Originally Posted by
RedSun
Can you explain how Experian would know that you cycle the CL? It is not that Experian does not care, but it does not know. It relies on the data reported from the bank. The data is only a snapshot at a single time. Experian only sees that you have a $15,000 balance out of its $20,000 CL. That is all it sees.
We finally agree about something!
And the fact that the CC companies only report once a month is a good thing for us. Imagine if they reported weekly, or worse, daily. Everyone’s utilization would be high. Many people, even those that don’t engage in MS but still pay early to keep utilization reporting low, would see their scores tank. The credit bureaus would need entirely new scoring models to handle this.
As for cycling, not every issuer looks at it the same way. When I first got an Amex charge card for my business I had low “spending power” even though no CL is reported. I called Amex because I needed to charge more than $5000 in a month. The rep told me that I should charge $5000 then immediately pay it off. Then do it again each time I needed to make purchases. He said that would make their algorithm realize that I needed to have a higher limit and that I could afford to pay more each month. He said to do the same thing on my personal card if needed. Within a couple months I could charge $25k at a time. I now regularly charge $50k in a month without a problem.
Discover was very similar. When I got their card I wasn’t happy with the limit, so I called to see if they would raise it. The rep said to just charge up to the limit and then pay it off and charge more. She said to call back after my third statement and they’d consider an increase. I did, and they doubled my CL. I use that card for MS, but I mix in organic spending also. I’ve also only ever cycled it twice in a statement period (once for more purchases and once so it reports no balance).
So so you can’t just say cycling is bad no matter what. I’m sure if I cycle Discover 5x in a month it would draw attention. And it’s possible that both Amex and Discover realized that I was cycling the cards and reviewed it, saw nothing that they didn’t approve of, and just let me keep up BAU. I’m also not charging more than my stated annual income on any one card in a 12 month period (except biz cards which aren’t used for MS). And by paying early to have my cards report no balance, each card issuer has no idea how much I charge on my other cards.