American Express Credit Utilization

[strive4credit]

Does Utilization apply here?

How does an American Express card with no limit help your credit score in terms of the
balance/credit ratio?

And how does an authorized user benefit from being on a limitless credit card?

[moosie]

From my understanding AMEX can actually hurt your score because they don't report a credit limit. They report the balance of the account in the balance field AND the limit field so you will always look like you have 100% utilization on the card.

While having one can help scores overall, when applying for something like a mortgage, it is best to have that card paid off. Just my opinion.

HSBC is another one that used to do that but not sure how they do it now. One scoundrel way was to use the balance on the card also as the limit amount (no matter what your actual limit was) but if you went to default only the account balance would move up, the limit would stay at your default balance so you always appear to be over the limit.