topic Re: New card thoughts... in Credit Cards

New card thoughts...

tcbofade — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 14:57:55 GMT

$2,000 CL, 0% for 12 months...then 17.99.

My initial thought was to max the card out via BT's to take advantage of the 0%.

Frankly, I'd like to get to the place of larger credit lines, and I'm wondering if a different behaviour would encourage CLI's?

Use it and PIF every month? (Seems like a waste of the 0% offer...)

Use it to PIF several other cards that are NOT 0% and just pay the debt off as I go?

Which do you think is better for my Fico?

Which do you think is more likely to encourage the CU to gradually increase my limit?

(I don't want to screw this up...)

Re: New card thoughts...

LS2982 — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 15:55:43 GMT

@tcbofade wrote:
$2,000 CL, 0% for 12 months...then 17.99.

My initial thought was to max the card out via BT's to take advantage of the 0%.

Frankly, I'd like to get to the place of larger credit lines, and I'm wondering if a different behaviour would encourage CLI's?

Use it and PIF every month? (Seems like a waste of the 0% offer...)

Use it to PIF several other cards that are NOT 0% and just pay the debt off as I go?

Which do you think is better for my Fico?

Which do you think is more likely to encourage the CU to gradually increase my limit?

(I don't want to screw this up...)

This while on your 0% period.

Re: New card thoughts...

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 20:12:09 GMT

This depends on the bank or CU. You may want to check with them. I had my CU Visa for 2.5 years and never had an auto CLI. I called and requested one and they made a comment about my excellent payment history. I asked, "why haven't I received an Auto CLI?" The rep advised me that auto CLI's were against their policy and ALL CLI's have to be requested through an application process (HP every time). You may want to call them and ask what do they prefer...

Re: New card thoughts...

bichonmom — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 21:37:25 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
This depends on the bank or CU. You may want to check with them. I had my CU Visa for 2.5 years and never had an auto CLI. I called and requested one and they made a comment about my excellent payment history. I asked, "why haven't I received an Auto CLI?" The rep advised me that auto CLI's were against their policy and ALL CLI's have to be requested through an application process (HP every time). You may want to call them and ask what do they prefer...

My CU told me the exact same thing. But Navy has been known to give auto-CLIs, so maybe it's a policy some CUs have.

Re: New card thoughts...

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 22:25:55 GMT

@LS2982 wrote:
@tcbofade wrote:
$2,000 CL, 0% for 12 months...then 17.99.

My initial thought was to max the card out via BT's to take advantage of the 0%.

Frankly, I'd like to get to the place of larger credit lines, and I'm wondering if a different behaviour would encourage CLI's?

Use it and PIF every month? (Seems like a waste of the 0% offer...)

Use it to PIF several other cards that are NOT 0% and just pay the debt off as I go?

Which do you think is better for my Fico?

Which do you think is more likely to encourage the CU to gradually increase my limit?

(I don't want to screw this up...)
This while on your 0% period.

+1 I'd do this too without a doubt. I've even heard of creditors upping your CL upon request when they hear its for a BT. Maybe call in to ask?

Re: New card thoughts...

tcbofade — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 19:12:59 GMT

New card got here this weekend...1st BT completed...

I'm still thinking about which balances to transfer, but I've got the first one done!

Re: New card thoughts...

LS2982 — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 19:38:35 GMT

@tcbofade How many other BT's are you doing?

Re: New card thoughts...

tcbofade — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 20:00:27 GMT

Haven't decided yet...

I put 500 on it this morning which nearly pays off a "subprime" account of mine.

I'm still looking at my spread sheet trying to decide which others to BT.

Frankly, it's not a large enough CL to make much difference to ME, but I think with some careful manipulation, I can use BT's to lower my DW's util enough to have an impact on HER score...she and I will discuss this more this evening.

Your thoughts?

Re: New card thoughts...

LS2982 — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 20:02:58 GMT

Are the cards your DW has maxed out or just high interest? Are you paying BT fee's?

Re: New card thoughts...

tcbofade — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 20:05:06 GMT

Yes, yes, and yes.

Re: New card thoughts...

tcbofade — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 20:09:40 GMT

Plb	Balance	Avail	CL	Min	Due?	Util	IP?
PC1	$866.07	$33.00	$900.00	$25.00	05/05?	96.23%
PC2	$669.66	$55.00	$725.00	$32.00	4-Apr	92.37%	3/23 $32
PC3	$349.19	$50.00	$400.00	$30.00	04/28?	87.30%
PC7	$324.41	$75.00	$400.00	$25.00	9-Apr	81.10%
Kay	$214.66	$2,985.34	$3,200.00	$30.00	05/02?	6.71%
NFM	$1,410.21	$1,489.79	$2,900.00	$57.00	19-Apr	48.63%
L Bryant	$235.52	$264.00	$500.00	$25.00	12-Apr	47.10%
Wal3	$528.00	$72.00	$600.00	$25.00	04/19?	88.00%
Paypal2	$450.00	$50.00	$500.00			90.00%
Hers	$5,047.72		$10,125.00			49.85%

Re: New card thoughts...

tcbofade — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 20:10:52 GMT

My thought is that if I move more than $1,000 from HER name to MY name, her utilization would drop under 40%.

Yeah, yeah...it ain't 30, but 40 is better than 50, right?

Re: New card thoughts...

LS2982 — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 20:52:23 GMT

@tcbofade wrote:
My thought is that if I move more than $1,000 from HER name to MY name, her utilization would drop under 40%.

Yeah, yeah...it ain't 30, but 40 is better than 50, right?

I don't think this is a bad idea.

Re: New card thoughts...

tcbofade — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 22:01:47 GMT

I believe it falls under the "it might not work, but it can't hurt" guidelines.

Is it May yet?

Re: New card thoughts...

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 00:11:15 GMT

While I think your thought process of doing balance transfers at 0% interest is a good idea, I believe you need to focus right now on paying things off and not moving money around to increase FICO scores. The FICO score will come with time and paying your balances down. Believe me, I understand the desire to have a better score in the hopes of better CLs in the hopes of getting your debt paid off. I've been there for several years and am just now seeing the light of day.

You need to start reducing your balances first. All of the manipulation in the world isn't going to change the the cold hard facts of what you owe. I am a spreadsheet, numbers and analysis geek and nothing I did or tried to do changed anything until I stuck with my plan of paying down my balances. I put every extra penny towards debt. I did without a lot of things I originally thought I couldn't live without. Once I started doing it and saw the balances finally begin to decrease, I realized it wasn't the awful years of torture I expected. The game for me became how quickly can I pay these down vs. how can I get another card to help my utilization. It was such a great feeling to make the last payment on a card that had a balance for 5 years.

No creditor would do anything for me until I made significant progress on my debt load. One CC reduced my APR when I got about halfway through paying it off. I was finally able to get an Amazon card and the limit is now higher than two of my other cards. It is helping my utilization but I'm past the point of desparately needing it. I was only able to do this 1 1/2 years into my plan. I still have 8 more months to go.

I hope I don't sound discouraging or judgmental. I was just trying to convey that I have been there for many years and know the feeling. If I can acutally pay off debt, anyone can do it.

Re: New card thoughts...

marty56 — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 00:43:55 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
While I think your thought process of doing balance transfers at 0% interest is a good idea, I believe you need to focus right now on paying things off and not moving money around to increase FICO scores. The FICO score will come with time and paying your balances down. Believe me, I understand the desire to have a better score in the hopes of better CLs in the hopes of getting your debt paid off. I've been there for several years and am just now seeing the light of day.

You need to start reducing your balances first. All of the manipulation in the world isn't going to change the the cold hard facts of what you owe. I am a spreadsheet, numbers and analysis geek and nothing I did or tried to do changed anything until I stuck with my plan of paying down my balances. I put every extra penny towards debt. I did without a lot of things I originally thought I couldn't live without. Once I started doing it and saw the balances finally begin to decrease, I realized it wasn't the awful years of torture I expected. The game for me became how quickly can I pay these down vs. how can I get another card to help my utilization. It was such a great feeling to make the last payment on a card that had a balance for 5 years.

No creditor would do anything for me until I made significant progress on my debt load. One CC reduced my APR when I got about halfway through paying it off. I was finally able to get an Amazon card and the limit is now higher than two of my other cards. It is helping my utilization but I'm past the point of desparately needing it. I was only able to do this 1 1/2 years into my plan. I still have 8 more months to go.

I hope I don't sound discouraging or judgmental. I was just trying to convey that I have been there for many years and know the feeling. If I can acutally pay off debt, anyone can do it.

Re: New card thoughts...

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 12:27:21 GMT

Is your DW shopping for something particular?

I too will be BTing 1 of her card balances to my cards for a 0% BT but it's not (primarily) to boost her score it's becuase we pay $80 in interest each month (on this particular card). It will allow for our "snowballing" efforts to commence much faster!

Re: New card thoughts...

Gollum — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 10:23:10 GMT

@tcbofade wrote:

Plb
Balance Avail CL Min Due? Util IP?
PC1 $866.07 $33.00 $900.00 $25.00 05/05? 96.23%
PC2 $669.66 $55.00 $725.00 $32.00 4-Apr 92.37% 3/23 $32
PC3 $349.19 $50.00 $400.00 $30.00 04/28? 87.30%
PC7 $324.41 $75.00 $400.00 $25.00 9-Apr 81.10%
Kay $214.66 $2,985.34 $3,200.00 $30.00 05/02? 6.71%
NFM $1,410.21 $1,489.79 $2,900.00 $57.00 19-Apr 48.63%
L Bryant $235.52 $264.00 $500.00 $25.00 12-Apr 47.10%
Wal3 $528.00 $72.00 $600.00 $25.00 04/19? 88.00%
Paypal2 $450.00 $50.00 $500.00 90.00%
Hers $5,047.72 $10,125.00 49.85%

I'm not sure how to read the above table, so I apologize if I misread it.

If I am reading the above table correctly:

1.) You have eight out of nine credit lines that have high utilization.

2.) Six of those are almost maxed out.

3.) Two of those are almost 50% utilization.

4.) Your wife's utilization is essentially 50%.

Since there is a fee for balance transfers to the new card, transferring balances to your new card would hurt you and your wife (together) more than it would help, because money that could have been paid to lower a credit line balance is instead paid as a balance transfer fee, and you still end up owing the same amount that you transferred.

High utilization is the obstacle blocking you and your wife from higher FICO scores and better credit lines.

I suggest that you sort all of your credit lines by interest rate, then devote your efforts to paying off the highest-interest-rate credit line first, then repeat.

That is the path to higher FICO scores and better credit lines.

[Edited to change 1.) from "seven out of eight" to "eight out of nine"]

Re: New card thoughts...

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 10:35:20 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
While I think your thought process of doing balance transfers at 0% interest is a good idea, I believe you need to focus right now on paying things off and not moving money around to increase FICO scores. The FICO score will come with time and paying your balances down.

Bingo.

Just getting the debt down, alone, will get you better FICO scores, but it's going to take time. And I know hearing "be patient' isn't the sexiest answer, but it's the truest.

Re: New card thoughts...

LS2982 — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 10:50:01 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
While I think your thought process of doing balance transfers at 0% interest is a good idea, I believe you need to focus right now on paying things off and not moving money around to increase FICO scores. The FICO score will come with time and paying your balances down.

Bingo.

Just getting the debt down, alone, will get you better FICO scores, but it's going to take time. And I know hearing "be patient' isn't the sexiest answer, but it's the truest.