How does the Amex Platinum Charge work with credit score?

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Tonyladz

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So i know the that theres no credit utilisation reported like in the US and that only the credit limit is being reported. So what about the platinum charge card in Aus? Does the balance you owe get reported on statement or does it show up as $0. I’m thinking of reducing or canceling one of my high credit limit card to improve my credit score as it could be “potential debt”. Anyone know much about the charge cards and how it affects credit score?
 
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While utilisation isn't reported in Australia, repayments are. So it'll record that info for a charge cards as well. For credit cards it just records if you made met the minimum payment on time or not, it doesn't record any info about if it was just the minimum payment, more than the minimum or the full balance. With a charge card the minimum is the full balance, so if you don't make the full payment in time that'll get recorded as well.
I don’t know much about the score, but yes it gets reported as a charge with a limit of $0.
 
While utilisation isn't reported in Australia, repayments are. So it'll record that info for a charge cards as well. For credit cards it just records if you made met the minimum payment on time or not, it doesn't record any info about if it was just the minimum payment, more than the minimum or the full balance. With a charge card the minimum is the full balance, so if you don't make the full payment in time that'll get recorded as well.
 
Solution
While utilisation isn't reported in Australia, repayments are. So it'll record that info for a charge cards as well. For credit cards it just records if you made met the minimum payment on time or not, it doesn't record any info about if it was just the minimum payment, more than the minimum or the full balance. With a charge card the minimum is the full balance, so if you don't make the full payment in time that'll get recorded as well.
I see, obviously i’ll make the full payments monthly. So like the other dude said earlier it’ll just show up as $0 limit regardless of balance?
 
Yep, and it has a different account type code as well (CA instead of CC).
 
Can't hurt. Usually AmEx put a high weighting on the relationship/information that you have with them when considering new applications, so if you always pay that card on time then that'll count in your favour. I'm not sure how the credit limits that you have factor in to their thinking on charge cards though, so I can't really say if lowering your limits will help.
 
On my UK credit report, it doesn't show the balance for each card strangely enough. It just shows total credit available and the utilisation against that line of credit. For each card it correctly lists whether it's a charge or credit card.

So in the UK at least it seems to calculate a limit and apply that, possibly.

For example, my credit report says the combined credit limit is for example £50k. If I then deduct the multiple accounts with known limits that make that up, that leaves you with a figure which in this case is quite low actually; but I guess it looks at what you've spent in the past and floats a figure based on that. Who knows.
 
As a data point, I can say that when I recently did a refinance with CBA, they checked my credit file and asked about all of the credit cards they identified from it, but did not ask (and weren't interested when I mentioned it) about the amex charge card I have.
 
As a data point, I can say that when I recently did a refinance with CBA, they checked my credit file and asked about all of the credit cards they identified from it, but did not ask (and weren't interested when I mentioned it) about the amex charge card I have.

Interesting, I was told by a mortgage broker I'd need to cancel my charge card because it can't be assigned a credit limit. I'll see what the bank says once we're ready for approval but I would assume as debt can't be rolled over month to month, banks don't view it in the same way as a credit card?
 
Interesting, I was told by a mortgage broker I'd need to cancel my charge card because it can't be assigned a credit limit. I'll see what the bank says once we're ready for approval but I would assume as debt can't be rolled over month to month, banks don't view it in the same way as a credit card?
I think the mortgage broker is wrong.
If you don't pay the Charge you have effectively defaulted (and won't be able to use it) which is a wholly different problem to having to pay minimum payments on a massive credit limit each month (which is the assumption that mortgage lenders make in their assessment process)
 
Interesting, I was told by a mortgage broker I'd need to cancel my charge card because it can't be assigned a credit limit. I'll see what the bank says once we're ready for approval but I would assume as debt can't be rolled over month to month, banks don't view it in the same way as a credit card?

Yes, I think your broker may be incorrect about this - so please report back what your bank says.
 
Interesting, I was told by a mortgage broker I'd need to cancel my charge card because it can't be assigned a credit limit. I'll see what the bank says once we're ready for approval but I would assume as debt can't be rolled over month to month, banks don't view it in the same way as a credit card?
My bank wasn’t concerned and neither was my broker. Reported as a charge with $0 limit. Although the balance on my most recent statement was counted as a debt as they still wanted to see a statement.

They were however really concerned about Netflix, my local coffee shop and uber eats.:rolleyes:
 
Wagyu and Shiraz decision says it all - hopefully some sanity will return to loan approvals if the banks can use their common sense again rather than a checklist that doesn’t exist. Borrowers need to take responsibility for their strategy. It’s not all the bank’s fault.

No offense to anyone who thinks differently. There’s also situations where the bank has made the wrong decision.
 
just got my mortgage approved.
one bank's lender (smaller one) do not know what is a charge card is. Keep asking why there is no credit limit on it etc during the pre-approval.
big bank (CBA) do not have any issue and treated it as a bank card. not count towards the credit limit. however, the Platinum reserve card came with the charge card will be counted as a credit card.
 
just got my mortgage approved.
one bank's lender (smaller one) do not know what is a charge card is. Keep asking why there is no credit limit on it etc during the pre-approval.
big bank (CBA) do not have any issue and treated it as a bank card. not count towards the credit limit. however, the Platinum reserve card came with the charge card will be counted as a credit card.
Good grief. They have never heard of a charge card? Can they be serious?
 
Good grief. They have never heard of a charge card? Can they be serious?
yeah, I guess charge card is not something common in Australia market? my broker said some smaller bank/lender treat charge card as 10k credit limit before. from my experience, CBA, Nab and St George do not count charge card in the credit limit
 
yeah, I guess charge card is not something common in Australia market? my broker said some smaller bank/lender treat charge card as 10k credit limit before. from my experience, CBA, Nab and St George do not count charge card in the credit limit
Maybe not all that common in the past, although Amex has offered Charge cards since the 1970s in Australia.
 
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