topic Re: How to keep everything in order in Credit Cards

How to keep everything in order

Abelcrdn — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 07:30:25 GMT

Hey guys! So thanks to this forum I Have acquired all the cards I have wanted and needed so now just letting them age, my question is what ways do you do to keep your accounts organized so no payments are missed?

Re: How to keep everything in order

rmduhon — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 07:43:47 GMT

I use excel to keep track of our accounts and check it at least once a week. Mine is simple, just the last 4 numbers, whose it is (mine, hubby's, or mom's), limit, balance, due date, statement date, and last reported balance. Some people add the interest rate and a few other things.

Re: How to keep everything in order

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 08:13:54 GMT

I try to make all my payment due dates on the same date.

Re: How to keep everything in order

austinguy907 — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 09:28:31 GMT

I use Quicken but, Mint.com now has a new feature where they show your bills on the main page w/ reminders. They also have a EQ score update every 3 months that's close to a FICO but, definitely isn't a FICO since it's missing a disclosure saying so. Sometimes a cloud based product is nice when you don't have your laptop available for a full blown program.

Re: How to keep everything in order

Abelcrdn — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 10:08:53 GMT

Thanks! I'm thinking of going to the spreadsheet route, I currently am attempting to use mint but for some reason it doesn't update my accounts automatically and I have to go in each account and manually update. All bad. Did you just request a different payment date or how do you manage that?

Re: How to keep everything in order

rmduhon — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 10:23:13 GMT

The only one I'm familiar with is Cap1. Under the services tab it gives you the option to change your due date. They have certain dates to choose from and it take a couple of cycles to go into effect.

Re: How to keep everything in order

austinguy907 — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 10:26:29 GMT

I don't bother with changing payment dates and they all fall throughout the month. Since I primarily use Disco and AMEX I know Disco is the 7th and AMEX is the 12th. Others come at the beginning of the month and those are usually my CU accounts but some fall in the middle and others at the end of the month. With my 2 primaries taking spots monthly I rotate the other 8 every few months on my cell bill just to keep them active and get the score points from them. Dormant / SD accounts tend to drag points if they sit there for awhile w/o usage.

Re: How to keep everything in order

Abelcrdn — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 10:28:05 GMT

Awesome! Thank you guys !

Re: How to keep everything in order

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 10:30:35 GMT

I use a spreadsheet, but mostly, I make sure every card is set to autopay the full statement balance. I would never feel comfortable not having that in place, even though I only really ever used that for sock-drawered cards with small monthly payments.

For the majority of my cards, I just check online manually every day (and pay anything new that's posted). Most probably don't want to do that, but it doesn't take much time. It takes just a few minutes each morning.

The main thing I used the spreadsheet for is a reminder of the statement closing date (the only thing I really care about). Personally, I wouldn't want to have them all on the same cycle. I don't like to use a card in the last 5-7 days before the statement closing, so I find staggered closings helpful.

Re: How to keep everything in order

Abelcrdn — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 10:59:13 GMT

Are the closing dates available to view on every statement or is it something I need to find out? That's actually a good idea. I check them everyday since it just takes a finger print scan at this point to get logged into to apps. So if I setup an auto pay as a backup but pay multiple times in the month it won't pull anything on said due date since they min would have most likely been met with said payments?

Re: How to keep everything in order

Abelcrdn — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 11:00:11 GMT

Thanks for the help! I have nothing on Autopay since it's so foreign to just give some access to your account. Not that when I pay online it's any better it just feels like I Have the control lol

Re: How to keep everything in order

rmduhon — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 11:04:07 GMT

I can't remember which card it was, but when I went to set up autopay it stated that the minimum would be pulled if there was a balance even if a payment was already made. So I didn't finish setting it up

Re: How to keep everything in order

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 11:06:39 GMT

@Abelcrdn wrote:
Thanks for the help! I have nothing on Autopay since it's so foreign to just give some access to your account. Not that when I pay online it's any better it just feels like I Have the control lol

To each his own and "comfort level". Since I travel for sport in my regional area I set every account up with auto-pay so there is no chance of a missed payment. I get the control part and I usually pay on my schedule but, just in case ....! Again, it is what makes a person feel comforatble!

Re: How to keep everything in order

Abelcrdn — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 11:10:44 GMT

Yeah absolutely, that actually makes things sound a lot better since I can still pay multiple times a month but just in case I miss one it catches me! I never ever thought about it!

Re: How to keep everything in order

elim — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 11:22:43 GMT

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LY-nMFRAXS8yViHCjBrgjuoaPtL8g4jG0jPwg582UkM/edit#gid=0

click (file/make a copy)

edit the lighter cells, everything else is auto.

Re: How to keep everything in order

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 11:12:19 GMT

1. Automatic payments in case you forget.
2. Align due dates to same time period/day if possible (Disco does this).
3. Check out Debitize if you PIF.
4. Check out Mint or Google Docs to get detailed about payments, interest and balances.

Re: How to keep everything in order

Abelcrdn — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 11:14:52 GMT

Thank you Elim! Does it Auto calculate the % ? That's an insanely good google doc

Re: How to keep everything in order

Abelcrdn — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 11:20:12 GMT

Elim, is there anyway you can send me that so I can edit it?

Re: How to keep everything in order

elim — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 11:21:12 GMT

I keep my due dates spread throughout the month to keep the myFICO triggers plentiful throught the month.

Mint or Prism (I use Prism) as a fail safe (everything goes in the sheet above).

Re: How to keep everything in order

elim — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 11:25:00 GMT

@Abelcrdn wrote:
Elim, is there anyway you can send me that so I can edit it?

click File/make a copy, you can edit your own then (will be in google drive)