Which credit card of mine do I make as the daily spender?

[austinguy907]

$2000 is much more manageable than $20K in any bodies book I would think.  Setting these mental goals of where you want your balances to be is part of the training yourself to have better habits.  Most of us did silly things in our teens / twenties and some of us learned from it and others got bailed out and didn't learn from it.  Once you start making the changes and seeing results though it becomes a routine to stick to.  Of course there will be times when you need to carry a balance but, with $0/mo going towards a hefty balance lets you build up some reserves to cover a balance in full if you needed to if a card doesn't have a 0% period on it.  At least with money in the bank you're earning interest instead of paying interest.  Putting money aside is a good habit and works in your favor... I put my home ownership $$'s into my savings for taxes instead of letting the mortgage co. do Escrow that doesn't earn anything at all.  

I think you're on the right track and getting things cleaned up nicely.  I know you want to axe a card or two which is fine but, don't do it out of fear.  When you're in a position of power where you're not going to take a hit of 10-20% of your available credit then you're primed to pull the trigger on that card.  Now that you're on the road to PIF though losing the utilization buffer won't matter too much but, plan things out.  6 accounts for some is too much to manage but, you're in control and as things age they help more.  I would just put them down for every other month pick one to ask for a CLI on if growth is something you're interested in instead of apping for something new which I don't feel is your goal right now at least.  

$53K in CL's is a good amount of credit to manage and leaves room if you have to take on a big purchase and not kill your scores if you're in the market for something big ticket like a car / home.  

[mjb59463]

Thanks for your response! You made a lot of good points for moving forward that I will certainly do my best to implement.

I do want to close Wells Fargo simply because the reward structure is not something I take advantage of, and because it is a relatively new account. I've been doing great at not giving in to temptation to spend on frivolous garbage, but I'd rather remove as many avenues as possible for that to occur. I'd close Barclay too, but 11.5k is a lot of credit to give up.

I have no plans to app for anything. I have all the cards I could want, the ones I use provide the rewards/benefits I want (Chase UR or Delta miles, global entry, travel credit, etc).

Should a new card with great benefits be released that benefits either Chase UR or Delta I will consider dropping one of my current cards for it (PC the current card to something I can stick in the sockdrawer and app for the new one), but after evaluating what cards are on the current market, nothing interests me as of now.

As far as CLI's go, I couldn't imagine needing or wanting more credit than I have right now. If they auto-cli, that is their business. I will not ask for one, as 53k is more than enough for me.

[austinguy907]

I wouldn't request closing anything at this point since you have 6 cards.  If you want them to close they might as well keep aging while not in use.  Eventually they'll close them a couple of years down the road and the age only helps.  Rewards or not hanging around w/o an AF doesn't hurt much.  If the temptation is there then maybe calling for a CLD could be an interim step before closing yet still accumulating some age.  Doing the replacement method while adding is a good show of self restraint on not collecting plastic too. 

I look at my CL's as only being able to spend 10% of that limit as a healthy measure. So, I do periodically add to them with CLI's to keep that buffer rising while not having to use them. I avoid AF's like the Flu since it's counter productive if you're collecting points or cash back.  Resisting the flavor of the week around here is hard at first but it does get easier as time passes.  A good deterent is reading the T&C's for the card before even filling in the form.  

It's up to you though on how you want to manage things and what works or doesn't work varies by the person.  You're on a good path though already!

[skigirl916]

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@Anonymous wrote:
If under 5/24 AND you plan to keep the CSR for a while, you might consider adding a Chase Freedom Unlimited.. 

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I hope I'm not too late.

ABSOLUTELY NOT.

If you're considering getting a mortgage, STOP ADDING TO YOUR CREDIT PROFILE. Stop. No more new accounts. You will make lenders nervous. You have PLENTY. Pay DOWN what you already have.

It's actually unlikely that you'll end up with a mortgage from a traditional big bank/credit card lender, so don't concern yourself with providing yourself to a credit card lender that you can spend with them and behave yourself. You need to prove yourself to a prosepctive mortgage lender - which means you haven't made yourself look like a credit gathering, "what the heck is he/she doing?" nervous nelly.

[kdm31091]

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@skigirl916 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
If under 5/24 AND you plan to keep the CSR for a while, you might consider adding a Chase Freedom Unlimited.. 

---

I hope I'm not too late.

ABSOLUTELY NOT.

If you're considering getting a mortgage, STOP ADDING TO YOUR CREDIT PROFILE. Stop. No more new accounts. You will make lenders nervous. You have PLENTY. Pay DOWN what you already have.

It's actually unlikely that you'll end up with a mortgage from a traditional big bank/credit card lender, so don't concern yourself with providing yourself to a credit card lender that you can spend with them and behave yourself. You need to prove yourself to a prosepctive mortgage lender - which means you haven't made yourself look like a credit gathering, "what the heck is he/she doing?" nervous nelly.

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I second this. When you're in the market for a mortgage, forget about cards for awhile. Use what you have and keep utilization as low as you can. Even a quarter of a percent higher interest on a mortgage will far wipe out any gain you get from adding more cards

[mjb59463]

@skigirl916

Why is it unlikely that I'd end up getting a mortgage from a big bank?

Conservatively, a house is at least 5-10 years away for me.

[austinguy907]

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@mjb59463 wrote:
@skigirl916

Why is it unlikely that I'd end up getting a mortgage from a big bank?

Conservatively, a house is at least 5-10 years away for me.

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Big bank's and mortgages..... that's funny!!  First off a big bank is known for charging more in the APR and the fees to get started.  Having been through the process a few times now it's important to shop around when you're talking about a $200K+ purchase.  Those little .25% differences add up considerably over the life of the loan.80-90% of your payment each month for the first couple of years is interest to the bank unless you pay additional principal each month or make equal payments weekly or semi monthly.

A fact is that you will pay less at a CU than you will in a bank.  When i say shop around it's like when I had to replace the indoor/outdoor unit on an HVAC system.  Quotes to do it ranged from $4K to $11K for the same system and everything from 5 different places. 

[SouthJamaica]

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@mjb59463 wrote:

IHey everyone,
So it's taken some time to get my debt under control, and great things have happened in that regard. Still a bit of progress to be made, but I can see a Fair bit of light at the end of the tunnel. I've cancelled some cards, plan to cancel a couple more, and am starting to reorganize my credit card portfolio. Here it is as it stands with balances and limits:

Amex Delta Platinum: 700/11,000
Chase Sapphire Reserve: 0/20,000
Chase Freedom: 2000/6,000
US Bank Flexperks Travel rewards: 800/5000
Barclay Apple: 900/11,500
Wells Fargo: 800/7,000

Sapphire has been sockdrawered for right now until I clean everything up and has been getting dinged monthly with Netflix and Hulu (yes, I did hit the signup bonus), Amex is used for travel expenses, and Freedom has been the everyday spending card (movie tickets, gas, food, books, gym, iTunes)

Wells, US Bank and Barclay are not seeing any more activity and will be zeroed out before the summer for sure. I'd like to close them, simply because having open cards can tempt me to spend. Acting on temptation is what got me into trouble before, and I'm smart enough to know that. I realize that could potentially harm my score, but I'd rather have that happen than fall in the crushing debt sinkhole again due to making poor choices.

The only thing stopping me from making that the plan is that I One day hope to get a mortgage, and those lending institutions might want to see that I have credit with them and managed it appropriately. Is that a valid concern, or not really?


Also, am I making the right play with using the Freedom as my everyday card? Or should I be using something else in my wallet?

Any help or advice is appreciated.
Thanks

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1. I think Freedom is a good every day card, I think that's what it was designed for.

2. It would be better for your scores to sock drawer accounts rather than close them, in terms of dollar utilization and in terms of number-of-cards-reporting-balances utilization.

3. It would be better to have the majority of your cards reporting a zero balance, and for none of your cards to be reporting more than 29%,

If the mortgage plan is in the distant future then your score maximization isn't as important. Your concern about those institutions wanting to see you have credit with them and managed it, etc, is not an issue.

[Anonymous]

OP thks for post!😃really good comments on here too!!

Not trying to high Jack LOL but I had the same question???...rite now I'm using AmexED/cash+ for daily drivers open to suggestions from my siggy

My spend is pretty much the same I don't groceries shop enough for BCE 😖either ...

[mjb59463]

Well, it finally happened today when the payments posted. 

100% debt free across every single credit card I have. Never falling down the rabbit hole of CC debt again! 

Scores were already in the 740+ range, can't wait to see what they are for this month. 

Thanks to everyone who helped me on this forum along the way. Without you all, this most definitely would not have happened.