I can’t argue with his claim that his life is certainly different than it would be otherwise.
That’s seems significantly chemically enhanced
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They will absolutely shut you down if you start going from $0 to $25k balance in a very short time.
I’ve gotten shut down for less than that. More balance makes your credit score go down, and then they raise your rates to 39% or (usually) give you the option of cancelling the card and paying off the balance under the original terms.
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I abused credit cards but I guess I never abused credit cards…
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I was aware of someone in the 90s that knew they were over their heads and would need to declare bankruptcy. But they had significant available credit on a card(s), so they took a cruise to max out before filing.
I believe the rules were more favorable back that far.
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Definitely not absolute. I’ve had to do this a few times in my life. ~$0 to ~25K in under a week (with >20K in a day). Nothing happened except that when I was actually over the limit, the card got declined.
The most recent was this calendar year and it was a brand new account. Still nothing.
I mean, your credit score basically represents the liklihood that you will pay your debts accordingly. Id imagine the formula would be pretty advanced and take your entire debt/income history + a whole host of other shit to eleviate their risk. It would make sense for the persons entire history to matter more than some one instance of running up a card.
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On the one hand, yes credit scores are fairly advanced.
On the other hand, my credit score randomly fluctuates, it’s been in a 50 point range just this year with no significant activity or anything that would obviously cause it to change.
I imagine my credit card company would get nervous about fraud if I randomly tried to max out my card since I’ve basically never used more than 20% of the limit before, but I assume they’d let me do it if they were satisfied it was legitimate activity.
I like how when I run up pretty big credit card bills month after month and always pay them off on time that means I’m irresponsible or something and my score goes down 35 points. But if I don’t put much on my card that means I’m now more responsible and my score goes back up 35 points. Seems like continually paying off larger bills on time would be a good thing, but I guess not.
Your credit utilization ratio is going to matter the most outside of making payments on time - but a lot of factor play a role here.
If you pay off a card, and close the account, your credit score is likely going to take a hit because your ratio dropped. But you wouldn’t even really know or understand why or how much it may have affected you because you’re never going to know what day your creditor is going to report your information and to what credit bureau.
Paying off a card and keeping the account open is going to raise your score but your score isn’t going to reflect immediately and accordingly to your payments. If you pay oof a loan that automatically closes, your score will temporarily drop.
Also, if a bank decides to cut your credit limit either because of they view you as a higher risk, or because the economy is turning to shit and everyone’s credit line is dropping, your credit score will also take a hit - it may not be specific to you.
If you want to raise your score, outside of making payments, keep accounts with high limits open and keep the balance at zero but understand that it your score won’t reflect instantaneously.