topic Re: Lost track of 2 cards this month....ugh....too many cards in Credit Cards

Lost track of 2 cards this month....ugh....too many cards

IWOL — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 07:56:43 GMT

I've been managing about 15 cards for the last year and half and I've never missed a payment.

I now have 23 open CC and I actively use around 17 of them. For the first time this month I somehow missed the payment due date on 2 cards by one day.

I make large payments several times each month on most of the cards and somehow I missed my B of A Card payment by one day and my Virgin America card also by 1 day.

I called B of A right away after payment and they immediately reversed the $25 late fee and Virgin did not charge me a late fee.

I know this won't affect my report since it's not a 30 day late but I'm so mad at myself for missing these because I have been so on top of it but I've just been using too many cards. Some of the cards I'm using to meet the min spend and some for particular category bonus.

im thinking it might be time to setup an automatic min payment for every card so I don't ever miss a payment due date again.

Do these kind of missed payments by one day affect your internal scoring with these banks? I hope these 2 small oversights don't affect my ability to get future CLI on these cards.

I think I'm gonna do some card pruning over the next few months. I became addicted to apping, sign up bonus, larger initial CL etc. I'm definitely in the garden now for a very long time.

Re: Lost track of 2 cards this month....ugh....too many cards

vpae — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 08:11:16 GMT

I couldn't answer your question about internal scoring, but I feel ya, sorry to hear! I'm glad you were able to avoid any late fees and no blemishes on your CR.

Either set up reminder/emails from the bank, set up reminder alerts on your calendar, or as you said, auto minimum payment, etc.

I'm a bit OCD when it comes to my cards, I check it several times a day, especially if I know I've used it. Otherwise, I check everything at least once a week to make sure it's all on the up and up.

Re: Lost track of 2 cards this month....ugh....too many cards

IWOL — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 08:22:22 GMT

@vpae wrote:
I couldn't answer your question about internal scoring, but I feel ya, sorry to hear! I'm glad you were able to avoid any late fees and no blemishes on your CR.

Either set up reminder/emails from the bank, set up reminder alerts on your calendar, or as you said, auto minimum payment, etc.

I'm a bit OCD when it comes to my cards, I check it several times a day, especially if I know I've used it. Otherwise, I check everything at least once a week to make sure it's all on the up and up.

Thanks for the reply. Do you use most of your cards in your siggy? I have most of my cards set up in mint but I seem to get alerts from mint even when a payment is not due so I don't pay much attention to the alerts.

I think managing 17 cards that I'm actively using is getting a bit much for me. I'm gonna sock drawer of few of them and try and keep my usage to 6 or 7.

I have minimum spend to meet on SPG, PRG and Venture right now so I have to keep using those. Been using CSP for dining, Discover for gas, PRG for Groceries, Arrival for non categories spend.

Re: Lost track of 2 cards this month....ugh....too many cards

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 08:30:08 GMT

Setup all your cards for autopay with minimum payment just incase you ever forget, that way you're never late.

Re: Lost track of 2 cards this month....ugh....too many cards

SunriseEarth — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 08:48:31 GMT

At least you caught the oversights quickly. As for card management, I think that you should either prune down, develop a new way to track your cards, or both. CK helps remind me of some payment dates (some of the cards also do this) through email. However, I do typically tend to check cards on a regular basis when they're in use. Figure out what would work best for you.

Re: Lost track of 2 cards this month....ugh....too many cards

krial — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 10:07:36 GMT

Some banks will take minor things like that into consideration when deciding whether or not to give you a CLI.

I've never had a payment even one day late, but I did "bounce" a payment to Barclaycard months ago. I had no payment due and was just preemptively paying down my balance in the middle of the month. I had recently opened a Discover Cashback Checking account and thought I had updated my bank information everywhere -- apparently I missed one. The payment tried to come out of the Credit Union account I was switching from, but all my money had already been transferred to Discover.

A couple of days later when I noticed I sent Barclaycard a secure message and paid off my balance, but still for the next couple months they started holding my payments for a week before my available credit updated, and they didn't give me the expected CLI at the 6 month mark.

It's not a huge deal or anything, but it's certainly something to be mindful of.

Re: Lost track of 2 cards this month....ugh....too many cards

jsucool76 — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 10:12:23 GMT

I missed my citi payment a while back by about 11 hours. Immediately paid my balance in full as soon as I noticed, didn't get a penalty APR, did get a late fee though that they wouldn't take back. But three weeks later they gave me a CLI. Lol.

Re: Lost track of 2 cards this month....ugh....too many cards

dize — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 10:32:44 GMT

Im so pissed because I just did the same thing...on my capital one credit steps card...I was 2 months away from the CLI and I missed it by 1 day. Now they emailed me saying I have to wait another 5 months for a CLI..I thought I had the card on autopay and my balance was $18 when I mised the payment...At least they reversed the fee

Re: Lost track of 2 cards this month....ugh....too many cards

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 11:03:38 GMT

@vpae wrote:
I couldn't answer your question about internal scoring, but I feel ya, sorry to hear! I'm glad you were able to avoid any late fees and no blemishes on your CR.

Either set up reminder/emails from the bank, set up reminder alerts on your calendar, or as you said, auto minimum payment, etc.

I'm a bit OCD when it comes to my cards, I check it several times a day, especially if I know I've used it. Otherwise, I check everything at least once a week to make sure it's all on the up and up.

I'm a bit OCD like you. I check my account *several* times a day, lol.

Almost 4 years ago I comlpetely forgot about a Home Depot Credit Card balance I had. It wasn't until they started calling my house asking about their money that I realized I had a balance and immediately went to pay on it. It was too late, though, as it had already been 30 days late and had gotten reported. It's the only late payment I have sitting on my credit reports. Luckily, by this Nov/Dec it'll be gone.

Re: Lost track of 2 cards this month....ugh....too many cards

randeman — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 14:13:57 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Setup all your cards for autopay with minimum payment just incase you ever forget, that way you're never late.

I will try to be sympathetic, but this hits the nail on the head. Even the smallest banks have autopay with their checking accounts. I would be lost without it, and I think it's one of the greatest things ever. Even if you pay more than the minimum payment, you can still set it up to cover you a$$ and then send a larger, separate payment on another day.

Sorry...no excuse.

Re: Lost track of 2 cards this month....ugh....too many cards

BootStraps — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 14:27:46 GMT

On my desk I keep a list with all of my credit card due dates. By having a list that I look at each day I keep track of when to pay what.

Saves aggrevation.

That could help with managing that many cards.

Re: Lost track of 2 cards this month....ugh....too many cards

baller4life — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 14:29:21 GMT

I use Mobilligy to keep track of due dates because of this very thing. I am way too absent minded not to have a bill tracking software. It's a lifesaver.

Re: Lost track of 2 cards this month....ugh....too many cards

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 14:32:53 GMT

I've used my Google Calendar to keep track of all payments that are due every month with reminders set the day before and day they are due. Even though I've never had a problem not remembering or missing one, it's great having that reminder come in on the phone/tablet first thing in the morning anyway. (I use this to track income EFTs as well, each type color-coded.)

Makes the whole thing simple.

Re: Lost track of 2 cards this month....ugh....too many cards

CreditMagic7 — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 14:34:13 GMT

Hey OP

Magic7 here. I been there even with autopay once. In my experience they are reasonably forgiving as you already found out and they base that on your history (always on time). You had the presence of mind to catch it before it got away and they appreciate that. But what i would do now is narrow the field and get some of your lines Zeroed Out, maybe just a couple are enough? I was juggling on the order of 30 cards at once, working to put useage on most then PIF, and others roll over balances for a time but it was more of a demand then a challenge so i begin to widdle them down one by one or three by three and made it a point to narrow the field then be more selective in advance on just which cards matched my comfort level for maintaining. Change your statement/due dates of your choices also is a big help. I had and still do have some of mine all over the calander but one by one been putting a rope on them to corral them all into separate groups together and it's much less a challenge now they aren't so scattered around.

Re: Lost track of 2 cards this month....ugh....too many cards

Glkslngr — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 14:40:06 GMT

I by no means have as many cards as you, but I keep track of all my cards by switching them to the same due date and also keep track of those dates on my calendar. I am OCD and check my accounts about three times a day because I like to only carry a balance on one card, so that helps me also.

Re: Lost track of 2 cards this month....ugh....too many cards

CreditMagic7 — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 14:47:02 GMT

@Glkslngr wrote:
I by no means have as many cards as you, but I keep track of all my cards by switching them to the same due date and also keep track of those dates on my calendar. I am OCD and check my accounts about three times a day because I like to only carry a balance on one card, so that helps me also.

That's the key! Sometimes as we move along forward the due dates can go all over the board. It's best to bring them into an order much simpler to deal with.

Re: Lost track of 2 cards this month....ugh....too many cards

bigDEElight — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 17:18:11 GMT

@baller4life wrote:
I use Mobilligy to keep track of due dates because of this very thing. I am way too absent minded not to have a bill tracking software. It's a lifesaver.

Is this similar to or better than Mint? Mint suddenly stopped communicating with my bank account and never communicated with my GE cards and I've been looking for a new app since. I'm good at keeping all my dates due but, to have everything at a single glance would be primo!

Re: Lost track of 2 cards this month....ugh....too many cards

MissMoni223 — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 18:00:30 GMT

Sorry to hear about your missed payments, but glad you didn't get slammed with late fees. I currently have 23 cards as well and have never missed a payment. The key to my success is the always helpful Excel spreadsheet. My spreadsheet is VERY detailed, with headings that include due dates, balance, utilization, credit limit, statement closing date, apr, & date opened. Hope this may help.

Re: Lost track of 2 cards this month....ugh....too many cards

IWOL — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 18:30:10 GMT

Thanks for all the good suggestions.

I just logged into my Virgin America account to make sure my payment went through and the payment I made yesterday was not showing up under pending payments.

I called Comenity and it turns out I did not actually miss my payment on that card. There was some kind of glitch in their system. My payment was due on the 18th and I had made an online payment on the 16th. I was sure I had made a payment but it didnt show up. Even though the system gave me a confirmation of the payment it never actually went through. the rep could actually see my login and activity on that date but she said the payment didnt complete.

No problems like this on my other Comenity accounts.

Anyways, they noted the account and processed a payment over the phone.

Re: Lost track of 2 cards this month....ugh....too many cards

ILBrian — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 19:01:16 GMT

Like others mentioned get auto pay turned on -

for most banks if you pay before the auto pay and theres no balance do it won't pay... some will still schedule the min payment regardless