Fewer Credit Cards with High Limits or More Credit Cards with Lower Limits? (cont'd.)
Guest: mouse
Post subject: Fewer Credit Cards with High Limits or More Credit Cards with Lower Limits?
SENIOR MEMBER (Member for 2 yrs.+)
Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 10:59 am
bullet875 wrote:
My strategy is to have a couple of larger limits and then have a couple of very specialed credit cards for things that I don't do every day (like travel) that will have smaller limits and can be used only when I need them.
I also thought that closing cards would always hurt, not help (?).
When you have $20,000 or $30,000 or $50,000 or $100,000+ of other cards...HOW CAN CLOSING A $200 CARD HURT THAT MUCH??????
Even if it did it would only hurt for a short time
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Guest: creditnewbie
Credit Expert (100+ Posts)
Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 12:14 pm
The account I closed had $10,000 limit. What happened was, I got the world mastercard which doesn't report the limit and closed the dividend card That I used for 6 months after I got the $300 cash back. I decided that what I really liked was miles or points not cash back. I had the AAdvantage mastercard for about 6 months then I changed it to Simplicity after I accumulated 93,000 miles because I found myself using the platinum AMEX almost exclusively. My limit is now reported for the simplicity card--$28,000. What I found funny was, my fico, before they reported the limit and before my balances got smaller, was 760 experian. Now, after they reported the limits and my utilization is 15% instead of 32%, my score is 753. Go figure. What I noticed though was, at 760, one of my cards had $0 balance. Now, the same card has $95 balance and the rest of the cards combined have lower balances than the previous month. My conclusion is, if you have balances on all your accounts even if they are small, you lose 7-10 points.
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Guest: bullet875
Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 12:33 pm
I agree..strange. I have less than 1% utilization on my cards, but I'm wondering if it's worth it to me to charge everything ( like food, gas, utilities, cable...believe it, I have 5% cash back cards for EVRYTHING.lol) even though I will pay them off monthly. I wonder if that will hurt my score.
On the other hand, I am 1 month ahead on my mortgage and student loan payments so I wonder if that helps...
CardRatings.com is the most comprehensive source for comparing credit card offers. Please visit CardRatings.com to view the best rated credit cards!
Guest: creditnewbie
Credit Expert (100+ Posts)
Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 1:44 pm
Well, are you planning on applying for a new credit card, or any loans? If the answer is no, then your score really wouldn't matter as long as you don't miss any payments; however, keep your utilization at 30% or less. That way, if you need to apply for anything--cellular, car insurance,etc-- your report looks good all the time. If your credit hitory is short, your score will be too sensitive to any balance changes on your credit report. What I used to do was pay for everything with my credit cards. Then I pay more than 90% of the balances online before the cutoff dates and my balances appear low every month. After I got all the cards that I wanted, I didn't pre-pay my cards anymore.
CardRatings.com is the most comprehensive source for comparing credit card offers. Please visit CardRatings.com to view the best rated credit cards!
Guest: bullet875
Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 2:23 pm
Sounds like a good plan to me!
CardRatings.com is the most comprehensive source for comparing credit card offers. Please visit CardRatings.com to view the best rated credit cards!
Guest: TomfromCT
Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 3:15 pm
creditnewbie wrote:
The account I closed had $10,000 limit. What happened was, I got the world mastercard which doesn't report the limit and closed the dividend card That I used for 6 months after I got the $300 cash back. I decided that what I really liked was miles or points not cash back. I had the AAdvantage mastercard for about 6 months then I changed it to Simplicity after I accumulated 93,000 miles because I found myself using the platinum AMEX almost exclusively. My limit is now reported for the simplicity card--$28,000. What I found funny was, my fico, before they reported the limit and before my balances got smaller, was 760 experian. Now, after they reported the limits and my utilization is 15% instead of 32%, my score is 753. Go figure. What I noticed though was, at 760, one of my cards had $0 balance. Now, the same card has $95 balance and the rest of the cards combined have lower balances than the previous month. My conclusion is, if you have balances on all your accounts even if they are small, you lose 7-10 points.
Goes to prove the point that all this credit scoring stuff is as much an art as a sciense....
at least for us consumers who aren't priviledged to how they rate us.
CardRatings.com is the most comprehensive source for comparing credit card offers. Please visit CardRatings.com to view the best rated credit cards!
Post subject: Fewer Credit Cards with High Limits or More Credit Cards with Lower Limits?
SENIOR MEMBER (Member for 2 yrs.+)
Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 10:59 am
bullet875 wrote:
My strategy is to have a couple of larger limits and then have a couple of very specialed credit cards for things that I don't do every day (like travel) that will have smaller limits and can be used only when I need them.
I also thought that closing cards would always hurt, not help (?).
When you have $20,000 or $30,000 or $50,000 or $100,000+ of other cards...HOW CAN CLOSING A $200 CARD HURT THAT MUCH??????
Even if it did it would only hurt for a short time
CardRatings.com is the most comprehensive source for comparing credit card offers. Please visit CardRatings.com to view the best rated credit cards!
Guest: creditnewbie
Credit Expert (100+ Posts)
Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 12:14 pm
The account I closed had $10,000 limit. What happened was, I got the world mastercard which doesn't report the limit and closed the dividend card That I used for 6 months after I got the $300 cash back. I decided that what I really liked was miles or points not cash back. I had the AAdvantage mastercard for about 6 months then I changed it to Simplicity after I accumulated 93,000 miles because I found myself using the platinum AMEX almost exclusively. My limit is now reported for the simplicity card--$28,000. What I found funny was, my fico, before they reported the limit and before my balances got smaller, was 760 experian. Now, after they reported the limits and my utilization is 15% instead of 32%, my score is 753. Go figure. What I noticed though was, at 760, one of my cards had $0 balance. Now, the same card has $95 balance and the rest of the cards combined have lower balances than the previous month. My conclusion is, if you have balances on all your accounts even if they are small, you lose 7-10 points.
CardRatings.com is the most comprehensive source for comparing credit card offers. Please visit CardRatings.com to view the best rated credit cards!
Guest: bullet875
Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 12:33 pm
I agree..strange. I have less than 1% utilization on my cards, but I'm wondering if it's worth it to me to charge everything ( like food, gas, utilities, cable...believe it, I have 5% cash back cards for EVRYTHING.lol) even though I will pay them off monthly. I wonder if that will hurt my score.
On the other hand, I am 1 month ahead on my mortgage and student loan payments so I wonder if that helps...
CardRatings.com is the most comprehensive source for comparing credit card offers. Please visit CardRatings.com to view the best rated credit cards!
Guest: creditnewbie
Credit Expert (100+ Posts)
Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 1:44 pm
Well, are you planning on applying for a new credit card, or any loans? If the answer is no, then your score really wouldn't matter as long as you don't miss any payments; however, keep your utilization at 30% or less. That way, if you need to apply for anything--cellular, car insurance,etc-- your report looks good all the time. If your credit hitory is short, your score will be too sensitive to any balance changes on your credit report. What I used to do was pay for everything with my credit cards. Then I pay more than 90% of the balances online before the cutoff dates and my balances appear low every month. After I got all the cards that I wanted, I didn't pre-pay my cards anymore.
CardRatings.com is the most comprehensive source for comparing credit card offers. Please visit CardRatings.com to view the best rated credit cards!
Guest: bullet875
Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 2:23 pm
Sounds like a good plan to me!
CardRatings.com is the most comprehensive source for comparing credit card offers. Please visit CardRatings.com to view the best rated credit cards!
Guest: TomfromCT
Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 3:15 pm
creditnewbie wrote:
The account I closed had $10,000 limit. What happened was, I got the world mastercard which doesn't report the limit and closed the dividend card That I used for 6 months after I got the $300 cash back. I decided that what I really liked was miles or points not cash back. I had the AAdvantage mastercard for about 6 months then I changed it to Simplicity after I accumulated 93,000 miles because I found myself using the platinum AMEX almost exclusively. My limit is now reported for the simplicity card--$28,000. What I found funny was, my fico, before they reported the limit and before my balances got smaller, was 760 experian. Now, after they reported the limits and my utilization is 15% instead of 32%, my score is 753. Go figure. What I noticed though was, at 760, one of my cards had $0 balance. Now, the same card has $95 balance and the rest of the cards combined have lower balances than the previous month. My conclusion is, if you have balances on all your accounts even if they are small, you lose 7-10 points.
Goes to prove the point that all this credit scoring stuff is as much an art as a sciense....
at least for us consumers who aren't priviledged to how they rate us.
CardRatings.com is the most comprehensive source for comparing credit card offers. Please visit CardRatings.com to view the best rated credit cards!
posted by CardRatings.com at 12:45 PM
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