it, in any given month, without requiring special permission from Chase.....

since the balance owed on a signature card is reported but not that credit limit (which shows as 0) how could a utilization be calculated for it? (as you show in your chart)......in your scenario, you would see 2 zeros for that
month..0 for balance owed 0 for credit limit....In fact, how could any computer calculate a utilization for it, without having a number to divide into...for example, let us say you spent $2,000 on your signature card this month...
Balance would show as $2,000.....Limit as 0....So, what would the computer show your utilization at????? (in fact, how could it?).....

Also, as i have mentioned in the past, you can get Chase to report it to the bureaus if you insist on it (in an e-mail not talking to a clueless csr) if it is THAT important to you..... (only Transunion will not report it)
for an average user of credit cards, who doesn't charge a huge balance every month and always pays off his card in full every month, i doubt if it would make any difference whether it's reported or not..it certainly didn't effect me any during the two years my signature cards weren't being reported.... I can't tell you how it affected my "scores" i am just talking in practical, "getting credit" terms....

By the way, come to think of it...i remember that on the credit bureau reports, all it showed (for my signature cards) was the highest credit balance i have had on the card and a zero in the limit box..so how the heck do these
computers calculate utilization scores on the signature cards????????

Just for all you "worry worts" i just e-mailed Chase about my 2 signature cards (both were recently replaced with new account numbers because one was "compromised" and the other lost, as i previously mentioned) and requested that these new cards be reported to the Credit Bureaus, just to see if they still will do this upon request....

It's not that i was concerned (as i mentioned, it hadn't been reported for two years when i first got the cards, and i had no problems with Credit, despite my "supposedly damaged credit score" from having a signature card) i just wanted to see if they will still do it.....I received a reply that they are forwarding my request to the "proper department" to handle it.....I will update you here when i hear from them again......

jamesfatwallet said:hey craig wuts the email addy that you emailed and what exactly do you put in the request??

I used the secure e-mail on the Chase.com website (went into my credit card accounts) you will find it in the "Customer Service" section...click on "send secure e-mail"........
I gave my credit card numbers for those two Visa Signature Cards and requested they notify the 3 Credit Bureaus to include my credit line for these cards...........
The response so far was that they are notifying the "proper department" regarding the request, and i am waiting on the response from that.....

From past experience, if found that after Chase reported it to them, Equifax and Experian began showing the Credit Line, but Transunion did not......But i think most credit reports are usually pulled from Equifax, anyway.......
at least they have, in my experience.....

jamesfatwallet said:that's strange, i think chase ALWAYS pulls TU when you apply for their cc's

Quite possible.....also, i don't know why Transunion doesn't cooperate like the other two bureaus do........I will post back when i hear back again from Chase........

just got an email back from chase. basically they just reiterated what a NPSL and a credit access lines is. if you want your credit line reported, switch back to platinum.

Sounds like Vancewade makes a pretty solid point.....even IF you ARE worried about it effecting the score (Signature Card) his solution should work fine...have a signature card as well as a Platinum Card that has a very large line on it that you don't use much...that should more then make up for any loss of score from your signature card...and you don't need to have a huge line on your Signature (only the min $5,000 balance) and can always go over the limit if you need to (since it is (NPSL card)...

Hmmm..i have a Rewards Plus Signature and a Freedom Signature...maybe i will move most of my line to the Freedom Signature and have them switch Freedom to platinum and keep the Rewards Plus Signature (which i use the most with the $5,000 min line on it).... Interesting idea

While it might be true that Chase or other issuers won't grant new NPSL cards with credit limits less than a ~5k credit limit, it is not true to conclude that that lower limit NPSL cards don't exist.

I was able to reallocate my Chase Freedom "World Mastercard" (Mastercard's NPSL brand) Freedom card down to a $1k credit limit. The rep said I could go down as low as $100 credit limit (I don't know if he's actually right on that or not.) This will not affect it's large (> $30k reported) "high balance".

IMO, converting a card to NPSL, and then getting a high balance reporting on it and reallocating to a credit limit reporting card with the same issuer, is an ideal way to make the average size of your credit lines look larger while maintaining account history. (The algorithms I've seen that calculate "average credit line" exclude accounts that don't report credit limits.)

As for how the algorithm works that calculates overall revolving utilization including NPSL card balances but excluding NPSL card limits/high balances (such as the one showing the "revolving credit available" reportedly in Citi identity monitor, Equifax scorewatch, etc), I would like to see how it would explode (calculating a negative revolving available credit) for someone with a credit profile having one or more "open / NPSL" cards, but no reporting revolving accounts.

MeraNamJoker said:wouldn't it be easier to check the score before and after NPSL upgrade and get an estimate how much the 'hit' is ?

That's an excellent idea....i don't have regular access myself to the credit scores, but i would love to see someone here do just that, and report back here to show what the actual difference was, instead of just talking in "theories" as many do here (lol)

craig10x said:adodotnet said:It seems I should opt-out.

Up to you....but as i said..all i have are signature cards, and they haven't caused any problems for me....lots of people have these cards...if they were so bad, no one would have them (lol)....

Anyway, as i recall, credit reports would show the highest balance you spent on the card...and then there is a seperate box for your actual credit limit, where in this case it is left blank....so, the person reviewing your credit
wouldn't know exactly what your credit line is...it could be $75,000 for all he knows....so i don't see how that would show that you had 100% usage of your credit line.......

Also, when that space is blank...it is obvious that it must be either a Visa Signature or a World Master Card with No Preset Spending Limits......

And in order to qualify for a Visa Signature or World Mastercard, you have to have a good credit history...otherwise you wouldn't get a card with No Preset Limits, where you can spend way beyond your actual
credit line without getting permission from your credit card issuer...it's actually considered to be a bit of a "prestige" card to have (as compared to a regular or even platinum card)........

And by the way, if you e-mail Chase, you can request they report it to the bureaus...and Equifax and Experian will list your credit line, but TransUnion will not for some unknown reason......but it seems Equifax is often where reports are pulled from, anyway.....

I STILL think it isn't that big a deal....but do what you feel most comfortable with....

What is the max you have ever charged on one of your signature cards, and how much do you typically charge on it? If you charged a really high amount once but usually only charge much less, you might still have a high FICO score if the credit agencies were using the max amount charged as the card's credit limit.

I was just curious because Chase said I am eligible to upgrade my standard Freedom card to a Freedom Visa Signature card. I was about to jump on the offer because I really like their extended warranty protection service, but then I searched on FWF and found this thread, and am starting to have second thoughts.