Keeping track of manufactured spend
Jun 17, 2013, 7:52 pm
#16
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 1,153
I've also noticed that even if your statement balance is 0, the bank will still report the amount of payment. Now if issuers start using that data they could figure out that you are spending huge amounts with other banks.. if their analytics departments is any good, I'm sure they have a way of figuring out what you are upto. They probably don't care if as you have paid it off.
Jun 17, 2013, 11:33 pm
#17
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: LAX
Posts: 546
Will I be able to avoid the credit score hit that comes with a high credit line utilization in any of these scenarios: 1.) as long as I pay off my card in full every month and 2) I pay off majority of the charges before the statement closes
Jun 17, 2013, 11:35 pm
#18
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: LAX
Posts: 546
That's my method. In and out on the same date or as close as possible. I load whatever the daily maximum is.
I have a list of accounts written and when the cards are bought and loaded I write the date next to each account. When the number of dates equals the monthly maximum I pause activity on that account until the next cycle.
I have a list of accounts written and when the cards are bought and loaded I write the date next to each account. When the number of dates equals the monthly maximum I pause activity on that account until the next cycle.
I would love if someone here has a better way of tracking the spend.
Jun 18, 2013, 12:40 am
#19
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 970
When you mean keep under 50%, do you mean cumulative or instantaneously? I pay down my balances on a weekly or biweekly basis. But I can easily get to 100% or more of my CL on a cumulative basis per month. Yet on instantaneous basis, my CL is rarely above 20% across institution and usually less than 5% of total credit (majority of my cards are not actively churned - just the good bonus category cards get usage)
Jun 18, 2013, 10:37 am
#20
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: HNL
Programs: UA 1K; Marriott Plat; Hyatt Diamond; CCarlson Elite
Posts: 641
awesome timing on this thread.
I was really fed up with how I was organizing my time for manufactured spend. What you don't realize is - a loop actually takes 3 hops (most of the time):....
So, now I have a plan for the whole month, take a print out and just strike out the acivities that are done. Also, saturday/sunday morning, I know exactly what I need to do, which cards I need to take, which stores I need to hit so that I can calcuate shortest route and so on..
I just came up with this yesterday. I will know how it goes next month.
I was really fed up with how I was organizing my time for manufactured spend. What you don't realize is - a loop actually takes 3 hops (most of the time):....
So, now I have a plan for the whole month, take a print out and just strike out the acivities that are done. Also, saturday/sunday morning, I know exactly what I need to do, which cards I need to take, which stores I need to hit so that I can calcuate shortest route and so on..
I just came up with this yesterday. I will know how it goes next month.
I was just thinking about this today, because a lot of my manu spend is mixed in with my normal spend, and the manu spend payoffs to the CC tend to fulfill the CC monthly payoffs. The effect is that the normal spend never gets paid off, but just rolls into the next month.
I paused all manu spend activity for two months recently so I could buy a house, and after all the manu spend smoke cleared, I realized that I owed various CC's a little over $8K; all from normal spend for the previous three months. Kinda shocking, and for a while I was convinced that I had lost a few reload cards....
Jun 18, 2013, 10:47 am
#21
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: SAN
Posts: 1,396
Not all banks report 'spending'. AMEX, Citi & Discover don't report how much you paid in a month. Only the balance (if there is any). CapOne reports only the last amount paid on top of the balance (if there is any). Chase, Barclay & FIA report everything. And, I believe it shows up on a HP. Not on a SP.
Jun 18, 2013, 10:51 am
#22
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Bay Area, CA
Programs: AA Plat, UA Gold, AS MVP Gold, HH Diamond, SPG Gold, Club Carlson Gold, US
Posts: 956
That's a thing of beauty.....
I was just thinking about this today, because a lot of my manu spend is mixed in with my normal spend, and the manu spend payoffs to the CC tend to fulfill the CC monthly payoffs. The effect is that the normal spend never gets paid off, but just rolls into the next month.
I paused all manu spend activity for two months recently so I could buy a house, and after all the manu spend smoke cleared, I realized that I owed various CC's a little over $8K; all from normal spend for the previous three months. Kinda shocking, and for a while I was convinced that I had lost a few reload cards....
I was just thinking about this today, because a lot of my manu spend is mixed in with my normal spend, and the manu spend payoffs to the CC tend to fulfill the CC monthly payoffs. The effect is that the normal spend never gets paid off, but just rolls into the next month.
I paused all manu spend activity for two months recently so I could buy a house, and after all the manu spend smoke cleared, I realized that I owed various CC's a little over $8K; all from normal spend for the previous three months. Kinda shocking, and for a while I was convinced that I had lost a few reload cards....
Jun 18, 2013, 10:52 am
#23
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Denver
Posts: 111
That's a thing of beauty.....
I was just thinking about this today, because a lot of my manu spend is mixed in with my normal spend, and the manu spend payoffs to the CC tend to fulfill the CC monthly payoffs. The effect is that the normal spend never gets paid off, but just rolls into the next month.
I paused all manu spend activity for two months recently so I could buy a house, and after all the manu spend smoke cleared, I realized that I owed various CC's a little over $8K; all from normal spend for the previous three months. Kinda shocking, and for a while I was convinced that I had lost a few reload cards....
I was just thinking about this today, because a lot of my manu spend is mixed in with my normal spend, and the manu spend payoffs to the CC tend to fulfill the CC monthly payoffs. The effect is that the normal spend never gets paid off, but just rolls into the next month.
I paused all manu spend activity for two months recently so I could buy a house, and after all the manu spend smoke cleared, I realized that I owed various CC's a little over $8K; all from normal spend for the previous three months. Kinda shocking, and for a while I was convinced that I had lost a few reload cards....
Jun 18, 2013, 11:14 am
#24
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: IAH
Posts: 418
Jun 18, 2013, 11:30 am
#25
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Finally back in Boston after escaping from New York
Posts: 13,644
You and me both. Buy-sider?
I always have a couple of manufactured spending programs going on at the same time and they are all part of the same spreadsheet. I have different worksheets for each of them, with the most complicated of the programs taking up four worksheet pages. One of those worksheets has fourteen columns.
Is it time consuming? It can be, although ten minutes per day is usually enough to update everything. But it makes back-checking so much easier, since I can just match up dates and amounts. It also minimizes the mistakes that I make. Nothing bothers me more than making a simple arithmetic error that costs me money in fees.
Mike
I always have a couple of manufactured spending programs going on at the same time and they are all part of the same spreadsheet. I have different worksheets for each of them, with the most complicated of the programs taking up four worksheet pages. One of those worksheets has fourteen columns.
Is it time consuming? It can be, although ten minutes per day is usually enough to update everything. But it makes back-checking so much easier, since I can just match up dates and amounts. It also minimizes the mistakes that I make. Nothing bothers me more than making a simple arithmetic error that costs me money in fees.
Mike
Jun 18, 2013, 11:49 am
#26
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: SAN
Posts: 1,396
Honestly I'm pretty concerned with the amount of spend I put on their cards - but I think there might be more flexibility if you have an AU. Even though you are technically responsible for all charges, I think banks are logical enough to know that if there is an AU people frequently split expenses in some way.
Jun 18, 2013, 12:05 pm
#27
Join Date: Apr 2013
Programs: UA MPE, BA Blue, AA, IHG Plat Amb, Marriot Silver, HHonors Silver, National Exec, Avis First
Posts: 553
Not all banks report 'spending'. AMEX, Citi & Discover don't report how much you paid in a month. Only the balance (if there is any). CapOne reports only the last amount paid on top of the balance (if there is any). Chase, Barclay & FIA report everything. And, I believe it shows up on a HP. Not on a SP.
Experian reports show this.
Jun 18, 2013, 12:47 pm
#28
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: HNL
Programs: UA 1K; Marriott Plat; Hyatt Diamond; CCarlson Elite
Posts: 641
Jun 18, 2013, 12:50 pm
#29
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: SAN
Posts: 1,396
So what is the reason people advise to pre-pay cards? It must help utilization ratio, but I assumed that it also helped to 'hide' fake/manufactured/excessive over-utilization. Is a full history of utilization available, or only a snapshot of the prior month? Also, for all the fako reports I get, it only reports closing balance. Is the assertion that this info is only provided on hard pulls accurate as well?
Jun 18, 2013, 1:50 pm
#30
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: LAX/SNA
Programs: AA, Hilton Gold
Posts: 3,887
So what is the reason people advise to pre-pay cards? It must help utilization ratio, but I assumed that it also helped to 'hide' fake/manufactured/excessive over-utilization. Is a full history of utilization available, or only a snapshot of the prior month? Also, for all the fako reports I get, it only reports closing balance. Is the assertion that this info is only provided on hard pulls accurate as well?
Last edited by PainCorp; Jun 18, 2013 at 4:56 pm