Over Credit Limit KILLED Credit Score

Money Management
1

Just a tip in case this happens to anyone else, or, something to be aware of and try to avoid.

I made a rather large purchase on one card and I have another card that offers really good, no interest balance transfers.

Prior to the transfer I requested a credit limit increase. It was denied only because I had not used over 50% of my current limit, or not enough, so it was denied.

A week later I did a balance transfer for 100% of my credit limit.

Note to self, do NOT DO THAT! Do it for a little less to allow for fees or any recurring charges to not go over your limit.

After the fee was added, still much less than interest would have been and more time to budget the pay off.

I was over my limit, but my overall credit usage was still below 12%.

Well, the 100% usage on that card, and being over the limit, killed my credit score.

It dropped OVER 150 POINTS!

Don’t fear, after my first payment it recovered 100 or more of those points. Normally this will not matter and will clear itself like mine did after I made a payment to bring it under my limit.

But if you plan to apply for a loan, or need a credit check, you may want to avoid this.

Just wanted to post my experience, I did not expect that big of a drop especially since my overall credit utilization was still under 12%.

So just a heads up, avoid using all of one card, and do not go OVER your limit. Especially if you are having a credit check done before you can pay it down.

Hope this helps!

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Well, that’s quite a drop! Glad your score recovered and thank you for the advice.

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Thanks so much for that tip!

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4

This is very insightful! I’m currently considering a no interest balance transfer on one of my credit cards that has proven a little too hard to pay off each month due to a couple large, unforeseen purchases.

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I thought I was being smart by saving interest and by dividing the balance between two cards, instead of a large amount on just one card.

But in the process I maxed out one card and went over the limit.

So it was a combination of several things that caused the huge drop.

But like I said, if you don’t need a credit check anytime soon it will not matter. But if you do, avoid this mistake.

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6

Thanks for the heads up.

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7

thank you for sharing

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Thank you for sharing! I was tempted to make a balance transfer, but I’m getting an apartment and didn’t want to show a false increase of credit usage.

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Thanks, Rick. Something to keep in mind for sure.

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