I have a 15,600 line on my new Plat Select card, 0% until 12/02. My question: How much can would you all suggest I use on this line without significantly dropping my credit score? I could use as little as needed, with the balance going on my largely untapped HELOC. I'm guessing not over about 40% to keep it safe? I have about $120K in total CC credit, spread over maybe 7-10 cards total between my wife and myself. Credit scores currently in 700s. TIA, Dave
DaveH, What exactly is a HELOC? I understand the --LOC part. Please explain it to me. Thanks in advance. Charlie
Dave - I would guess, as you suggest, that anything up to about 40% would not hurt your score. One of the reasons for a lower score suggested by cras, is going over 50% of an available cl. I used to think that 50% related to total credit available, however found out recently that over 50% on a single cl is not good. Anyway, my two cents.
If you have a 0.00% rate on PURCHASES and/or BT~~~HOW COULD YOU NOT "MAX" IT OUT??? FLEET 0.00% "MAXED" CITIBANK 0.00% "MAXED" I make payments on-line the day after the bill is available...MORE THAN MINIMUM... I really CAN'T see a benefit to 40% or 50%~~~IT'S 0.00%!!!
NOBODY really knows what happens to your score every day... Since you can make a LARGE payment and LOSE points... DELETE a collection and LOSE points... ADD a new account and GAIN points... IT'S ALL ILLOGICAL... IT'S A RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR ANYWAY!!!
I hear you George, but I know from experience that this factor isn't arbitrary. As I've posted before, my score dropped from the 700s to the 500s ONLY beecause I put $19K on a 0% Amex blue BT offer $20K line.) Were it not for the credit score issue, I'd certainly take the whole 15.6K
It all depends, the other. I use credit aggressively, will be buying rental property, etc. and do not want to tube my score for the sake of a hundred in interest. No other thoughts on this question?
any other thoughts? I'm leaning towards just keeping $5,500 of the $15,6 balance on unless someone has convincing arguments that this is not necessary for protecting my score...
thanks the other--I appreicate your reply, and I'm sure many others feel in the same boat--I certainly do. I suspect no one has anything like a magic #, but I thought perhaps others have epxeriences like I did with Amex that might shed more light on how this is likely to affect me. It really ticks me off that this isn't all more transparant, but that's a rant to which we can all relate, I reckon. Cheers, Dave
