Thank you for all the great inputs. Folks on the GW are the best! DH reminded me the experience I had with the Discover card. Years ago I had one. The last transaction before I terminated the card was I made a $10K purchase, as always paid in full for that billing cycle. I received financial charge of $250 the following month recorded as I had only made payment for $1K. It turned out the mistake was caused by Discover Card's clerical error, but I was the one had to run between my bank and Discover Card to provide payment proof. It took a couple of months to clear the issue. Discover Card customer service was very rude during the entire incidence. Discover card may have changed their business practice after all these years. I will look into Costco Amex since I already have a VISA card. For the Costco Amex cardholders, do you eve have problems with their service? As a side note, my Visa card is issued by Nordstorm. Their customer service is impacable. They give rebate in Nordstom notes, I will definately keep the card. Considering a new card is that I am looking for cash rebate option other than store specific rebate.

Hi everyone, Get up earlier in the morning. That'll give you some extra time to figure ways to out-con the masters of con at the con game. Or - perhaps you could do that while in gridlock on your commute, instead of letting your blood pressure rise to calamitous levels. My relations with Citi were getting a few letters a year offering me a loan of up to about $3,500.00. When I called to ask the rate ... ... it was usually around 30% - and that's for one year, not four! I told them that I have a fully secured line of credit for more than they're offering - at 6% (then ... but 6.25%, last time I asked: it's unused at the moment). So - their sending me any more (addressed) mail was a waste of trees, though it did benefit Canada Post, but it wasted their time and mine, as well. So - let's just can it, huh? Haven't got such a letter since. But - their guy did chastise me for being less than courteous - I thought that a bit of a switch! Have a lovely weekend - nice sunny day here, but yesterday the local city got a foot and a half of snow, though only about 4 inches on the farm, about 15 miles away. ole joyful

MtRdRedux is right on with the into on Too Much Available Credit", which is a myth for actual FICO Scores, which are used by almost all lenders. There are a few, very few, lenders that have issues with too much available other credit. This mostly applies to marginal borrowers and lenders that specialize in risky loans where the lender knows their prospect is already marginal and making them cancel the other credit will help to ensure that they are the one getting the money before they finally descend into the abyss. Perfect Credit Score is also a myth. The algorithms break down on extremely high scores and are effectively useless in differentiating risk. Classic FICO Scores have a theoretical range up to 850 but all versions of those scores including the '04 versions used for Mortgage apps max out well below that, one of them at 818. NOBODY can get 850 as there is NO path through the algorithm that makes 850 possible. If you are really curious about this, you can follow her link to MyFico.com where you will find my name attached to much of the mythbusting on credit scoring. I haven't posted in years as it eventually became more about selling stuff than information. Still the best credit site around in spite of big flaws. One piece of info is that it always a bad idea to close any credit card from a scoring standpoint. It can make sense from saving money if it has a fee and worth the small hit it has for a person with good credit, particularly if your accounts are mostly older. It affects Average Age of Accounts.

I use different cards for different things. I love rewards and have managed to accumulate so far this year $1300 plus 2 free round trip tickets for an emergency trip home for a funeral this week. At first it can be a pain to juggle so many cards but after awhile it becomes second nature. I pay every card off in full, so never pay interest. I use the cards for normal everyday spend Groceries, gas, utilities, car insurance so on. My thoughts are as long as I am not paying interest let them pay me to use their cards. I have one card I pay an annual fee on but even after the fee the rewards more than pay for it plus. Amex Blue Cash preferred- Groceries 6% they also pay 3% at gas stations, 3% department stores and 1% everything else. This is my main grocery store card. I use it at Publix and places like that warehouse stores do not count. Chase Freedom- 5% cash back on rotating categories right now it is restaurants and wholesale clubs, Sams, Costco, BJs. Next Quarter it is Wholesale stores again and Amazon. Last year when they did Amazon it was 10% cash back. Discover IT- Just like the Chase Freedom it has rotating categories right now it is Amazon and Home Improvement stores. Since I just bought a new house the Home Improvement category came in Super Handy. Plus for the first year on your anniversary they double whatever cash back you earned the first year. That equaled $1200 alone for me last year. I cashed it out and put it in savings. USAA Cash Rewards Plus- Great for gas 5% cash back. Capital One Quicksilver - 1.5% cash back on everything. There are better cards for everyday stuff like utilities but I like this card and Capital One. I use this card to pay bills and for everyday spend outside of the other cards I get better rewards. Platinum Delta Skymiles Amex- This one I got the annual fee waived for 2 years so once the annual fee kicks in I am not sure I will keep it as there are better cards. I fly Delta only and just with the sign up bonus I was able to pay for 2 round trip tickets from Florida to Mass no money out of pocket. What's nice about this card is you get free baggage, priority boarding and a few other perks. This card is not for everyone but works for me until I have to pay the annual fee. Like I said earlier in my post. So far this year I am at $1300 in cash back rewards. I have not cashed those out yet. I usually cash out towards Christmas and that is my Christmas money or I throw it in Savings. Last year I earned over $3500 in cash back rewards but that was also a big year for me. I had to buy new furniture, I traveled a lot and I did a multi state move. All went on the cards and was paid off so no interest at all and I got paid to use my cards. Not bad.