I'd love to see a link to that article.
At first glance, I see a couple of benefits to using your AMEX card. The most obvious is the rapid buildup of reward points resulting in free merchandise, airplane tickets, etc.
The less obvious benefit is that since American Express does not report credit limits to the credit bureaus, often times the presence of AMEX on a credit report is actually hurting the cardholder's FICO scores. The reason is that since they do not report limits (as their is no limit), then the credit bureaus simply use the highest reported balance that the card has ever had as the limit. So if you typically charge $1000 per month, then the limit will be reported as $1000 and the balance will often be close to that, which results in a high utilization ratio which suppresses your scores.
By charging the mortgage on the card, the limit (high balance) will be higher. However, since the balance will still be high relative to the reported limit (high balance), your FICO scores will be suppressed. BUT, the good news is that in most months, it really doesn't matter if your FICO score is suppressed, even if it's by a large amount. When it matters is in the months when you are going to finance something. So, if you know you are going to finance a car or refi the home, then don't put the mortgage payment on the card the month before. Let the balance that month stay low relative to the limit (high balance). Now your overall ratios will be very low because of the increased apparent available revolving credit due to the new, higher limit (high balance). Your FICO scores will jump up just in time for the new transaction. Then when that's all done, you can go back to accumulating airline points.
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