How do flexible spending credit cards show up on your credit report?

H

Hannah phillips

Member
Question that’s been bugging me, I recently got a flexible spending credit card (one of those charge cards without a preset spending limit), and I’m trying to understand how it actually shows up on my credit report.
I’ve read that these types of cards don’t have a fixed credit limit, so how does that affect things like my credit utilization? Will it still impact my credit score the same way a traditional credit card would? Or does the lack of a limit make utilization a non-factor?
I’m trying to be smart about managing my score, so any info from folks who’ve used these cards or seen how they report would be super helpful. Bonus points if you’ve seen how they appear across different credit bureaus
 
Charge cards usually don’t report a credit limit, so utilization often isn’t factored in at least not the same way as with a revolving credit card. Some bureaus might just exclude them entirely from utilization calculations.
 
Depends on the issuer. Amex reports some of their charge cards with a high balance that gets treated as your effective limit. So if you once spent $5K, that becomes your limit and future balances are compared to that
 
You don’t get utilization points for these cards but they can still affect your overall score depending on how they’re reported. FICO 8 usually ignores them for utilization. VantageScore might not.
 
Wait… are we saying that a card with no limit still affects your score depending on how you use it? Because that feels like a trap
 
Kinda yeah. It’s not a trap but it is confusing. These cards aren’t freebies. They still show up in your overall credit mix, payment history, age, etc. Just not in utilization for most scoring models.
 
I maxed out an Amex Platinum well, maxed is relative, and it didn’t tank my score at all. No utilization impact. But if i did that with my Discover card? RIP credit score.
 
These charge cards show up as open tradelines with no limit. The scoring models know what they are. They’re treated differently than revolving accounts, so don’t stress about utilization. But do pay on time..missing a payment will still crush you.
 
Not saying y’all are wrong, but how TF does a no-limit card not count for utilization? Isn’t the whole point of that metric to show how leveraged you are?
 
It’s all about how the algorithms estimate your available credit. If no limit is reported, they can’t calculate utilization. Some score models just toss those cards out of the utilization bucket.
 
As someone who carries an Amex Gold and uses it for everything, never once seen it drag my score down. But I pay it off weekly, so maybe that’s why.
 
if you're applying for a mortgage, lenders might still factor that balance into your debt-to-income ratio. Doesn’t hurt your credit score but can mess up approval odds. Happened to me in 2021
 
if you’re worried about utilization, don’t be. Worry more about late payments, high balances overall and age of credit history. Utilization’s just one slice.
 
So basically the credit bureaus are like we don’t know how much you can spend, so we’ll pretend this card doesn’t exist… unless you miss a payment, then we’ll remember real fast. Got it
 
For real though, why is this not more transparent? My Experian app said credit utilization looks good”and then dinged me because of high balance on recent account. Like pick a struggle?
 
Great card, terrible reporting logic. I had a $3K balance on it once and suddenly my score dropped 20 points. Turned out TU used high balance = credit limit logic and i hadn’t spent that much before. Thanks a lot.
 
I use a charge card exclusively for business expenses and PIF every week. Never seen any negative score impact. Helps keep personal utilization low.
 
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