topic Re: MyFICO forum trends in Credit Cards

MyFICO forum trends

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 16:53:36 GMT

After being a lurker for awhile before I actually started to post I've noticed a lot trends on MyFICO. Whether it's members chasing specific credit cards and everyone jumping on that train, people chasing higher limits, members collecting 10+ cards and sock drawing them to now a lot of members "cutting or trimming the fat." With all these trends I am wondering if it will soon lead to less exaggerated credit lines. For example people always chasing credit line increases that or available credit pushing the 6 figures. Do you guys think this will slow down and eventual trimming the fat will also lead to credit lines that aren't so crazy high? Especially since majority of users will never use that much credit or float that much in balances?

Re: MyFICO forum trends

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 16:55:47 GMT

To clarify not judging, saying people are doing the wrong thing or should change their habits or change their hobby of collecting cards and CLI. Just food for thought...it's all in the individuals right to do and spend how they please

Re: MyFICO forum trends

kdm31091 — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 17:43:50 GMT

I think there's a pretty frequent cycle when someone first "discovers" the credit card world. You apply for a bunch of cards....one for dining, one for gas, one for this, one for that. You end up with a ton of cards. You later realize some of them are redundant with your spend level, so you cull down to the ones that are useful for everyday spending. I think people often find themselves overwhelmed with the number of cards they end up with, especially when they previously may have had 1-2 cards.

Chasing CLIs has never been a huge thing for me, because there's diminshing returns. If your utilization is low, it's low. You don't need a ridiculous amount of padding. YMMV with spend and income though. If you go for excessive CLIs with a particular lender you can wind up having trouble getting approved for new products with them although you can often move limits around to compensate.

There's always been a "flavor of the month" card; Double Cash, Venture, Merrill+, Amazon, etc, etc. It's important for one to consider if the card is truly useful to them or if they are just following the excitement of the crowd.

Re: MyFICO forum trends

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 18:12:29 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
After being a lurker for awhile before I actually started to post I've noticed a lot trends on MyFICO. Whether it's members chasing specific credit cards and everyone jumping on that train, people chasing higher limits, members collecting 10+ cards and sock drawing them to now a lot of members "cutting or trimming the fat." With all these trends I am wondering if it will soon lead to less exaggerated credit lines. For example people always chasing credit line increases that or available credit pushing the 6 figures. Do you guys think this will slow down and eventual trimming the fat will also lead to credit lines that aren't so crazy high? Especially since majority of users will never use that much credit or float that much in balances?

Honestly? No...chasing isn't something that is new, and remember credit lines are subject to quite a few different reasons (income, scores, usage, etc).

Re: MyFICO forum trends

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 18:14:39 GMT

Yup... I remember when the Marvel card came out... that was you would read about here on MF. Now I haven't seen a post about this card in months.

Re: MyFICO forum trends

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 18:29:08 GMT

That is a good observation but at the same time there might be a week or two where a lot of people with successful credit profiles are posting and you won't see as many flavor of the month posts, as chances are most of them are for rebuilders and less than excellent credit… or at least the cards approve people with some dings here and there. it is exciting to finally get a yes when you had no's

The people with excellent credit know they have excellent credit and usually already know what works for them and don't have to get into the Common Man synchrony and capitalone offerings.

Re: MyFICO forum trends

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 18:30:00 GMT

SMC I didn't mean as it's something brand new and mind blowing. New in terms of there are a lot more post about Amex 3x CLI, posts about crazy discover CLI and data points on it. Just wonder if the trend in maybe six months will be to forgo a CLI from let's say 18k to 30k because most people won't extend themselves that much nor use if.

Yes, marvel card is just one of the many CSP, CSR, various Amex cards and so on. But beginning of this year a lot of members were talking about cutting back the number of cards and some were even talking about spreading it out over time.

Re: MyFICO forum trends

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 18:32:00 GMT

Fordguy don't get me wrong I do it as well. Share my ups and downs with it. This is by no means judgement of anyone. I personal have shared denials, approvals, cli, and I have skipped specific cards because they don't fit my needs nor does my credit profile support them

Re: MyFICO forum trends

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 18:43:39 GMT

I'm not ashamed to be in the middle of half the trends on here. If my share keepssomeone from applying they don't need or wiil be near obvious denial, or encourages someone to close a few cards and get a better one good that's great.
I just posted a disappointing PenFed outcome where bankruptcy people with lower scores are getting in and I got denied for a charge off and inquiries. THe consensus was to apply when your INQ 6 months old but their documentation is zapping me for 12 months so I share it. The PenFed "trend" is $10,000 limits with 660 credit scores so hell yeah I want one because I want to close more cards, and Refi an auto loan

Re: MyFICO forum trends

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 19:21:18 GMT

I noticed the trend of trimming the fat as well. People are making good arguments in terms of cutting cards and people are believing in it. I don't see a problem there..

Re: MyFICO forum trends

redpat — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 20:04:10 GMT

CCC made significate changes for applying, chase 5/24, CO no 2 cards w/ one app, amex lifetime bonus, barclay inq sensitive, sync blue evelopes, com closing accounts and citi 24 month rule.

Trends start w/ them and the products they introduce and rules they put forth, who knows!

Re: MyFICO forum trends

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 20:06:08 GMT

Citi 24 month rule? That's a new one for me. What is it

Re: MyFICO forum trends

redpat — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 20:52:43 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Citi 24 month rule? That's a new one for me. What is it

No bonus for a product that you received a bonus for in the last 24 month. For example, getting a Citi AA card the wanting a Citi AA Exec or AA business card within 24 months. That's how I understand it.

Re: MyFICO forum trends

Discover2016 — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 20:55:21 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
There's always been a "flavor of the month" card; Double Cash, Venture, Merrill+, Amazon, etc, etc. It's important for one to consider if the card is truly useful to them or if they are just following the excitement of the crowd.

Yup... I remember when the Marvel card came out... that was you would read about here on MF. Now I haven't seen a post about this card in months.

I remember the Marvel craze! It was so intense that I created my own Marvel card since I was gardening at the time.

Re: MyFICO forum trends

UncleB — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 20:55:59 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Citi 24 month rule? That's a new one for me. What is it

Here ya go: http://www.doctorofcredit.com/citi-24-month-churning-rule-explained-detail/

Re: MyFICO forum trends

austinguy907 — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 21:25:24 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
After being a lurker for awhile before I actually started to post I've noticed a lot trends on MyFICO. Whether it's members chasing specific credit cards and everyone jumping on that train, people chasing higher limits, members collecting 10+ cards and sock drawing them to now a lot of members "cutting or trimming the fat." With all these trends I am wondering if it will soon lead to less exaggerated credit lines. For example people always chasing credit line increases that or available credit pushing the 6 figures. Do you guys think this will slow down and eventual trimming the fat will also lead to credit lines that aren't so crazy high? Especially since majority of users will never use that much credit or float that much in balances?

Everything is cyclical as people move through the 7 stages of credit.

You'll see people hungry for credit jumping on trains for the card of the month like Bliss, CSR, 100K Platinum, etc.

Chasing higher limits is usually a way to keep at a certain limit while being able to trim the fat on other low hanging fruit in your wallet. Keeping the same utilization levels can be important if you're a balance carrier.

Collecting Commenity cards because they're a SP approval was/is a big thing around here for those thinking they need multiple accounts under $750 for some reason. SD'ing them because they don't actually use the products they're tide to. I advocate not doing the store thing unless you're sure to get something with a major network logo on the card to use it somewhere other than where it's obtained from.

Exaggerated CL's around here will always be a fact of life since we have shared concepts for hunting them down and have them down to a science virtually with things like the AMEX 3X guide. For those looking for the biggest pop to their overall CL AMEX is the way to go considering within 12-24 months you'll definitely have a 5 digit CL that grows exponentially.

There have been some very active members on here that haven't been posting for the last 6-12 months that have moved on from needing the support found here. There's been a churn of membership and changing of the guard from the seasoned to the new. This is where the cyclical effect comes into play. People start/stop on here once they achieve their goals or need to start a new goal. Once you have a roadmap to where you want to be it's easy to follow. Checking in every once in awhile lets you hit those milestones and see where everyone else on the same journey is as well.

Personally though I cap my cards at a total of 10. I'm considering pulling the trigger on my 3-4 most useless cards and closing them out since I've amassed 98K in available credit in the past year and a half to replace those losses by several times. My goals have been for quality over quantity since moving into more of a prime position again around 2007. I quit apping for the flavor of the week or potential approvals at that point and realized there was more to it all than just collecting sub 1K cards. I had some decent cards in place before the collapse in 2008 that were consumed by places like Chase and Cap1. The only reason they're around still today in my collection are due to age of oldest account. One of them was opened 1/2007 but, I have a backup dated 12/2007 that can make up for the loss of age.

Some look at the short game and that's mostly points/miles for travel and then jump to the next card. Some get their feet wet with a couple of cards and then think to ask for advice before venturing down the rabbit hole. Others have been down the rabbit hole and find the big picture and long game with their credit eventually. It's all about perspective and since we all have different amounts of experience you'll always see a mix of what you're asking about around here. As people age though they tend to move onto the next step and as the percentages move you see more/less of one are of focus.

Re: MyFICO forum trends

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 22:03:36 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
After being a lurker for awhile before I actually started to post I've noticed a lot trends on MyFICO. Whether it's members chasing specific credit cards and everyone jumping on that train, people chasing higher limits, members collecting 10+ cards and sock drawing them to now a lot of members "cutting or trimming the fat." With all these trends I am wondering if it will soon lead to less exaggerated credit lines. For example people always chasing credit line increases that or available credit pushing the 6 figures. Do you guys think this will slow down and eventual trimming the fat will also lead to credit lines that aren't so crazy high? Especially since majority of users will never use that much credit or float that much in balances?

Nope. As long as the banks/credit unions offer CLI's. MyFicoers will be going after them. You have to remember too that once former rebuilders become established they tend to post less or stop coming by alltogether, so then the next wave of rebuilders come through and quick and easy CLI's are too good to pass up and they want to share the good news.

I am to the point wherein I have too much available credit so I do not actively seek out more. I think it depends on the person; some see it as a game to collect as much as they can and others get to a point where they think that maybe they overdid it.

Re: MyFICO forum trends

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 22:14:51 GMT

One could argue that "Trimming the Fat" has become the current "Flavor of the Month"

Re: MyFICO forum trends

SouthJamaica — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 22:30:22 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
After being a lurker for awhile before I actually started to post I've noticed a lot trends on MyFICO. Whether it's members chasing specific credit cards and everyone jumping on that train, people chasing higher limits, members collecting 10+ cards and sock drawing them to now a lot of members "cutting or trimming the fat." With all these trends I am wondering if it will soon lead to less exaggerated credit lines. For example people always chasing credit line increases that or available credit pushing the 6 figures. Do you guys think this will slow down and eventual trimming the fat will also lead to credit lines that aren't so crazy high? Especially since majority of users will never use that much credit or float that much in balances?

I don't accept the premise of everyone here chasing trends.

I haven't seen that at all.

Many people on the forum, myself included, have gone through various credit phases, and in each phase their goals differ. Sometimes my goal has been to get more credit, and sometimes it's been to get better credit, which may or may not benefit from 'trimming' certain other forms of credit.

Other people have sought to maximize travel rewards and/or bonuses.

Some people are just trying to get out of a hole.

For some people, the goal is to simplify their lives. I haven't reached that stage, maybe never will.

I don't see any 'trends' here, I just see many different points of view, and many different phases that people are going through in their credit journeys.

Re: MyFICO forum trends

Blackswizz750 — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 22:53:04 GMT

I am in the rebuilding stage. Beofre coming here, I could give a rat's *** about credit. I only used cash and only paid for my mortgage. When I needed credit, I was in awe how hard it was to obtain since I had lates, charge off's and judgement. The forum did get me on track to better it(and I did). I read about flavors of the month, which items to pad your UTIL, and which items not to apply for if you can avoid(Credit One, Premiers of the credit world). And what can I aspire too: Higher CL, AMEX, and Credit Unions I kneww nothing about but treat you bettter than Chase, BOA, FNBO , and WF ever could.

For me, I see it as a challange to go put together a portfolio of cards to make my life better and save me money. I have apped a little too much getting greedy when I see someone with a similar profile get approved and I get denied.