Thread: Should I pay off my credit card?

I have two Chase Visa cards. Lamely, they lowered one of my credit cards to $300 from $2,000 a month about two years ago. Didn't matter, I barely used it anyway, and it annoyed me so much I never use it now. I can barely go out to dinner at a nice restaurant on a $300 limit so what's the point. My other card still has a $15,000 limit, but again, lamely, two years ago they raised the interest rate to 29.9%. A couple of years ago I had about $10,000 of debt on it, now I have exactly $300. I really have no desire to even keep the $300 balance, and could pay it off today if I desired. However, I have a feeling that if I pay off my credit card they will cut my limit as they have no reason to give me the credit any longer, I am not making them 30% interest on a balance. I really do not want to continue giving them 30% interest, but I don't want the credit line cut. Perhaps its inevitable. Maybe keeping a $300 dollar balance won't even keep them from cutting it, they would only be making $90 a year off of me.

I like my AMEX card so much better. Pay the whole thing off every month and its done. They actually don't penalize me for being fiscally responsible.

Suggestions?
Thanks

Deliberately paying interest is dumb. They aren't going to cut your credit limit, and if they do you can get credit elsewhere, assuming your credit history supports it.

With regard to the circumstances you describe, the only difference between an Amex charge card and traditional credit card is that Amex forces you to be "fiscally responsible;" with a credit card it's up to you to do that.

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for your response, however, they cut my line on the first card for no reason, so it is safe to say that since I paid off 10,000 on the other one, and have basically no debt with them, they might very well do it again.

As far as being fiscally responsible. I was perfect with Chase, and look what they did. And, no, I had no other credit card debt that was showing on my report, everything was a zero balance and a credit score that varies between 745 and 760. No mortgage, and I paid off my car loan perfectly. And I am employed. Well employed with the same employer for 12 years at a good salary. All of which they can see perfectly well.

But I love AMEX now. They have never played these games with me. Hence, they are making all of the money from my spending habits.