topic Re: Time Out..............What Next? in Credit Cards

Time Out..............What Next?

Anonymous — Sun, 22 Jan 2017 21:52:37 GMT

Dec/Jan marks my one year anniversary.

Cards I started with Current limits / Balance Approvals this Month
CapOne QS - combined this week Chase Freedom - $1,000
CapOne QS One $3,300 $1,800 Chase Slate - $600 (changed to AmazonVisa yesterday)
Discover (Secured) - now unsecured $1,300 $0 Amex Blue Cash - $600
The Limited - closed yesterday    Amex Premier Rewards Gold -(50,000 points Invitation)
Overstock - closed yesterday
NY & Co - closed yesterday
Victoria's Secret - Tempted to close $550 $0
Amazon (Synchrony) - Tempted to close    $3,000 $900
Walmart - Tempted to close $5,000 $0
PenFed Thrifty Line of Credit $500 $0

No charge offs, no collections, no public records.......

Current Scores: EQ 682 TU 702 EX 702

What are my next proactive steps to take? Goal: 750 across the board......

Re: Time Out..............What Next?

AverageJoesCredit — Sun, 22 Jan 2017 20:42:57 GMT

From what i can follow, im not sure why youd want to close the Walmart and Amazon as they seem to be your highest limits and can help your utilization and grow nicely. Im just a little confused with how your chart is set up but maybe its just me being a simple joe.

Just keep using your credit and make timely payments and youll be fine

Re: Time Out..............What Next?

Anonymous — Sun, 22 Jan 2017 20:55:02 GMT

I would stop applying for new cards this year and instead focus on asking for credit line increases with your existing cards.. Other than that just keep using them and don't let more than 10% utilization report. Also, don't close any cards unless you're paying an annual fee. Once it's closed, your available credit goes down and your utilization will go up which won't do your scores any favors.

Re: Time Out..............What Next?

Anonymous — Sun, 22 Jan 2017 21:01:41 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Dec/Jan marks my one year anniversary.

Cards I started with Current limits / Balance Approvals this Month
CapOne QS - combined this week Chase Freedom - $1,000
CapOne QS One $3,300 $1,800 Chase Slate - $600 (Got switched to Amazon Prime Visa yesterday)
Discover (Unsecured) - now unsecured $1,300 $0 Amex Blue Cash - $600
The Limited - closed yesterday Amex Premier Rewards Gold - (got the 50,000 points Invitation Mailer)
Overstock - closed yesterday
NY & Co - closed yesterday
Victoria's Secret - Tempted to close $550 $0
Amazon (Synchrony) - Tempted to close $3,000 $900
Walmart - Tempted to close $5,000 $0
PenFed Thrifty Line of Credit $500 $0

No charge offs, no collections, no public records.......

Current Scores: EQ 682 TU 702 EX 702

What are my next proactive steps to take? Goal: 750 across the board......

Keep balances paid off or super low, don't open more store cards, and don't close anything else until it is at least 25 months old. If you close newer accounts it actually hurts your credit (not to mention the loss of overall credit which means your overall utilization will go up - which is a bad thing).

In your position I would really focus on micromanaging how your current cards report each month. With no negative items on your reports, the best thing you can do to increase scores is just use what you have, allow only 1 card to report a small balance each month before paying it off, and be patient.

Several things that will slow your progress:
mulitple cards reporting balances each month
any card reporting above 10% utilization (the hit is worse between 10-30% and worse still between 30-50%)

Usually, whatever balance you have when the monthly statement is generated is what gets reported to credit bureaus so you can just keep all the cards PIF'd before their statements generate - save for the 1 card that you purposely want to report a small balance (technically 1% is the best, but anything under 10% will pretty quickly help your score increase), before paying that final card off each month.

Re: Time Out..............What Next?

myjourney — Sun, 22 Jan 2017 21:22:06 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Dec/Jan marks my one year anniversary.

Cards I started with Current limits / Balance Approvals this Month
CapOne QS - combined this week Chase Freedom - $1,000
CapOne QS One $3,300 $1,800 Chase Slate - $600 (Got switched to Amazon Prime Visa yesterday)
Discover (Unsecured) - now unsecured $1,300 $0 Amex Blue Cash - $600
The Limited - closed yesterday Amex Premier Rewards Gold - (got the 50,000 points Invitation Mailer)
Overstock - closed yesterday
NY & Co - closed yesterday
Victoria's Secret - Tempted to close $550 $0
Amazon (Synchrony) - Tempted to close $3,000 $900
Walmart - Tempted to close $5,000 $0
PenFed Thrifty Line of Credit $500 $0

No charge offs, no collections, no public records.......

Current Scores: EQ 682 TU 702 EX 702

What are my next proactive steps to take? Goal: 750 across the board......

Best you can do is sit on hands and do nothing but pay down balances and still you may not hit 750 this year

750 scores take time and history

Here's what I see

1) since you say 1 year history AAoA is weak

2) Utl roughly 23% if you don't close more cards could go higher

3) 4 new TL's all for low limits which indicates

A) borderline approvals

B) lots of INQ's

C) CL on 4 new cards total limits $2600 / 4 = $650 average

D) the lenders themselves are showing you what's next unless you change your ways

To fast to soon IMHO ....sorry

Re: Time Out..............What Next?

Gmood1 — Sun, 22 Jan 2017 21:40:01 GMT

I agree to keep what you have and use them. I'm not into the micromanaging limits deal. Just keep them below 30% and request SP increases when available.
Your limits will grow quickly with Synchrony , Discover and Capital one.
Showing usage will help on those manual reviews. It also seems to promote BT offers. Whether you use them or not.

Re: Time Out..............What Next?

Anonymous — Sun, 22 Jan 2017 21:55:54 GMT

Best you can do is sit on hands and do nothing but pay down balances and still you may not hit 750 this year
750 scores take time and history

Here's what I see
1) since you say 1 year history AAoA is weak
2) Utl roughly 23% if you don't close more cards could go higher
3) 4 new TL's all for low limits which indicates
A) borderline approvals
B) lots of INQ's
C) CL on 4 new cards total limits $2600 / 4 = $650 average
D) the lenders themselves are showing you what's next unless you change your ways

To fast to soon IMHO ....sorry

Yeah it was too soon, I thought I would get decent SL because they were all pre approvals. Just wanted to see what the offers were going to be.

Why send pre approval for a $600 limit?

Would it be bad to just cancel some of the new ones since they havent reported yet? Except the Chase Amazon,,,,,(gonna keep that one)

and yeah.....no more apps probably for a good 2 years. Crappy limits, I know

Re: Time Out..............What Next?

Anonymous — Sun, 22 Jan 2017 21:54:41 GMT

LOL that's what happens when you do late night drunk typing. Im surprised it wasnt worse than that. I fixed a couple of typos

Re: Time Out..............What Next?

myjourney — Sun, 22 Jan 2017 22:09:06 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Best you can do is sit on hands and do nothing but pay down balances and still you may not hit 750 this year
750 scores take time and history

Here's what I see
1) since you say 1 year history AAoA is weak
2) Utl roughly 23% if you don't close more cards could go higher
3) 4 new TL's all for low limits which indicates
A) borderline approvals
B) lots of INQ's
C) CL on 4 new cards total limits $2600 / 4 = $650 average
D) the lenders themselves are showing you what's next unless you change your ways

To fast to soon IMHO ....sorry

Yeah it was too soon, I thought I would get decent SL because they were all pre approvals. Just wanted to see what the offers were going to be.
Why send pre approval for a $600 limit? Probably marketing

Would it be bad to just cancel some of the new ones since they havent reported yet? Except the Chase Amazon,,,,,(gonna keep that one)
The cards are open now may as well use them with the exception of PRG when AF comes due then assess if it's worth $95

and yeah.....no more apps probably for a good 2 years. Crappy limits, I know

Re: Time Out..............What Next?

Anonymous — Sun, 22 Jan 2017 22:49:57 GMT

Keep the Amazon & Walmart. They will keep your percent down and age up. We have several no fee cards that we keep for the age and limits only. They offer no rewards. About 1X every 3 months we use them once for something small. They go back in the drawer after that. It's hard if you have one main go to card to keep just the use on it down. Thats why I look at the big picture of them all as a goup.

Re: Time Out..............What Next?

Anonymous — Sun, 22 Jan 2017 23:03:39 GMT

@ MyJourney.......

PRG promo is no annual fee for first year and then $195 for second year.

I was thinking about running my rent payment through it and a couple of other bills to get the 50K points. And then maybe downgrading before first anniversary.

$2,000 in first three months = 50K points.

Re: Time Out..............What Next?

myjourney — Sun, 22 Jan 2017 23:33:09 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@ MyJourney.......

PRG promo is no annual fee for first year and then $195 for second year. Exactly may as well test the cards see if it's right for you collect the $100 travel credit ...Maybe use an Amex offer or 2 and before you know it the AF is less than $95
Personally last year I used the air credit and 3 $100 of hotel deals ...Basically no AF year

I was thinking about running my rent payment through it and a couple of other bills to get the 50K points. And then maybe downgrading before first anniversary. Long as the rent payment doesn't offset the rewards in fees ...why not

$2,000 in first three months = 50K points.