topic Re: What would you do? in Credit Cards

What would you do?

northface28 — Wed, 06 Feb 2019 00:16:48 GMT

So I have the following:

Uber VISA
WF Propel
BOA cash rewards

In order to make my life as simple as possible I’m looking at replacing the BOA and Uber card in my wallet with the WF propel card, granted, I do lose 1% cash back switching dining from the Uber card to the WF Propel. I currently use the BOA card for gas so I suppose I could switch that category to something else and get the 3% on gas on the WF card. Is this even worth it? Or am I chasing my tail?

Re: What would you do?

kdm31091 — Wed, 06 Feb 2019 00:31:57 GMT

Put things in perspective. If your dining spend is, say, $200 a month, you lose $2 in rewards with a 1% decrease. Is that worth stressing over or carrying another card around? Probably not. I'm all for simplicity.

Re: What would you do?

CGeorge — Wed, 06 Feb 2019 00:41:21 GMT

What are the spending limits on your current cards - and what is your current percentage of utilization? You talk out replacing them...why not add to them? What is your current credit score situation?

Re: What would you do?

Priory_Man — Wed, 06 Feb 2019 00:46:53 GMT

@kdm31091 wrote:
Put things in perspective. If your dining spend is, say, $200 a month, you lose $2 in rewards with a 1% decrease. Is that worth stressing over or carrying another card around? Probably not. I'm all for simplicity.

+1 to this.

Re: What would you do?

northface28 — Wed, 06 Feb 2019 00:47:07 GMT

I have all 3. My utilization is 3% across $180,000 of exposure. Limits are as follows:

BOA-$10k
Uber- $16.4 k
WF Propel: $3k

My score is 730-750 depending.

Re: What would you do?

HeavenOhio — Wed, 06 Feb 2019 01:16:04 GMT

Based on your first post, I was going to tell you to keep at least two cards in your wallet in case of an issue at the terminal. But with the added information, it looks like you're probably going to be doing that. Keep in mind that the Propel is on the AMEX network, and acceptance is somewhat less than Mastercard or Visa.

Re: What would you do?

northface28 — Wed, 06 Feb 2019 01:20:28 GMT

Most places that I frequent for dining accepts Amex, as a matter of fact I haven’t had an acceptance issue in quite some time. I guess Visa (Uber) is safer in that regard for dining and the BOA is safer for gas as far as acceptance.

Re: What would you do?

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Feb 2019 01:43:38 GMT

How much per year do you spend on dining though? Remember for the first 5k spend on the Uber, it is essentially 5% on dining. I'm all for the simplicity though and if you see yourself not using your BOA or Uber then it seems to be an easy decision. Regardless of how much you spend, you won't be able to retire off the rewards earned anyway so I would go with the simplicity route.

Re: What would you do?

wasCB14 — Wed, 06 Feb 2019 02:26:54 GMT

@northface28 wrote:
So I have the following:

Uber VISA
WF Propel
BOA cash rewards

In order to make my life as simple as possible I’m looking at replacing the BOA and Uber card in my wallet with the WF propel card, granted, I do lose 1% cash back switching dining from the Uber card to the WF Propel. I currently use the BOA card for gas so I suppose I could switch that category to something else and get the 3% on gas on the WF card. Is this even worth it? Or am I chasing my tail?

You might consider clustering...having a bunch of cards that work well together, but spread across only a few lenders. *For example, I have 15 cards but only need to log in to 5 issuer websites.

I'd cut QS before Uber. I know it's a big CL, but it sounds like your utilization would be fine without it...if you can consistently PIF, at least.

Re: What would you do?

HeavenOhio — Wed, 06 Feb 2019 02:38:03 GMT

I interpreted the OP as stating that he wanted to reduce the number of cards he carried around rather than closing.

Re: What would you do?

wasCB14 — Wed, 06 Feb 2019 02:57:58 GMT

@HeavenOhio wrote:
I interpreted the OP as stating that he wanted to reduce the number of cards he carried around rather than closing.

Perhaps...but I would contend that "as simple as possible" would require a few closures.

Just one of many options for OP. Clustering works for me but not for everyone.