Garden Club Meeting - April 2012

[Repo-ed]

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@MarineVietVet wrote:

Still 5+ years and counting. I believe my Care Credit card was the last one I received.

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That's pretty awesome

[Anonymous]

I have a question for all you Gardeners.

I currently have 3 cc's with a total credit limit of $1800.00, so how much balance should I show on how many cards?

[Repo-ed]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have a question for all you Gardeners.

I currently have 3 cc's with a total credit limit of $1800.00, so how much balance should I show on how many cards?

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No more than 180$ (Total) at time of bill printing.

[AllPro]

Im going to be here for at least 6 months. I need to keep Amex Happy. After  that im stepping out for auto loan.

[LS2982]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have a question for all you Gardeners.

I currently have 3 cc's with a total credit limit of $1800.00, so how much balance should I show on how many cards?

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$0 on 2 cards and 1-9% of overall CL on 1.

[AllPro]

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@Repo-ed wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have a question for all you Gardeners.

I currently have 3 cc's with a total credit limit of $1800.00, so how much balance should I show on how many cards?

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No more than 180$ (Total) at time of bill printing.

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 +1 ^ I would try to keep it to one card reporting balance .

[MarineVietVet]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have a question for all you Gardeners.

I currently have 3 cc's with a total credit limit of $1800.00, so how much balance should I show on how many cards?

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Everyone's situation is different and there is no one size fits all approach to this but what seems to work well for most people is to have only one of their cards report a small (<9% of it's credit limit) balance each month and then pay in full before the due date. You can use it as much as you want during the month but what's important is the reported balance because for most cards whatever is reported on the monthly statement is what is used to calculate utilization for the month.

You might have to play around with the percentages for a few months to see what works best for you. Some people say that 1-3% utilization helps the most. For others it might be 5-9%. As I said it's not one size fits all.

On any other cards always try and have them report a zero balance each month. That doesn't mean you can't use them just make sure that the desired zero balance on these accounts is achieved several days before their statements post.

Along with individual and overall utilization, FICO also scores the number of all types of accounts reporting a balance.at any one time Making sure less than half of all your accounts report a balance helps most people.

Now this approach really isn't necessary if you're not looking to apply for any credit in the near future or unless you are trying to tweak your score for maximum effect but some folks do this as a hobby just to see how high they can get their score.

[Smug]

Have a few credit lines to increase in a few days, GEMB so they should be all soft.

[LS2982]

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@Smug wrote:
Have a few credit lines to increase in a few days, GEMB so they should be all soft.

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Which GE products do you have?

[Anonymous]

Thank you your post was really helpful. I am on the cusp of applying for a car loan pretty soon.