topic Re: How to use my credit cards effectivley in Credit Cards

How to use my credit cards effectivley

jamevfan — Sat, 18 Mar 2017 03:38:21 GMT

Quick question,

I see so many of you who have several cards that is used on a regular basis, my question is how are you using the card to where it works for you?

I have some charges on several of my cards but I dont find it useful because after ive made charges I have to get on a payment regime in addition to my other current bills to pay them all off and im trying to get a grasp of how everyone regularlay use thier cards without creating more bills, choas and confusion....

Re: How to use my credit cards effectivley

Anonymous — Sat, 18 Mar 2017 04:09:10 GMT

There are some hardcore MyFicoers here that have spreadsheets that help them keep track of their cards.

For others, like me, it is a bit more simple. Each card has a purpose. RIght now, I am using Discover for all gasoline purchases for 5% cash back; next quarter, I will be using Chase Freedom for 5% groceries. When groceries or gas is not on a higher cash back on Chase or Discover, I use my Bank of America for groceries (2%) and gasoline (3%). I am currently using my Navy FCU Cash Rewards for all non catagory spend at 1.5% cash back.

The rest of my cards I have mostly for age or other specific charges-I make small charges to keep them open and current. Others here are more sophisticated with their reward chasing, but I believe the general idea is the same.

Re: How to use my credit cards effectivley

Gmood1 — Sat, 18 Mar 2017 04:32:21 GMT

First if you use them for all recurring monthly bills that you must pay anyway. That alone will make things much easier to track.

Second, use them only for what you could afford if using a debit card.

As far as rewards, just focus those recurring payments on the cards that get you the most return.

We have only two bills in the entire household that aren't paid with a CC. That would be two auto loans. Even the mortgage is paid with a CC.

Every card that allows it, is set to auto pay.

Re: How to use my credit cards effectivley

HeavenOhio — Sat, 18 Mar 2017 04:46:32 GMT

Make a master list of your credit card due dates and statement dates. You might find that you'll want to rearrange some of your due dates to best suit your needs. I prefer mine to be staggared. That makes it easy to "rest" a card if I want it to report zero to the credit bureaus. Some people might want to work their dates around paychecks. Sometimes, the statement date will vary a bit from month to month, so keep the statement dates on your list updated. Due dates won't change; the law prevents that.

Simplify your bills by auto-paying as many as possible by credit card. If possible, put them on the card that offers the best rewards. Make a list of your auto-pays as you set them up because occasionally they'll need to be updated, either because of a new card number or expiration date.

Also, keep track of the dates that your bills are typically charged to your card. I say "typically" because a weekend or holiday may switch things up occasionally. Knowing when the bills appear on your transactions list will help you make any necessary payments toward your balance, and it'll help you choose the most favorible due date for that card.

Re: How to use my credit cards effectivley

Anonymous — Sat, 18 Mar 2017 05:00:23 GMT

I'm a newbie. At first I used all my cards to show usage, but with so many payments and different statement cut dates it got old.

So now have been cutting back. I pay my regular bills between 2 cards, those get paid off before statement cuts. And 2 cards with better APR's I use for commodity items, low end that I wanted to finance. The rest lay stagnant.

Then after a couple months I switch cards for regular bills. So I use 4/11 at a time. Seems to work.

Re: How to use my credit cards effectivley

grillandwinemaster — Sat, 18 Mar 2017 14:39:00 GMT

Sounds like you are of the "simplify" school of thought. In my opinion, credit cards should be used to help simplify and manage ones finances. They should NOT complicate matters.

It sounds like you may be spreading or diluting your credit card rewards too thin over several cards. You may want to consider using only one or two cards and have most of your household expenses funneled through them. Or maybe a Chase Trifecta if you like UR points? Or amex if you favor MR points. Find a program/system that works for you and stick to it.

This way, your actually having to pay only one or two bills a month vs 10+.

Re: How to use my credit cards effectivley

Anonymous — Sat, 18 Mar 2017 15:49:09 GMT

@grillandwinemaster wrote:
Sounds like you are of the "simplify" school of thought. In my opinion, credit cards should be used to help simplify and manage ones finances. They should NOT complicate matters.

It sounds like you may be spreading or diluting your credit card rewards too thin over several cards. You may want to consider using only one or two cards and have most of your household expenses funneled through them. Or maybe a Chase Trifecta if you like UR points? Or amex if you favor MR points. Find a program/system that works for you and stick to it.

This way, your actually having to pay only one or two bills a month vs 10+.

This is what I'm working towards now...after having so many new cards for about 6 months now...I'm really evaluating whether or not I want to remember what went on what card where, when is this due, this card isn't working for me. I have now moved on to simplifying, sending some cards to thte eternal sock drawer, seeing which cards I really like. In a year I'm planning on combining my two chase cards into a single product, things like that.

You only need to have 20 cards if you want to.

Re: How to use my credit cards effectivley

SouthJamaica — Sat, 18 Mar 2017 16:00:48 GMT

@jamevfan wrote:
Quick question,
I see so many of you who have several cards that is used on a regular basis, my question is how are you using the card to where it works for you?

I have some charges on several of my cards but I dont find it useful because after ive made charges I have to get on a payment regime in addition to my other current bills to pay them all off and im trying to get a grasp of how everyone regularlay use thier cards without creating more bills, choas and confusion....

I keep a daily record of everything I owe to everybody. But that's not for every one. Each person has to find his or her own comfort level and do things the way he or she likes to do things.

If you don't like having a lot of credit card bills and payments then you should just use one card and forget about the rest.

Re: How to use my credit cards effectivley

Anonymous — Sat, 18 Mar 2017 17:13:32 GMT

I have 7 cards that see regular use every month for bills, daily spend, amazon, etc. It took some time but I got all the due dates changed so they are between the 5th and 7th of each month. On the 27th of each month I pay all of the cards to zero in a single day before I close out my monthly budget. The 27th is within all of the cards billing cycle, and because I pay it off before the due date at the start of the next month they all report zero usage. There may be a few straggler transactions between the 27th and the due date, but I am getting the best of both worlds by having swipes to satisfy the CC companies and zero or very low usage ratio on my report. Bonus is that I only have to mess with it once a month.

Re: How to use my credit cards effectivley

Anonymous — Sun, 19 Mar 2017 05:12:24 GMT

@jamevfan wrote:
Quick question,
I see so many of you who have several cards that is used on a regular basis, my question is how are you using the card to where it works for you?

I have some charges on several of my cards but I dont find it useful because after ive made charges I have to get on a payment regime in addition to my other current bills to pay them all off and im trying to get a grasp of how everyone regularlay use thier cards without creating more bills, choas and confusion....

Quick answer:

Turn on auto-pay for all cards. Sock drawer any CC that does not have auto pay feature. Set up 'current bills' to be automately paid using cards.

Then sit back and relax

Re: How to use my credit cards effectivley

Anonymous — Sun, 19 Mar 2017 16:08:13 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@jamevfan wrote:
Quick question,
I see so many of you who have several cards that is used on a regular basis, my question is how are you using the card to where it works for you?

I have some charges on several of my cards but I dont find it useful because after ive made charges I have to get on a payment regime in addition to my other current bills to pay them all off and im trying to get a grasp of how everyone regularlay use thier cards without creating more bills, choas and confusion....

Quick answer:
Turn on auto-pay for all cards. Sock drawer any CC that does not have auto pay feature. Set up 'current bills' to be automately paid using cards.

Then sit back and relax

This. If you do not need to carry a balance, then set to auto-pay PIF on due date (this doesn't maximize your score but does maximize any interest you are earning on your accounts)

Re: How to use my credit cards effectivley

Anonymous — Sun, 19 Mar 2017 17:19:25 GMT

When I'm not using primarily 1 card to earn a sign-up bonus, I have ~ 6-7 cards that are used for specific types of spending every month and to keep the rest active I just buy something small with them once per quarter.

Also, as others have said make sure everything is on auto-pay for minimum payment just in case you forget to PIF on time.

Re: How to use my credit cards effectivley

Anonymous — Sun, 19 Mar 2017 18:08:40 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
When I'm not using primarily 1 card to earn a sign-up bonus, I have ~ 6-7 cards that are used for specific types of spending every month and to keep the rest active I just buy something small with them once per quarter.

Also, as others have said make sure everything is on auto-pay for minimum payment just in case you forget to PIF on time.

If PIF is the goal, then set auto pay for PIF. Then if you forget, no interest payments either.

Re: How to use my credit cards effectivley

Anonymous — Sun, 19 Mar 2017 19:59:33 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
When I'm not using primarily 1 card to earn a sign-up bonus, I have ~ 6-7 cards that are used for specific types of spending every month and to keep the rest active I just buy something small with them once per quarter.

Also, as others have said make sure everything is on auto-pay for minimum payment just in case you forget to PIF on time.
If PIF is the goal, then set auto pay for PIF. Then if you forget, no interest payments either.

That is definitely a good way to go - I just prefer making the PIF payments manually so I can mentally keep track of what my checking account balance actually is, as opposed to what it says it is at any given time. Sometimes when working on SUBs I cut it pretty close to the wire so it's just more psychologically comfortable to me to have everything on minimum auto pay, and go through the rounds manually paying in full.

After typing this I realize a spreasheet would be more efficient - this is just an idiosyncracy I am working on

Re: How to use my credit cards effectivley

Anonymous — Sun, 19 Mar 2017 21:17:12 GMT

@jamevfan wrote:
Quick question,
I see so many of you who have several cards that is used on a regular basis, my question is how are you using the card to where it works for you?

I have some charges on several of my cards but I dont find it useful because after ive made charges I have to get on a payment regime in addition to my other current bills to pay them all off and im trying to get a grasp of how everyone regularlay use thier cards without creating more bills, choas and confusion....

I've been having fun w/ credit for about 5 years now and aside from an app I rarely use, I could keep everything orgranized mentally. With 5 cards it's really easy. I'm pushing up to 20 cards and I'll be using about 5-7 at any given time, with daily spend along with balance transfer offers I'm using other cards for. You can tell from my other thread it's getting out of control as I've finally missed a due date on accident. I've got all my accounts auto-paying again and I suppose I'll have to start the ol' customized spreadsheet, sigh. I wanted to avoid that...lol

Re: How to use my credit cards effectivley

Steelersboy — Mon, 20 Mar 2017 03:47:50 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
There are some hardcore MyFicoers here that have spreadsheets that help them keep track of their cards.

For others, like me, it is a bit more simple. Each card has a purpose. RIght now, I am using Discover for all gasoline purchases for 5% cash back; next quarter, I will be using Chase Freedom for 5% groceries. When groceries or gas is not on a higher cash back on Chase or Discover, I use my Bank of America for groceries (2%) and gasoline (3%). I am currently using my Navy FCU Cash Rewards for all non catagory spend at 1.5% cash back.

The rest of my cards I have mostly for age or other specific charges-I make small charges to keep them open and current. Others here are more sophisticated with their reward chasing, but I believe the general idea is the same.

Co-sign on this except I use Citi DC for general spending.

Re: How to use my credit cards effectivley

Anonymous — Mon, 20 Mar 2017 04:13:26 GMT

Honestly surprised no one here has mentioned setting up a Google Calendar specifically for the purpose of due dates.

I guess it helps that I come from the computer generation, but I can pull up my calendar, filter to that specific calendar, and see clearly which cards are due on which dates, etc.

On top of this, I have 5,3,0 day alerts for these entries to keep me on top of things as well. Along with each banks phone app typically giving me a push notification if I'm not super prompt about it.

Auto-pay set for minimum also keeps me out of dire trouble, but as was stated earlier, like to control the full pay off manually to monitor checking account at time of payment.

Re: How to use my credit cards effectivley

Anonymous — Sat, 03 Jun 2017 05:36:30 GMT

I'm so glad I learned the method to this madness many years ago as carrying anything OVER 30% of your credit card limit dings your scores. I have a total of 2 credit cards both are thru my credit union in which the payment of both is due the 20th of each month and statement closes out on 25th/27th of each month. They then report to ALL 3 bureaus immediately thereafter. I can monitor via credit karma on 28th and see the newly reported balance and date reported. I make sure the balance on my cards during the 23-28th of each month are at least UNDER 25/30% and nowadays more like 10%. AFTER reported (approx. 28th thru 20th of the following month) I use the cards again, particularly because they earn points for gift cards, etc. I use ithem to pay bills, grocery etc.

When I learned this many years ago, my scores have never been under 680 and now over 750. The key is KNOWING WHEN THEY ARE REPORTED!!! 35% of your score is credit utilization another 30% is payment history. If you just focus on those 2, you are way ahead of the game at least in knowledge