Use Your Credit Card Or Else

[YosemiteSam]

I only keep a single all purpose credit card as that all I found I've ever needed. (I have other store type cards)

I have my debit card and my credit card on me. My debit card is my backup for my credit card as pretty much only use my debit card for gas or cash machines. (though I rarely carry cash anymore)

Having multiple credit cards increases your open credit line which is actually a negative to your credit score and your credit score is EVERYTHING. If you have five credit cards with say $10k credit on each. That's $50k credit which would negatively impact your ability to make large purchases like homes and cars. When a creditor sees you can easily put yourself in that much debt, they do not like to give you even more credit on that large purchase without higher interest rates. (again, credit score is everything!)

Another trick to increase your credit score is to for the most part pay off the cards every month, except every once in a while carry a balance for a month. If you pay it off every single time, you never pay any interest and that also can impact (abet a very small amount) your credit rating. For instance, instead of having a 780 credit rating, occasionally carrying a balance for a month can help boost you over 800.

 

[YosemiteSam]

One helpful trick I have learned that might help others: download the square cash app and you get a digital prepaid card (also a physical card free if you want it). You load it from your normal bank and can send money peer to peer for free.

The advantage of doing it this way is that you load it with the exact amount you need right before you do the transaction. After you make the transaction it's back to zero and there is no possibility of fraud. Another benefit, those pesky free trials you forgot about will never cost you money because the card you used for it has no money on it.

I use Venmo to transfer monies to people for free. My IT department will pick a restaurant for lunch and everyone orders and one (or two) people go together to pick it up. Everyone pays one person for their meal via Venmo. The same guy goes to get it every day and he uses his Delta Skymiles card. Every year his vacation flights are free because of him paying for everyone's meals every day with that card.

 

[YosemiteSam]

I use mine for every purchase. The protection it provides is worth it, but the points make it a no brainer.

Absolutely. If someone finds a way to charge your debit card. You've lost out on that money (all monies in your account) until it's resolved if it's resolved. If they get your credit card, you are is FAR better shape. I never use my debit card anywhere except gas stations and ATMs (after I've checked the card slot) I absolutely never hand it to a waiter or anything like that.

 

[Trouty]

I only keep a single all purpose credit card as that all I found I've ever needed. (I have other store type cards)

I have my debit card and my credit card on me. My debit card is my backup for my credit card as pretty much only use my debit card for gas or cash machines. (though I rarely carry cash anymore)

Having multiple credit cards increases your open credit line which is actually a negative to your credit score and your credit score is EVERYTHING. If you have five credit cards with say $10k credit on each. That's $50k credit which would negatively impact your ability to make large purchases like homes and cars. When a creditor sees you can easily put yourself in that much debt, they do not like to give you even more credit on that large purchase without higher interest rates. (again, credit score is everything!)

Another trick to increase your credit score is to for the most part pay off the cards every month, except every once in a while carry a balance for a month. If you pay it off every single time, you never pay any interest and that also can impact (abet a very small amount) your credit rating. For instance, instead of having a 780 credit rating, occasionally carrying a balance for a month can help boost you over 800.

This is 100% incorrect, Sam. Respectfully. Having multiple credit accounts and available credit (the more the better) increases your credit.

I've never heard the interest thing either. And I'm a credit score nutcase. Monthly payments, sure, as that shows activity. But paying interest affects it nada.

Open, revolving accounts (credit cards are huge, car, etc); on time payments; zero-low balance; a high monetary number of available credit; zero collections/liens/bankruptcy impact credit.

Even credit inquiries hardly affect credit ratings.

 

[YosemiteSam]

This is 100% incorrect, Sam. Respectfully. Having multiple credit accounts and available credit (the more the better) increases your credit.

I've never hear the interest thing either. And I'm a credit score nutcase.

Open, revolving accounts (credit cards are huge, car, etc); on time payments; zero-low balance; zero collections impact credit.

Even credit inquiries hardly affect credit ratings.

heh, I think you should contact a credit agency to verify my claim. Creditors absolutely do not like to see applicants with huge lines of credit. Especially as it compares to their income to credit ratio.

If your income is $50k and you have $40k in credit lines. You're are a large credit risk.

 

[Trouty]

heh, I think you should contact a credit agency to verify my claim. Creditors absolutely do not like to see applicants with huge lines of credit. Especially as it compares to their income to credit ratio.

If your income is $50k and you have $40k in credit lines. You're are a large credit risk.

I mean available credit. Available credit and multiple open accounts absolutely positively impact your credit. Greatly.

If your income is 50k it's very unlikely you have 40k in available credit. Unless you're a 40-50 something, wracking up new cards over the years, and have a close to zero balance.

I've also edited more to my post, Sam, check it out,

 

[Trouty]

Sam, you're adding a curveball with a $50k/year earner:$40k available credit. I don't know how that would impact credit, what the score would be, etc.

That's an incredible amount of open credit for that low a salary. Again, unless you're a 40-50 something year old and opening a ton of accounts over the course of a 10-20 year period.

After thinking about it, and my posted scenario in this post, this guy would be close to 800.

 

[YosemiteSam]

I mean available credit. Available credit and multiple open accounts absolutely positively impact your credit. Greatly.

If your income is 50k it's very unlikely you have 40k in available credit. Unless you're a 40-50 something, wracking up new cards over the years, and have a close to zero balance.

I've also edited more to my post, Sam, check it out,

Read the #1 worst credit card mistakes.

1. Getting too many
Bypass the shredder and you could make one of the most common credit card blunders by collecting too many credit cards. "Stop and think: do you really need another credit card?" Kersetter says. "The more credit cards you have, the better chance you have of getting deeper in debt."

Remember, credit cards are not a form of supplemental income, says June A. Schroeder, a certified financial planner with Liberty Financial Group Inc. in Elm Grove, Wisconsin.

The annual fees of multiple cards also can add up, Kersetter says.

Having too many cards can also negatively impact both your credit score and your ability to borrow money, she says. On one hand, adding more cards helps your score by lowering your credit utilization ratio -- the amount of debt you carry compared to your available lines of credit. On the other hand, "If you have a lot of credit cards with high credit limits and you go for a mortgage, the lender will take into consideration, 'What if you ran those credit cards up? What would your debt-to-income ratio be?' "

How many is too many? "We have people who are successful using one card because it's easy to track with all their records in one place," Kerstetter says. "Having three to five credit cards is usually not a problem. But if you find your credit card balances are increasing, that's a danger signal. The solution is definitely not another card." ​

 

[Trouty]

Read the #1 worst credit card mistakes.

1. Getting too many
Bypass the shredder and you could make one of the most common credit card blunders by collecting too many credit cards. "Stop and think: do you really need another credit card?" Kersetter says. "The more credit cards you have, the better chance you have of getting deeper in debt."

Remember, credit cards are not a form of supplemental income, says June A. Schroeder, a certified financial planner with Liberty Financial Group Inc. in Elm Grove, Wisconsin.

The annual fees of multiple cards also can add up, Kersetter says.

Having too many cards can also negatively impact both your credit score and your ability to borrow money, she says. On one hand, adding more cards helps your score by lowering your credit utilization ratio -- the amount of debt you carry compared to your available lines of credit. On the other hand, "If you have a lot of credit cards with high credit limits and you go for a mortgage, the lender will take into consideration, 'What if you ran those credit cards up? What would your debt-to-income ratio be?' "

How many is too many? "We have people who are successful using one card because it's easy to track with all their records in one place," Kerstetter says. "Having three to five credit cards is usually not a problem. But if you find your credit card balances are increasing, that's a danger signal. The solution is definitely not another card." ​

Having over 10 open accounts greatly increases your credit. Gosh, are you really gonna make me do the leg work?

10-12 is ideal. I can cut and paste Experian, Transunion, and Kredit Karma if I must The two former are credit agencies

 

[Trouty]

Read the #1 worst credit card mistakes.

1. Getting too many
Bypass the shredder and you could make one of the most common credit card blunders by collecting too many credit cards. "Stop and think: do you really need another credit card?" Kersetter says. "The more credit cards you have, the better chance you have of getting deeper in debt."

Remember, credit cards are not a form of supplemental income, says June A. Schroeder, a certified financial planner with Liberty Financial Group Inc. in Elm Grove, Wisconsin.

The annual fees of multiple cards also can add up, Kersetter says.

Having too many cards can also negatively impact both your credit score and your ability to borrow money, she says. On one hand, adding more cards helps your score by lowering your credit utilization ratio -- the amount of debt you carry compared to your available lines of credit. On the other hand, "If you have a lot of credit cards with high credit limits and you go for a mortgage, the lender will take into consideration, 'What if you ran those credit cards up? What would your debt-to-income ratio be?' "

How many is too many? "We have people who are successful using one card because it's easy to track with all their records in one place," Kerstetter says. "Having three to five credit cards is usually not a problem. But if you find your credit card balances are increasing, that's a danger signal. The solution is definitely not another card." ​

This is about debt. I'm talking about multiple, open accounts with low (under 30% utilization) to zero balances, but with activity. I have left out that the accounts should not be new. They need to be open for over ten years. Google open accounts over ten years and credit score. I'm too lazy to do the leg work.

The way to reach 800 is having multiple accounts (of various kinds, CC included), with history and a low-zero balance.

Otherwise you'll be stuck in that 760-770 hell. This is how you get 800

 

[YosemiteSam]

This is about debt. I'm talking about multiple, open accounts with low (under 30% utilization) to zero balances, but with activity. I have left out that the accounts should not be new. They need to be open for over ten years. Google open accounts over ten years and credit score. I'm too lazy to do the leg work.

The way to reach 800 is having multiple accounts (of various kinds, CC included), with history and a low-zero balance.

Otherwise you'll be stuck in that 760-770 hell. This is how you get 800

Read what it says again about multiple accounts.

You're incorrect about the 800 credit. I just purchased a new Audi back in March and my credit scores from the three main providers ranged from 816 to 830. I have a single VISA and that's it. I don't have multiple credit cards with tons of credit lines. I have one card with a $12k limit at 6.9% interest.

 

[TheKey]

 

[Trouty]

Read what it says again about multiple accounts.

You're incorrect about the 800 credit. I just purchased a new Audi back in March and my credit scores from the three main providers ranged from 816 to 830. I have a single VISA and that's it. I don't have multiple credit cards with tons of credit lines. I have one card with a $12k limit at 6.9% interest.

Then you have a long history with multiple closed accounts that were open for a good amount of time, and are making decent money.

I bough a Jeep three years ago, have 10 total accounts, paid off the Jeep in 8 months and my score ranges from ~790-840 depending on the bureau.

I just got a Citi Diamond Prefered when that scam in those countries went down, but before that was running 6 deep on CC's, each with a monthly service attached (Hulu, Netflix etc) to keep activity.

For a couple years my reports said I had too little accounts, and it was negatively affecting my credit, so I got an AE, Disc It and a couple other cards that I only use for the monthly services.

All I had was a Chase card, my Citi Debit, and 5 paid off cars (some ranging in activity for 6 months to the full term of the finance [48 months]) and my score was ~750-790 depending on bureau.

Everyone is different. But having multiple open accounts is what got me over the 800 mark. It took about two years.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Well, I really don't want to argue with you about it. I showed you a quote from a financial planner from Money Management International who says that 3-5 cards isn't really a problem, but more than that definitely impacts your credit score.

With that. I will bow out of this debate.

 

[Trouty]

Well, I really don't want to argue with you about it. I showed you a quote from a financial planner from Money Management International who says that 3-5 cards isn't really a problem, but more than that definitely impacts your credit score.

With that. I will bow out of this debate.

Fair enough, Sam. I have a few that I keep in a coin jar and forget about.

Everyone is different, the most important thing, whether you have one or 8 is having a very low balance.

With that said, I'm done, too

 

[CyberB0b]

I only keep a single all purpose credit card as that all I found I've ever needed. (I have other store type cards)

I have my debit card and my credit card on me. My debit card is my backup for my credit card as pretty much only use my debit card for gas or cash machines. (though I rarely carry cash anymore)

Having multiple credit cards increases your open credit line which is actually a negative to your credit score and your credit score is EVERYTHING. If you have five credit cards with say $10k credit on each. That's $50k credit which would negatively impact your ability to make large purchases like homes and cars. When a creditor sees you can easily put yourself in that much debt, they do not like to give you even more credit on that large purchase without higher interest rates. (again, credit score is everything!)

Another trick to increase your credit score is to for the most part pay off the cards every month, except every once in a while carry a balance for a month. If you pay it off every single time, you never pay any interest and that also can impact (abet a very small amount) your credit rating. For instance, instead of having a 780 credit rating, occasionally carrying a balance for a month can help boost you over 800.

There's a fine line. Having more available credit lowers your overall utilization, which is one of the big factors.

 

[YosemiteSam]

There's a fine line. Having more available credit lowers your overall utilization, which is one of the big factors.

Actually, the biggest impact is made by debt to income ratio. You could have 10 credit cards with only 15% utilization, but if 15% of all those cards is 25-50% your annual salary. You're a major credit risk.

Which is why I don't understand why credit companies would even issue a card to someone who makes $50k who had also already had $50k in credit lines. That is psychotic. You're giving the keys to your car to a drunk hoping he won't decide to drive it while drunk.

 

[Trouty]

Actually, the biggest impact is made by debt to income ratio. You could have 10 credit cards with only 15% utilization, but if 15% of all those cards is 25-50% your annual salary. You're a major credit risk.

Which is why I don't understand why credit companies would even issue a card to someone who makes $50k who had also already had $50k in credit lines. That is psychotic. You're giving the keys to your car to a drunk hoping he won't decide to drive it while drunk.

Completely agree, brother.