Credit Card perks
9 years ago
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- 9 years ago
- 9 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
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Credit Scores and Open Credit Cards
Comments (3)DH & I also have several cards with no balance on them. We will be applying for a mortgage soon, so I asked my banker this question. He told me to cancel the majority of the cards, but to keep either a couple with fairly low limits or one card with a pretty decent limit. He said that banks like to see someone have $30,000-$40,000 worth open credit on cards (depending on your income). He says that lets them know that you have a source of available money that you can access quickly. He said they don't like to see huge amounts of open credit because that shows the potential for a problem. We pulled our own credit reports & they said that the amount of unused credit we have may actually be hurting our score. We have only a tiny fraction owed but a lot of open credit. Another thing my banker & the credit report mentioned was the ratio of how much you owe to the amount of open credit. Example: If you owe $5,000 & have two cards with a total credit limit of $20,000, cancelling one card that has a $10,000 limit can actually hurt you. Instead of having a balance that equals one quarter of your available credit, you will now owe an amt. equal to half of your available credit. If you want to cancel, make sure you write a letter to the credit card company & keep it & proof that you mailed it on file. Make sure to request that they note in your file that the card was cancelled at your request. Having a lender cancel your card can hurt your credit score. If you won't be applying for a loan any time soon, you can just leave them & they will drop off of your credit report after a few years....See Morecredit cards
Comments (10)Meghane - I received that ad for Discover. However, I understood that unless you have a 0 balance, that is, you have paid off the balance transfer, you would be charged interest on the transactions you make on that card. So if you charge $100 a month on that card per month, and you had a balance transfer of $2000, you would still end up paying a interest on your purchases because when they receive your payment, they will apply it to the balance transfer amount. However, I may have misread the advertisement and I threw it away. Sharla, I would suggest you get one card with a 0 to low interest to transfer your balance and then get another card that you use for purchases and pay off those purchases every month. I have been using a Sears card and have accumulated enough points last year to pay $100 towards new glasses and bought a docking station and digital camera at Sears. I now have another $250 worth of certificates to use at Sears. They also offer certificates for other business but you get more at Sears....See MoreLooking for a secondary credit card
Comments (18)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....See MoreCredit scores
Comments (30)I agree she couldn't be concerned with a slight variation, but credit scores and reports are important. I think it's interesting that you think it's a scam, arcy. With excellent credit you can get the best rates and the best credit cards with rewards. Credit isn't only for people who can't afford cash. We make thousands a year in free money by responsibly using our credit in our advantage via credit card rewards/cash back and low interest rates. The best credit card perks are reserved for those with good credit. Paying attention to credit reports is also important to catch identity theft as early as possible. It's a very real problem these days. We will probably be freezing our accounts soon to help prevent it....See MoreRelated Professionals
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