Ooo, this is a great discussion!
I often wonder who's gaming whom. We think we're manipulating the system by doing all these work-arounds, but look what it takes to play this game. To be good at it, we become aware of our balances, our CC terms, and our cash flow, and we make sure that we don't do anything that would endanger our scores, like running up debt or going bat-wild applying for credit. By paying in full before the statement even posts, we don't come close to making late payments, and our debt load is token. After you do this a while, this becomes our new credit habit, replacing whatever goofball things we used to do. (Like carrying around a check for a monthly payment in a stamped envelope in a purse for three weeks and missing the due date. 
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I think a pretty good argument could be made that the system is gaming us. 
I game the insurance "system" by not causing accidents or getting tickets, and thereby getting discounts on my premiums ... 
@Anonymous wrote:
I game the insurance "system" by not causing accidents or getting tickets, and thereby getting discounts on my premiums ...
That is not gaming the system. Avoiding speeding tickets by using radar detectors and still speeding a lot is gaming the system.
Yes, you can get 20 CC's and have low enough balances on all of them to have semi-OK scores and still be a genuine risk (gaming the system), but you won't have excellent scores. All I can say is that conforming to the FICO High Achievers characteristics has done an excellent job of training me in the responsible use of credit.
It might have been a bass-ackwards way to go about it, but I am definitely a better credit risk than I was in early 2007, when I kept throwing away the envelopes talking about a Sears Mastercard, and wondering when I'd get a statement for my new Sears store card. (Duh me, I had gotten a Sears MC without realizing it and threw away three months' worth of statements, thinking they were ads. )
@haulingthescoreup wrote:Ooo, this is a great discussion!
I often wonder who's gaming whom. We think we're manipulating the system by doing all these work-arounds, but look what it takes to play this game. To be good at it, we become aware of our balances, our CC terms, and our cash flow, and we make sure that we don't do anything that would endanger our scores, like running up debt or going bat-wild applying for credit. By paying in full before the statement even posts, we don't come close to making late payments, and our debt load is token. After you do this a while, this becomes our new credit habit, replacing whatever goofball things we used to do. (Like carrying around a check for a monthly payment in a stamped envelope in a purse for three weeks and missing the due date.
I think a pretty good argument could be made that the system is gaming us.
Of course the system is gaming us.
Some of the games are now illegal like Moving Due dates around to generate late fees.
The biggest game of all is the 0% APR on BT or purchases. I have played this game, sometimes I win, sometimes I lose. IMO, this has sucked more people into CC debt they can't handle, than anything else.
