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haha at least you have a plan.
I got caught off guard by CSP statement closing date and it reported >95% utilization LOL.
This is a really bad month for me. I've US Bank, Barclays, Freedom all reporting at 60+% as well. Already paid them in full except for the Barclays, but chose to do it after statement cuts so that it will show a high "high balance" on my CR to prove I'm using those cards a lot as well. Discover and Citi is going to kill my score further once they report those new accounts. They're at 80% and 25% respectively and I'm paying it off in full once statement reports. I seriously hope I'm not going to get any AA this month. My scores on CreditKarma is at 680ish when I checked last Friday. I was originally 750-760ish. I expect it to be at 600-650 soon lol....
On the other hand, the month of June will be a good month once most of my cards report 0 balance.
@dddewdrop wrote:I charged up to like 90% on one a couple months ago and paid it down as quick as possible. That card and all my cards are now several miles away from me physically and for good reason. I have to think a bit before charging anything if they are in a hard to get place. I was aweful with credit in the past and I live in fear every day of going into debt again. I have a major life drama mama for a wife so I have reason to be afraid.... She doesn't know I have credit cards. She thinks my credit score is still in the 400s and that I still owe tons of debts. It is better for me that way for now....
Sounds like you have more issues than just credit card debt. don't mean to sound judgey, god knows my finance and I are not on the same page about alot of things. Don't know what advice to offer you really though as I know exactly how hard it can be to instill financial/personal responsibility and long-term planning on someone who's never been taught those values.
@JonStur wrote:
Yea I know how it is being a FSW..(FICO Score Watcher), and seeing that score drop. And although you may not plan on appping for a while so it should be no big deal, you never know if one of your current creditors will soft you, and have their automated system send up the red flags. So there is some merit, albeit a slight one, in being a little uneasy.
You are correct that I am uneasy about being at +40% util, however this was a conscience decision and I positioned myself as best I could within the time frame I had to work with. now its a race to pay them all down before before any of my creditors get twitchy that I'm carrying balances across a number of cards for a few months.
Amex is my biggest concern as I need to keep in their good graces at least until I get my sign up bonuses +150k MR. I need those points to pay for a couple flights early next year. Beyond that, if any of my creditors takes an AA on me, I can just rebuild (hammer EO's and such) to get back my limits.
As a bonus, for the next year or so, I get to constantly complain to family how I have so much credit card debt, thus making them think I have no money and can't be a source of interest free long-term (sometimes never) loans.
Life changes are a drag, I'm bumped up to 20% currently. Should have them down sooon though. Hang in there.
I think I will soon be around >30% utility also.... really wanna pay them off if not pay them down by jan 2014.... ...
@colindidit wrote:
@ddewdrop I'm the same way I try not to spend as much as possible but my fiancee knows my credit is good and takes advantage of that and Likes to buy stuff on my cards or ask me to apply for cards because she's terrible at maintaining healthy credit habits
Need to set longer term goals with your finance. Something as silly as a poster board with a vacation savings goal might help. either get her involved or she'll continue to be a passive spender rather than an active contributor. you have to tread carefully when it comes to significant others and their own good/bad financial habits for sure, but its something that needs to be discussed with some frequency.
Back on topic. my util sucks. time for ask for a CLI on amazon store card before that util reports. hehehe.