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Putting my 11 cards to rest until March-UPDATE- I cannot do this.

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score_building
Senior Contributor

Re: Putting my 11 cards to rest until March-UPDATE- I cannot do this.


@haulingthescoreup wrote:

@-RED wrote:

I'm starting to get this mindset, but I'm not in a big hurry to get there, but I get it, I really do!


e2
You and I are probably headed toward the middle ground. I got a bunch of new cards (killing my AAoA) in order to establish multiple clean tradelines to "dilute" the effect of past lates, and it worked. But after a year or so, it was obvious that it was going to be a PITA to keep them all happy. Plus with time, it was obvious which cards would be the duds.

I figure that in the end, I'll wind up with maybe 6 cards --maybe 3 CC cards (including non-CC USAA), 1 or 2 bank cards, and 1 or 2 store cards. That will be enough to maintain my total CL, let me use them for various rewards, and keep my sanity.

+1 in the process of gardening over the next few years I hope to pair down with 4-8 from about 12 open TL in the meantime I'd like to think all of the TL in good standing are still strengthening history and building relations...  that was the goal--in order to build and dilute SL lates.

 

HTSU, with the exception of a couple of duds (dell, cap1) and borderline cases (alliant, citi) the ones I have see good use and I can manage effectively... besides these possible targets for closure, do I close a perfectly good accts that have a practical use just to pair down and simplify?  that may become an issue for me going forward.

DCU EQ 5.0, Citi EQ 08 Bankcard, PenFed EX NG2
EX 08: AFCU, Amex, Chase, PSECU EX 98(?)
TU 08: Barclays, Discover
Message 61 of 65
creditwherecreditisdue
Senior Contributor

Re: Putting my 11 cards to rest until March-UPDATE- I cannot do this.


@score_building wrote:

do I close a perfectly good accts that have a practical use just to pair down and simplify?


Don't close a perfectly good account unless it has an annual fee. It's really not that hard to keep your accounts active.

Message 62 of 65
Karatz
Frequent Contributor

Re: Putting my 11 cards to rest until March


@Anonymous wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

best advice i ever heard (but i'm no expert, so people feel free to educate me if this is wrong!) -  whatever you wanna buy, pay that money in advance on whatever card you want to use, then go buy it!  that way you look REALLY good to the cards, little or no finance charges, it's almost exactly like paying in cash, BUT you have a record of your payment (the cc payment) in case of any disputes, and you earn whatever points and your accounts aren't inactive!

 

.....however, i have never been financially solvent enough to put this into practice.... but i got the advice from a teacher whose sister did the aforementioned...


 

For those cards which will not accept payments above current balance (for us: Alliant CU, BofA, Jupiter, Kroger 123, Macys), you can follow this same procedure, but pay immediately after.  Lots of posters PIF monthly, which is basically doing the same thing.

 

Cabelas will let you post payments above the current balance (plus, it's a Bank Card!) and so will Orchard (but they will always question you, and want to know if you'd like a check for the credit balance).

 

Great idea to avoid carrying balances on cc's - for so many reasons!  Peace of mind being my favorite Smiley Wink.  Good post!


I overpay them so that charges don't post on the statement date and report a balance. Never had a problem doing that.

TransUnion/Equifax
746/754
Date: 9/24/2009/10/02/2009
Message 63 of 65
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: Putting my 11 cards to rest until March-UPDATE- I cannot do this.


creditwherecreditisdue wrote:


@score_building wrote:

do I close a perfectly good accts that have a practical use just to pair down and simplify?


Don't close a perfectly good account unless it has an annual fee. It's really not that hard to keep your accounts active.



To each his own. If and when the time comes that you want to simplify, you'll know it.

I have closed a few down simply because they irritated me. My CL is plenty high, and these were some dud cards that I could tell after some time were never going anywhere. (The CSR on one card let slip that my particular account would never be eligible for a customer-requested CLI.) I still have plenty of open revolving to "cover" my reporting installment accounts, and it's useful to get things down to a manageable level. (Yes, even though it's not hard to put recurring charges on them and leave them in the drawer.)

I'm down to carrying four CC's: the PenFed, both USAA cards, and my AmEx Blue. Two drop at the beginning of the month; two at the end, so I rotate them accordingly. I have three store cards that I pull out periodically: Best Buy, Home Depot, and J.Crew. I have a 0.99% BT on my BofA card, which lives in the sock drawer with the store cards. And my Chase Freedom will probably be closed if they don't start giving me my 3 rewards categories.

I'm happy to work with lenders (giving cards plenty of usage and so forth) if I think that they're going to work with me. Otherwise, buh-bye. After all, real gardening also involves yanking out weeds and plants that are just flat ugly. Smiley Wink
* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007
Message 64 of 65
score_building
Senior Contributor

Re: Putting my 11 cards to rest until March-UPDATE- I cannot do this.

Thanks for the valuable f/b HTSU and CWCID.

 

In my mind I think 8 is the new 2 as the perfect minimal number of cards to have LOL at least for now, to continue to help balance out installment TLs, and build etc.

DCU EQ 5.0, Citi EQ 08 Bankcard, PenFed EX NG2
EX 08: AFCU, Amex, Chase, PSECU EX 98(?)
TU 08: Barclays, Discover
Message 65 of 65
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