My Credit Cards, Credit Cards Limits and Paying Them Question

[AgentJackBauer]

Here are my 4 credit cards as of today:

Citi Card Diamond Preferred

Opened since 2005 (my oldest credit card)

Limit of $10,000.

Citi Double Cash Back

Opened Since April 2017 (my newest card)

Limit of $8,000. Was originally $3,000 but I asked for a credit increase the same day I activated my card, and increased it by $5,000.

This is my go to card as I put everything I buy on a daily basis. Food, clothes, Starbucks, gas, my $500 a month car payment, concerts, etc.
I estimate I will spend $900 to $1,000 a month using this card.

Capital One Platinum

Since 2008

Limit of $2,000. $39 annual fee. No rewards. I need to use it more often so my limit can be increased. Denied recent increase request.

Capital One Quicksilver

Since 2014

Limite of $11,000. 1.5% cash back on everything. I use this car often to pay my bills such as cable, cell phone, electric, Netflix/Hulu, which come out as automatic payments.

I have $31,000 worth of credit with these 4 cards and I have no debts with those cards, except the Citi Double Cash and Quicksilver which I use often.

1. Is that a good total of credit limit for 4 cards?

2. Should I wait for my statements to come to pay the full balance of my cards, or if I pay the card off immediately without waiting for the monthly statement, will that affect my credit scores?


I'm wanting to do what is best to boost up my FICO scores, so if I have to wait for after my monthly payment appears, then I'll do that.

[AverageJoesCredit]

Thats an amazing amount of credit for only four cards. I understand its best to pay your bills after the statement cuts but before the due date. Im not sure but the Cap One that seems to be stuck and not getting increase could be stuck in one of their infamous brackets of being left wherever your credit profile looked like when you got it. Its quite possible if you were to app another C1 card now youd get a much higher limit and therefore get it to grow better.

Paying off your cards before a statement cuts wont affect your score remember making timely payments helps increase your score over time. Continue doing what you are doing and youll be fine

[austinguy907]

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@AgentJackBauer wrote:

1. Is that a good total of credit limit for 4 cards?

2. Should I wait for my statements to come to pay the full balance of my cards, or if I pay the card off immediately without waiting for the monthly statement, will that affect my credit scores?


I'm wanting to do what is best to boost up my FICO scores, so if I have to wait for after my monthly payment appears, then I'll do that.

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1. A good CL is all relative to what you use them for and what you're comfortable with.

2. Depends on if you have a large purchase coming up or looking to apply for something new.  If you're not then just pay it when it's due and if you do have something then pay things before the statement cuts and let one account report >10%.

3. I would ditch the Cap1 Plat due to the fee and lack of rewards.  You can PC to a QS or QS1 with them to get rid of the fee.  It won't put the account into another bucket that grows but, it will save you the AF.

Depending on your EX score you might want to diversify a bit and grab an AMEX ED/BCE since this will allow you to grow your overall CL if you're aiming to do so in a quick manner.

If you want some more rewards and another card that grows well then look into Discover since the first year for IT is 2%/10%, Miles is 3%, Chrome 4%.  

[HeavenOhio]

austinguy, QuicksilverOne still has the fee.

OP, the question to ask is if there are product changes available that will dump the fee.

[Dalmus]

If you have $0 balance on the Platinum, just do an account combination to the Quicksilver.   You maintain your amount of credit AND lose an annual fee.  Win win!

[AgentJackBauer]

Thank you for the suggestion. If I do this, how far will my credit score drop? That Capital One Platinum is my second oldest credit card since I've had it since 2008. My oldest one is the Citi Diamond Preferred from 2005, so I figure my credit history will still be good. Last time I checked my Credit Karma scores (I know, I know, not official scores) they range from 740 to 750.

[HeavenOhio]

If you do a product change, the account will continue to appear on your report as it always has.

If you close the account, it's supposed to remain on your report "for up to 10 years" and still be a positive toward your average age of accounts. I'd bet on the 10 years, but it's always possible that it could drop sooner or hang around much longer.

Closing an account and losing the limit could affect your utilization, but that's something you can control. Rather than closing, CapOne offers account combinations, which allow you to keep your limit.

[MyLoFICO]

Yeah the PC won't have any effect on your score. I just got a link a few minutes ago from a Cap 1 rep to see what offers are available without having to chat or call. I don't know if this is public or not but the rep sent it to me via chat.

https://verified.capitalone.com/sic-ui/#/esignin?Product=Card&Action=ProductUpgrade