Originally Posted by
cbn42
First of all, pay your bill in full each month. I don't know where you got the idea that not doing so will help you. In fact, it will do exactly the opposite. If you can't afford to pay your bill each month with a low limit, how can they give you a higher limit? Not to mention, taking advantage of the revolving credit is going to cost you a lot in interest.
I am not sure where you're getting the idea that I can't afford it. I used to pay off the entire balance in full by the end of the cycle so that it came out to zero every month, but I read that it might not be a good idea since it'll report as you having not used the card, which doesn't show responsible use.
Originally Posted by
bookman77
Unfortunately there is no quick fix for your particular situation (I know, I was there once too!). Spending a lot (but not near to your limit before paying down) and paying it off quickly may help (one way is paying all your bills with the card that you'd normally pay by check/debit). In particular, if you can demonstrate the ability to pay off more than your current credit limit for several months, in my experience that has often triggered limit increases.
For example, you'd charge $500 on the 1st of the month and on the same day schedule a payment for say the 5th. Then on the 8th of the month, spend another $500, and pay that off by the 12th. Repeat two more times and you've spent $2000 on the card that month and end up with no balance.
Isn't that what I'm pretty much already doing? I do spend way more than my limit each month, but the actual balance at any given time is always under the limit. The key difference is that I leave a little bit on the balance (7%) at the end of the month to purposefully show utilization on the credit reports, then pay it off once it posts.
By doing that, I think I achieve a few things. Like you mentioned, it shows Capital One I use the card a lot, but it shows some utilization on my reports, as well as being paid in full and on-time. Am I missing something?