thought I'd share some info i received today from AMEX. It was a bit of a surprise to me but it may have already been covered. I'm wondering if there's anything I can do in this situation. I recently purchased a piece of jewelry on my AMEX Gold Rewards card. During that month, including the jewelry, I ran up a little over 10k on it. A few days after I made the largest charge, I paid it off online. (just like every month of course!) Since that time, they continue to report my high balance as just $729. I am assuming since AMEX doesn't report limits, that the high balance is what is used to determine your credit utilization right? I called AMEX today and spoke to their credit people who informed me that since I paid the balance BEFORE i was sent a bill that the high balance would not show as 10k. Is that right? If so, tough lesson to learn for me since I probably won't be using it for purchases nearly that high anytime soon. Can anyone give any advice on this? Is that true or did I just reach a lazy rep unwilling to help me out? gilmores
I would assume that "high limit" is the highest balance you have ever been billed. So if you made a large purchase and then paid for it before you were billed, then your high limit would not be increased to reflected your spending in that month. I was under the impression that a low "high limit" was good, showing that you don't go out on spending sprees. if a creditor were to see that a high limit was 10K on your card, they might think twice on approving a loan to you because if you were to go out and spend 10K again, you might be unable to make all of your payments that month, causing you to either be late or default in the future. i wouldn't worry.
you understand it correctly gilmores .... it has to BILL the high balance to show on the reports. however, you built goodwill with AMEX on showing ability to charge $10K and pay it - very early at that. I bet now you could charge $12-15K without question. good luck - dogman
You are right. With AMEX, the high balance is the highest owed at the time of closing. If you paid it off before the statement closed, then it will not refllect it. With Capital One, its a different story. Cap one reports its high balance no matter when you charged it during the billing period. In fact, your cap one can close with a 0 balance and it will reflect the high balance charged to it during that month.
If anything, you're right, I have created goodwill by charging and paying the 10k. I'm not sure when I'll next need to charge that much, but if I do, it should be available now! Glass is half full theory feels a lot better. gilmores
Hmmm.... I opened an AMEX acct towards the end of August. I just got my 2nd AMEX bill(first with a balance). It was only about $100. I paid the bill the day the statement was first available on the AMEX website. It also just reported on all my CRs a day or so later(does AMEX report every 2 months?), but shows limit $0, high bal $0. Did I pay my bill too fast? I would think that they'd report whatever came out on the statement, but apparently not this time.
