Credit card usage

[Anonymous]

Ok, so while I have been trying to concentrate on paying down 4 of my credit cards that have high utilization on them I have been keeping the rest of my cards at a zero balance....well at lease my Capital one cards for sure and on my Lowe's card I have spent less than $200 on it in the last 3 months ....

Question is: Will my Lowe's and Capital One lower my limit seeing that I hardly use them cards, thinking that maybe I don't need that much credit? Or will they leave my limit alone?

Also I have not been adding any purchases to my Citi or BofA card either as I only been paying down balance on those... Ok idea or should I use them a little? I did make about 2 purchases on my Chase card last month but the were small amounts and I paid that back right away.

My balances are Citi 5600/7300
Chase 2600/3000
Bank of America is 4000/4500
Simmons First is 6000/8000
Lowe's 0/12000
Capital One Quicksilver One 0/1250
Capital One Quicksilver 0/1000
And my DH has 2 cards I am AU on that has 0/600 on Capital One Platinum
75/1000 on Citi Double Cash

(I am kinda OCD with keeping even dollar amounts...like last month BofA min payment was $41 I paid $100.... I do my credit cards that way)

My goal is the get to overall credit limit of $51k, as well as raising my scores across the board ... Maybe to around 750... I would be happy with that... Any more than that I think I would still get great treatment anyway... Lol

[HeavenOhio]

Your Capital One cards have limits that are low enough that you don't have to worry about them being lowered for low or non-usage. Also, based on posts here, Capital One isn't known for lowering limits based on high utilization on other lenders' cards.

Avoid adding purchases to the cards with balances as those purchases will incur interest. If you feel that you can keep your spending under control, I'd use the Capital One cards for new purchases. Pay them off before the statement cuts, ensuring that those cards report zero balances to the bureaus.

Synchrony is too unpredictable for me to know what they'll do, but someone else may have an idea. My only advice re the Lowe's card is to only use it when you actually have a need to buy at Lowe's and to pay off your purchases before the statement cuts.

[Anonymous]

I do have plans on buying some cheap kitchen lower cabinets in the beginning of 2018... The ones I have now are all off centered and have mouse access holes from previous owner of my house( they did a bad job on these) I recently bought.

I feel by replacing these certain cabinets will not only make Kitchen look a little better but close off access to the mice.... I live in a small rural area in the country by lots of Fields.....

[Anonymous]

Great post by HeavenOhio.  Wise advice throughout, but this struck me as especially helpful:

My only advice re the Lowe's card is to only use it when you actually have a need to buy at Lowe's and to pay off your purchases before the statement cuts.

Yes,  For sure.  And that can be generalized to all cards: only use a card to buy something if you would have pulled cash out of your wallet for it just as well.  Thus, when you hear someone recommend that someone buy a cup of coffee to keep a card active, my thought is: Yeah, if you would have also bought that coffee with cash.  Otherwise the "keeping it active" purchase is best viewed as a fee for using the card.

With a major credit card, it's not hard to find purchases of items that you absolutely want/need anyway: a tank of gas, a loaf of bread, the monthly cell phone bill, etc.  With a store card it's harder to find something that you absolutely need there in a given month.

[Anonymous]

I suggest filling the mice holes with putty (there is your Lowe's purchase), live with those cabinets for now, your priority should be paying off those debts and free yourself of those monthly interest charges. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Agreed! CapitalOne limits should be fine.. Also charging something just to keep an account active is a fee if your not already going to use cash for it.

[Anonymous]

Yeah I put puddy in the holes. Mice still running around. I have long wide gaps right behind the cabinet doors that they are running into. I have several mouse traps laying along their normal paths but they run right through them... These mice are pretty **bleep** smart.... Ugh.... I can't even use my bottom cabinets at all or the utensils drawers..... It's awful.

[ando35]

I know that walmart cancelled my card for neevr using it after one year.

How did you get such high limits? It must be based on income.

[Anonymous]

I don't think that most creditors lower your limits based on not using enough of the current credit limit.  Assuming a strong profile, simple usage is usually enough to have them keep you where you're at.  I've had a Lowe's card at a $30k limit for over 1.5 years and have never put more than $100-$200 on it in any given cycle and my highest reported balance ever was $161.  I don't think I've gone more than a cycle or two though throughout those 1.5 years where I didn't swipe it at least once, so based on using the card somewhat regularly I'm not really worried about a CLD.