Having multiple cards

Anonymous · ‎10-19-2017

Help? Trying to establish myself and I now have 3 major c.c how should I use them without doing the most and finding myself somewhere financially I DON’T want to be😊! Do you use them every other months? Do you use them at the same time? Please help I need the book using credit cards for dummies😔.
Amex $1000
Capital One $3000
Discover it $6500
Thank you for your help in advance!

Anonymous · ‎10-19-2017

Use them how often you'd like. Just make sure you pay in full each month to avoid interest or things getting out of hand. To maximize your score according to people on here you should have 2 cards report a balance of $0 and one card a balance of less than 9%. I don't know much about this since I never do it, but you can search on here for the all at zero but one method.

Anonymous · ‎10-19-2017

Don't be afraid to use them. Think of them as debit cards - that is, only spend what you know you can pay.

Avoid impulse spending, such as walking into Best Buy to get a blu-ray disc and walking out with a 70" OLED TV and home theatre system.

AverageJoesCredit · ‎10-19-2017

Congrats on getting 3 very nice cards. Dont be afraid to use them however you may like. As stated above, one way to create a great habit of managing your debt is to only buy things that you believe you can pay at the end of the month. This way when the bill comes in, you just pay whats owed. Other things you can do to perhaps help earn rewards or cover bonus spend, is to pay your everyday bills with your cc's as this can help with those rewards or bonuses or even just create some history with your creditors and help build payment history.

Makes sure you read up on how those three can grow

. Best part???, the three you have all can grow via sp or soft pull increases

YEAH you

Anonymous · ‎10-19-2017

Nice Discover limit.

I think what people are refering to you can find searching "AZEO method" All Zero Except One. I have not done this yet, but I am thinking about it. I have been doing All under 10%, PIF any non-zero APR cards.

I may try AZEO soonish, see if that helps the score.

K-in-Boston · ‎10-19-2017

Looks like you have a really good lineup! Agree with the just use them and pay the full statement balance before the due date method. Unless you're applying for a mortgage or auto loan soon, in which case the All Zero Except One can certainly boost your score up a little. Do you have any open installment loans (auto, student, personal)? Having one of those is essential for having a good credit mix (and another score boost), and you can get a Share Secured Loan from a credit union paying almost nothing in interest at all over the course of years.

longtimelurker · ‎10-20-2017

@K-in-Boston wrote:
Looks like you have a really good lineup! Agree with the just use them and pay the full statement balance before the due date method. Unless you're applying for a mortgage or auto loan soon, in which case the All Zero Except One can certainly boost your score up a little. Do you have any open installment loans (auto, student, personal)? Having one of those is essential for having a good credit mix (and another score boost), and you can get a Share Secured Loan from a credit union paying almost nothing in interest at all over the course of years.

While the Share Secured Loan approach is commonly suggested here, to me it's very much an "only if needed" strategy, and way below AZEO for that matter. Why take the time and pay any interest at all, unless it makes a demonstrable difference on something you need, not in score but in actual outcome. Which is only going to be the case if after AZEO, you are still on a boundary.

SouthJamaica · ‎10-20-2017

@Anonymous wrote:
Help? Trying to establish myself and I now have 3 major c.c how should I use them without doing the most and finding myself somewhere financially I DON’T want to be😊! Do you use them every other months? Do you use them at the same time? Please help I need the book using credit cards for dummies😔.
Amex $1000
Capital One $3000
Discover it $6500
Thank you for your help in advance!

1. Keep balances very low.

2. Always pay them off in full each month, or even more frequentlly.

3. To maximize your credit scores short term, make sure 2 of the accounts are paid off BEFORE the balance shows in the statement, while the other one shows a small balance in the statement.

Unify FCU Platinum Visa Variable Rate 35k

TD Bank Business Solutions Visa (Bus) 25k

FNBO Evergreen Business Edition Visa (Bus) 20k

Liberty (formerly Evansville Teachers) FCU Platinum Prime Plus MC 15k

US Bank Triple Cash Rewards Visa (Bus) 12k

SEG-fenced credit union Platinum Visa 10500

Comenity AAA Travel Advantage Visa $6200

Members 1st FCU Low Rate Platinum Visa 5k

PLOC: Langley FCU 40k; Penfed CU 15k; NFCU 15k; Teachers FCU 15k; Affinity FCU 10k. BLOC: NFCU 5k

Total revolving limits 741200 (620700 reporting) FICO 8: EQ 703 TU 704 EX 691

Anonymous · ‎10-20-2017

What kind of AmEx and Cap One cards? Do they earn any cash back, etc?

The Discover It card should have a cashback match for the first year that you carry the card, which means instead of 1% and 5% back you essentially get 2% and 10% back (they keep track of your cash back and will match it and make it available for redemption at your anniversary date.)

The main rule in using credit cards it to never charge anything to them that you cannot affford to pay off. Forget what those credit limits say, your checking account balance is the number that lets you know how much you can afford to charge to the cards. I think of my credit cards as filters through which I spend the money in my bank account. I use them because they earn me rewards and offer an extra layer of protection between my money and the bad guys. I have around $60-70k dollars worth of credit across my cards, but I make sure I never spend more than my budget says I can afford to pay off each month when the credit card bills come.

Always, always, ALWAYS pay the statement balance IN FULL each month when the bill comes for your cards. If keeping track of three balances, closing dates, and due dates on the three accounts is too difficult for you, then you can do as you mentioned and only use one card a month and rotate through them. However, checking account balances online takes seconds. Discover also has an app that alerts you every time there is a charge made to the card.

You can also set the cards to pay the statement balance automatically each month. Personally, I don't do this, but I pay my credit card bills in full the day after my paycheck hits my checking account (I get paid monthly). If I'm racking up a lot of spending on a particular card (perhaps trying to meet a spending requirement to get a sign-up bonus), I'll sometimes make an early payment to get the balance down a bit before the statement cuts.

All of that to say, basically if you never spend more on the cards than you can comfortably pay off in full when the bill comes, and you always pay the statement balance in full before your due date, you should be fine.

Anonymous · ‎10-20-2017

@longtimelurker wrote:
While the Share Secured Loan approach is commonly suggested here, to me it's very much an "only if needed" strategy, and way below AZEO for that matter. Why take the time and pay any interest at all, unless it makes a demonstrable difference on something you need, not in score but in actual outcome. Which is only going to be the case if after AZEO, you are still on a boundary.

There are multiple boundaries, though. And the SSL technique can boost scores 25->35 points across the board to pass any of the boundaries. Going from 620-650 can be very helpful. As can going from 690->720. As can going from 570->600.

If you get the $500 SSL and pay it down to $20, the interest over 5 years is negligible. Pushing a $1 payment every 3 months for 5 years = $20. My SSL balance is $20 now and I will push $1 every 3 months for 5 years, and the interest I'll pay is $2.17 total or something. For 5 years of perfect reporting.

For me, SSL gaves me more points than AZEO. And it'll stay there for 5 years!