topic Re: How Can I Use 8 Cards Systematically? in Credit Cards

How Can I Use 8 Cards Systematically?

Anonymous — Fri, 07 Sep 2018 16:22:14 GMT

Up until two days ago, I only had a couple credit cards because I like to keep everything simple and consolidated. Well, I went on an app spree the other day and I now have 8!

That's not enough for every month of the year, and people also said that I should be putting a small charge on each card every month just to build payment history and increase the likelihood of increases in the future. I know there are people here with many more cards than me. How do you guys keep up?

P.S. I never carry balances, but I buy everything I purchase with a credit card. I've put all my cards in order of which ones I want to use most often based on rewards/limit:

Citi Double Cash Card: $6,900 /2% cashback
USAA Rewards Card: $3,000 / 1.5% cashback
Discover It Card: $3,600 / 1% cashback (2-3% on some things that I don't really buy)
Capital One QuickSilver: $1,500 / 1.5% cashback
Amex Blue Cash Everyday: $1,000 / 1% cashback (2-3% on some things that I don't really buy)
Citi Diamond Preferred: $2,000 / NO rewards << I want a PC. It got a CLI today (up from $200)
Capital One Journey, $500 / 1.25% cashback
Capital One Venture: $1,000 / 1 point for every $2 spent

Should I pick 1-2 to use (like Double Cash and USAA) regularly and put a recurring charge and auto-pay on the rest?

Re: How Can I Use 8 Cards Systematically?

sdsoccerdad — Fri, 07 Sep 2018 16:41:17 GMT

I put a few on recurring bills. cell phone, cable, netflix, etc.. Then I just set those cards to auto-pay.

Re: How Can I Use 8 Cards Systematically?

Anonymous — Fri, 07 Sep 2018 17:05:02 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

Capital One Venture: $1,000 / 1 point for every $2 spent

Hopefully 2 points for each $1 spent?

Re: How Can I Use 8 Cards Systematically?

MrDFinance — Fri, 07 Sep 2018 17:14:39 GMT

Use the card that offers you the best rewards for that particular purchase and for the cards that dont reguarly get tasked to do much have those cards set to background transactions.....(Gym Membership..Spotify .....Netflix....etc)...Win Win....You get the best cash back and all accounts stay active....

Alot of people tend to think alot of cards means alot of spend but Alot of cards just means Optimized Rewards

Re: How Can I Use 8 Cards Systematically?

Anonymous — Fri, 07 Sep 2018 17:27:47 GMT

Oops! It's actually the Venture One, which means it's 1.25 points per $1 spent. I haven't even gotten it yet (approved for it yesterday), so I got confused

Re: How Can I Use 8 Cards Systematically?

fittiger — Fri, 07 Sep 2018 18:05:03 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Up until two days ago, I only had a couple credit cards because I like to keep everything simple and consolidated. Well, I went on an app spree the other day and I now have 8!

That's not enough for every month of the year, and people also said that I should be putting a small charge on each card every month just to build payment history and increase the likelihood of increases in the future. I know there are people here with many more cards than me. How do you guys keep up?

P.S. I never carry balances, but I buy everything I purchase with a credit card. I've put all my cards in order of which ones I want to use most often based on rewards/limit:

Citi Double Cash Card: $6,900 /2% cashback
USAA Rewards Card: $3,000 / 1.5% cashback
Discover It Card: $3,600 / 1% cashback (2-3% on some things that I don't really buy)
Capital One QuickSilver: $1,500 / 1.5% cashback
Amex Blue Cash Everyday: $1,000 / 1% cashback (2-3% on some things that I don't really buy)
Citi Diamond Preferred: $2,000 / NO rewards << I want a PC. It got a CLI today (up from $200)
Capital One Journey, $500 / 1.25% cashback
Capital One Venture: $1,000 / 1 point for every $2 spent

Should I pick 1-2 to use (like Double Cash and USAA) regularly and put a recurring charge and auto-pay on the rest?

Use the Discover/Amex BCE for reward categories, and the Citi DC for everything else.

Why do you need any of the other cards? A six card app spree is pretty intense. Which cards did you have previously?

It seems your focus is on cash back, so you would have been better selecting other cards with targeted reward categories, these others really aren't going to do anything for you.

I am currently in the process of closing down several cards that I obtained that never really provided any value to me. My suggestion now is wait a year and close several of those cards and replace them with better category cards.

Re: How Can I Use 8 Cards Systematically?

Anonymous — Fri, 07 Sep 2018 18:32:48 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Up until two days ago, I only had a couple credit cards because I like to keep everything simple and consolidated. Well, I went on an app spree the other day and I now have 8!

That's not enough for every month of the year, and people also said that I should be putting a small charge on each card every month just to build payment history and increase the likelihood of increases in the future. I know there are people here with many more cards than me. How do you guys keep up?

P.S. I never carry balances, but I buy everything I purchase with a credit card. I've put all my cards in order of which ones I want to use most often based on rewards/limit:

Citi Double Cash Card: $6,900 /2% cashback
USAA Rewards Card: $3,000 / 1.5% cashback
Discover It Card: $3,600 / 1% cashback (2-3% on some things that I don't really buy)
Capital One QuickSilver: $1,500 / 1.5% cashback
Amex Blue Cash Everyday: $1,000 / 1% cashback (2-3% on some things that I don't really buy)
Citi Diamond Preferred: $2,000 / NO rewards << I want a PC. It got a CLI today (up from $200)
Capital One Journey, $500 / 1.25% cashback
Capital One Venture: $1,000 / 1 point for every $2 spent

Should I pick 1-2 to use (like Double Cash and USAA) regularly and put a recurring charge and auto-pay on the rest?

I'm a little confused.

Discover is 1% base and 5% rotating categories. Not 2-3%. Sign up for the categories each quarter and take advantage. This quarter, it's 5% back on restaurants.

Blue Cash Everyday is 3% back at grocery stores. You don't grocery shop?

Citi Diamond Preferred grants you access to Citi Easy Deals. Log in here to see the current offers. Often you can buy gift cards at popular stores at a discount ($15 for a $25 Starbucks card, $90 for a $100 Amazon card, etc).

If that's not your liking, definitely consider a product change to Citi Dividend, which offers 5% quarterly categories that are distinct from Discover's quarterly categories.

Re: How Can I Use 8 Cards Systematically?

Anonymous — Fri, 07 Sep 2018 19:08:54 GMT

Put BCE (3%Grocery), IT (5% category) and DC (everything else) in your wallet and put the rest in SD, then rotate SD cards each month to put a charge on. I don't know what was your thought process in planning your app spree but it seems like you were just throwing darts, a lot of useless redundancies.

Re: How Can I Use 8 Cards Systematically?

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Fri, 07 Sep 2018 20:40:32 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Put BCE (3%Grocery), IT (5% category) and DC (everything else) in your wallet and put the rest in SD, then rotate SD cards each month to put a charge on. I don't know what was your thought process in planning your app spree but it seems like you were just throwing darts, a lot of useless redundancies.

You know exactly what happened. Same thing that always happens. Someone wants to build some credit and starts applying for whatever credit they can get. I've done it.

P.S. darts requires skill, unless you're drunk. Then it requires everyone to get out of the way.

Re: How Can I Use 8 Cards Systematically?

Anonymous — Fri, 07 Sep 2018 21:49:41 GMT

@fittiger I’m not going to close any of the cards.

I got them because I was professionally advised to open more accounts because I have a very thin file (I was told to shoot for 10) and use them regularly.

I plan on using the Double Cash (2%) as my daily and doing the above with the rest. I used to use the Discover Card (1%) as my go-to.

It’s not about cash back or rewards really with those others cards, just about building history and having more available credit / good standing accounts. Most were actually recommended to me by said advisor at the local Credit Union.

Maybe it was bad advice, but no I didn’t just wake up and say, “I NEED NORE CREDIT TODAY!” ...and I’m too young to do drunk apps.

I take my finances seriously and I have goals/circumstances not discussed here, hence why I sat down with an advisor.

Go poo poo on someone else’s parade please. I’m happy

Re: How Can I Use 8 Cards Systematically?

Anonymous — Fri, 07 Sep 2018 22:05:31 GMT

You got bad "professional advice", 3 cards is enough to build a solid 800+ profile, anything more than that should be based on earning rewards to reduce the cost of living, unless you're a CC churner. Opening so many new accounts in such short period of time can also invite negative and unwanted attention from your current and new lenders which can lead to AA (Adverse Action), something we read about often on this board.

And if those were the cards the said adviser recommended, I would post here for advice instead next time.

Re: How Can I Use 8 Cards Systematically?

Caught750 — Fri, 07 Sep 2018 22:12:38 GMT

This! While I'm not sure about financial advisors at a CU that's neither here nor there. I also added a base of cards to overload the negatives on my reports and the last several have been cards I really wanted and will benefit from the most. Now I'm gardening for one or two more keeper, extremely beneficial, cards.

I'd agree with IT for categories, BCE for groceries, and DC for everything else as well.

Re: How Can I Use 8 Cards Systematically?

Anonymous — Fri, 07 Sep 2018 23:24:13 GMT

What particular goals are you trying to acheive?

Re: How Can I Use 8 Cards Systematically?

Save-n-Invest — Sat, 08 Sep 2018 00:40:54 GMT

Slight detour. I use one card for all out of pocket medical/dental expenses. Much easier to get things organized at tax time. I chose my oldest card to keep some spend on it. It's not the greatest rewards card but I want to keep that oldie active.

Re: How Can I Use 8 Cards Systematically?

Save-n-Invest — Sat, 08 Sep 2018 00:42:45 GMT

@Save-n-Invest wrote:
Slight detour. I use one card for all out of pocket medical/dental expenses. Much easier to get things organized at tax time. I chose my oldest card to keep some spend on it. It's not the greatest rewards card but I want to keep that oldie active.

EDIT: I should have wrote that one card is used for out of pocket med/dent exclusively. Nothing else on that card.

Re: How Can I Use 8 Cards Systematically?

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Sat, 08 Sep 2018 02:32:41 GMT

Do yourself a favor and never go back to that advisor. He obviously has no idea what he's talking about. I dont know what kind of income you have, but most people would have a hard time spreading good use across 10+ cards. Oldman is right. After your 3rd card you no longer see any scoring benefits for adding card accounts. You would have to add an active installment loan for the last of the bonus points.

Seeing as how you're too young to drunk app, then you must be under 21. Here's some advice I wish I had gotten at that age. Save up $1500, more would be preferable, and go see an investor at Charles Schwab, or Vanguard, or whoever you like. If you have serious financial goals, that should have been your first stop. You can always rebuild a savings or your credit, but you can never get back that lost time for investing. Building your credit only makes incurring debt more accessible. Make your money work for you and do it early.

@Save-n-Invest

Re: How Can I Use 8 Cards Systematically?

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Sat, 08 Sep 2018 02:33:42 GMT

Sorry, wasnt trying to tag you save-n-invest

Re: How Can I Use 8 Cards Systematically?

patoot10 — Sat, 08 Sep 2018 12:03:30 GMT

Here is a tip.

You don't have to worry about cards that will maximize your rewards because you will be using them all the time.

Now lets talk about sock drawer cards which are cards that don't earn as much as your go to cards. You need to use those cards at least once every 6 month. All you need to do is make a schedule and have it rotate across those cards. You can use one card every month or use them all every quarter but make a schedule. Now the thing is you don't really wanna put actual transactions on them because then you don't earn much on those transactions. So what you can do is go to Amazon.com and reload your gift card balance by $1/per useless card. Repeat this for all useless cards when it's their turn to be used and whenever you buy something from Amazon just pay using this gift card.

Thanks,

Re: How Can I Use 8 Cards Systematically?

AverageJoesCredit — Sat, 08 Sep 2018 12:19:02 GMT

When you go to use your cards ,if you are shooting for rewards just use the one you have that offers the most back for your spend. If at the moment its just a swipe, use the card every 3-6 months and you should be fine. We dont really need 10 cards for most things in life but dorsnt mean we cant have them. Remember here on this forum the majority here are all about rewards, and thats cool, but at the end of the day , only you can decide what works for you. Enjoy your new cards, learn their benefits and you will find the best way to make them grow

Re: How Can I Use 8 Cards Systematically?

Anonymous — Sat, 08 Sep 2018 13:16:05 GMT

Others have already given this advice, but I'll just reiterate what they've said: Discover It for the 5% categories (which usually include things like restaurants, groceries, and gas...which most every human being can use), AmEx BCE for groceries (when it's not a Discover category), and Citi Double Cash for everything else. This will maximize your rewards, and these are three good "keeper" cards that also keep your history growing with three different lenders.

You have three CapOne cards, so if you're interested in keeping a good relationship with them, maybe put Netflix or something on the most valuable of those cards and set it to autopay.

I'm not sure what the motivation was for the Venture One, but it's essentially a travel card, so any points you earn on that one must be redeemed for travel. It comes with a 20,000 point sign-up bonus after $1,000 spend in the first three months too, which equals $212.50 that you can spend on travel. So my suggestion is that when you get this card, use it for everything until you meet the $1,000 minimum spend requirement to receive the sign-up bonus. Then you can go back to using Discover, AmEx, and Citi DC.

I had one card for most of my life up until 2016 when I discovered how useful these things can be, and that I had excellent credit and could basically get any card I wanted. I had a vacation coming up, and I apped with the goal in mind of helping pay for that vacation. I'm not sure of the exact count now, because I've opened and already closed some of those cards, but I think I opened 15 cards in a year. Many of them got used for their sign-up bonus and stuffed in the sock drawer. Some of those I've closed myself since, some are just sitting their until they get closed by the cc company. I don't want the headache of keeping up with that many different cards, and I have/had them with every major cc issuer (AmEx, BOA, Barclays, CapOne, Chase, Citi, Discover). Having 5 or fewer valuable rewards cards that all serve their specific purpose is much more to my taste. I have 8 cards right now that never get any spend, 1 that gets Netflix and Spotify on it just to keep it active, and three that are always in my purse and get used for all of my spending. It makes it much easier than trying to juggle 12 cards and remember which ones I'm using for what and when.

My advice is to be a little more particular in the future about what cards you pick up. I got some that I should never have gotten, which wasted inquiries (which ding your credit) and now are chunked in a drawer doing absolutely nothing aside from boosting my available credit. I'd rather boost that number by having useful cards with high credit lines, and am culling and growing appropriately to make that happen. I'd strongly suggest not falling into the same mistakes I made for your future apps.

Congrats though! It always feels nice to be "accepted" for a new card. In fact, I think it can be downright addictive. So be careful of that too.