General over-the-limit question
 

If I want to charge $5000 on a credit card that has a $2500 limit, can I prepay the card in the amount of $2500 and make the charge or is the card physically limited to a certain number regardless of the negative balance?

The card itself doesn't have a limit. The bank can just deny you credit. If you over-pay it beforehand, there is no reason for them to deny you credit and your transaction should go through.

Card providers all seem to be a bit different on this one. Call your customer service number and ask if it will work.

this all depend on the type of card you have...pre-paying will not help this issue since your card has a limit which is determined by computer....

I've never overpaid a card, but I've run into credit balances plenty of times on regular credit cards with a revolving limit. Never has my credit line utilization gone up from $0 until the credit balance was used up.

Of course, some banks will not let you overpay your card, or will only let you overpay it to some small amount.

Why don't you call in and ask for a credit increase? Tell them you have a big purchase coming up and you will cancel the card if they don't budge. Ususally works.

My parents did it long ago, it worked fine.

On the other hand, I ended up with a negative balance with Discover a while back and after a while a check showed up in the mail to zero it out.

It is now a violation of the MLR. However, not everyone follows the rules. Good luck

Me too.

When I was paying for my wedding, I prepaid by 20K and had no problems whatsoever.

It varies, and it's best you consult with the card issuer before doing anything.

This could also be seen as a prelude to fraud -- you overpay your account with a bad check, then charge your credit line + bad check. They might put a hold on the overpaid funds until they're sure they clear, especially if it's a new account.

There was someone on FT that ran into trouble with his US Airways Juniper card that way. He wanted to charge it to the max and pay it off several times during the billing cycle, but they put a hold on the paid funds because it was a new account.

I called cap one and the first person I talked to said that I couldn't do it. I called again to confirm and the guy said that I could but that I have to wait 10 days after the payment posts (which makes sense) - the 2nd person was from india so I'm not sure of its validity. I guess I'll call a 3rd time for a tie breaker :rolleyes:

Given that you have the cash to pre-pay, it sounds like you have some financial strength.

If you can, get a card with a higher limit or demand that your existing card increase the limit. Sometimes you just need more credit. Banks understand that.

Yeah, if you pay on time they will be happy to increase your limit in like 2 seconds. Give them a call

Gotta call your card company............

I have a Cap One MC with a $5K limit........prepaid it once to charge a $10K item.......not allowed because my limit was $5K. Man was I p/o'd........took them 3 weeks to issue me a cheque.

I also have a VISA AVION card with a $20K limit............prepaid it by $40-50K numerous times to execute larger transactions, no problem whatsoever.

Go figure........

I think a lot of credit cards have a max 10% overpayment that they will allow.
Maybe you have already tried this, but call your CC company and ask them to raise your limit to $5k.