Change in Focus of this forum

[Anonymous]

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dnm45227 wrote:

the seamiles i got actually has a better rate than my plat skymiles amex (16.?? seamiles vs. 18.?? on the amex)! that's why i combined the emigrant into the seamiles and dumped the 59 af hsbc discover w/a cheesey 300 cl.

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That's what you call building your credit profile and making your cards work for you, or at least wroking at lot less for THEM.

I have seen lots of posts recently where people pp for more cards than I reccommend but popel are going to do with their credit what they will regardless of what you or I say.  I also appd for a seamiles though I thought about it well before the summer of love.  Actually tried to convert my subprime Junny but was told to reapply even though the card came no where close to my existing limits for thetime it was open.  Not unhappy with y new card as I can actually have a  card now for nothing but bix expenses and get the tax write-off for the interest.

[Anonymous]

I know I appd for four in the last couple of weeks- but this is my stopping point- and I figured take the drop in points now rather than be (fingers crossed due to hard work) at 720 and then take a 20 point drop.

I personally- will NEVER charge my cards to their max or even above 25-30 percent- I can personally guarentee that almost all will never go above 10 except Amex or Discover.

I already went through the years of debt killing me- if you saw one of my other posts you will see that I wrote it was only about 3 year ago that i allowed myself to write checks. I got my first credit cards about three years ago and have never charged them up except for HSN which was a 600 bal- and I charged 300 and then PIF.

What I am about to say some people may rolls their eyes at- but I literally look at my accounts everyday- checking, savings, two other savings, and all CC's at least once a week. Once I learned it is better to keep a 1 to 9% here- I have purchase tiny items under 20 just to show some activity. The the card is put back in the book where I keep them and will not be used again till next quarter.

[Anonymous]

Hey I don't think youre nuts. I download and reconcile all my acounts daily in Money. I set my credit limits to 25% of their actual limits so if I happen to reach my personal cutoff point, MM gives me a little pop-up saying 'You've been a Baaaad Girl'.  Kinda like the security on the comp in Jurasic Park...lol!!!

[Anonymous]

PS- I have what was supposed to be a scrapbook- clear pages w/ white in the middle- and I went out and bought those plastic pockets that were meant to hold floppy discs. I put on each page the floppy disc pocket- and they are in  the book in order that they were obtained- for a while they only held DH's cards and my HSN and QVC. Then in the pocket I have the cards, the piece of cardboard they were delivered on, the phone numbers to call and website and my user names and passwords. Then in the clear page I insert the terms of the cards, any promos and when it ends, etc. Most of them that are past the promos- I have an index card of when a CLI was asked for and the date- and then the projected date of six mos or a year when it would be appropriate to ask for another CLI. This way I have all my info in one place and the book gets locked in the safe.

One final thing I need to do is take the cards to work and Xerox the front and back of them.

I am also when i get a chance going to use this book called LifeDocs- and it came w/ a CD- and organize all our vital info that we would need in case of a fire and put that in the safe too.

I just want to point out that I already tortured myself for years w/ the debt monster- and right now I am secure knowing that I am trying to "make my cards work for me". The goal now is just to rotate them once a quarter w/ a tiny charge to keep them active.

My new goal is to pay off Heloc and line of credit and DH and I be debt free except for the house. Then we will finally have enough money to invest properly. I have wanted to become a serious investor for years.

Step by step is how I look at it.

[Anonymous]

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netpanther wrote:

What I am about to say some people may rolls their eyes at- but I literally look at my accounts everyday- checking, savings, two other savings, and all CC's at least once a week. 

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NP, I check every account I have every morning when I get up and at night before going to bed. Don't think you are alone in keeping an eye on things. I want to stay on top of even the slightest change in anything to do with my finances. My DW thinks I am crazy.LOL

[Anonymous]

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sleigh17 wrote:

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netpanther wrote:

What I am about to say some people may rolls their eyes at- but I literally look at my accounts everyday- checking, savings, two other savings, and all CC's at least once a week. 

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NP, I check every account I have every morning when I get up and at night before going to bed. Don't think you are alone in keeping an eye on things. I want to stay on top of even the slightest change in anything to do with my finances. My DW thinks I am crazy.LOL

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I have to say it really is a comulsion/obsession- but I went for so long NOT  watching my money that i have  gone to where I want to know where every single cent goes. I figure I am not crazy cuz I used to work for a Dr. and he spend every day on the phone calling his accountant and going over his financials.

Plus- have you every seen the movie where DH and DW are driving in the midwest and a trucker kidnaps the wife for money? One of the lives is something like this- " You rich ---- always know your account to the penny" They say this to him when he says he doens' t know how much money is in his account.

[Anonymous]

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netpanther wrote:

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sleigh17 wrote:

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netpanther wrote:

What I am about to say some people may rolls their eyes at- but I literally look at my accounts everyday- checking, savings, two other savings, and all CC's at least once a week. 

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NP, I check every account I have every morning when I get up and at night before going to bed. Don't think you are alone in keeping an eye on things. I want to stay on top of even the slightest change in anything to do with my finances. My DW thinks I am crazy.LOL

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I have to say it really is a comulsion/obsession- but I went for so long NOT  watching my money that i have  gone to where I want to know where every single cent goes. I figure I am not crazy cuz I used to work for a Dr. and he spend every day on the phone calling his accountant and going over his financials.

Plus- have you every seen the movie where DH and DW are driving in the midwest and a trucker kidnaps the wife for money? One of the lives is something like this- " You rich ---- always know your account to the penny" They say this to him when he says he doens' t know how much money is in his account.

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I hear that. I am not rich by any means, but I want to know where my money is going. We get receipts for everything and it goes into the Quickbooks 2007 and is accounted for. Sometimes, it is a pain, but since I started the program, I have been able to pull ahead because I can now account for the money and where it goes. And yes, it is an obsession/compulsion, but I am paying off and closing subprime and store cards that I used to have to live on. Can' say as that doesn't feel good!

[haulingthescoreup]

Sleigh17, you're not the only one. It was impossible for me back in the paper days, but with everything on line, it takes me maybe 15 minutes a day. NP, that's very impressive and productive organization! I will try to duplicate about 10% of it--that's about all that I'm likely to successfully pull off.

[Anonymous]

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haulingthescoreup wrote:
Sleigh17, you're not the only one. It was impossible for me back in the paper days, but with everything on line, it takes me maybe 15 minutes a day. NP, that's very impressive and productive organization! I will try to duplicate about 10% of it--that's about all that I'm likely to successfully pull off.

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Thanks. I totally agree that w/ online it is not hard and doesn't take that long. That's what is so great about it and there are no excuses for me to not know what is going on.

A funny story- because I keep up w/ every single card and their rates- DH just grabbed a card out of the book- and at lunch when I checked online the accounts- I had to call him up and tell him/ ask him- why did he take that card cuz we have some new 0 percents-- and the one he picked as at 12 and he actually if he didn't know could have picked the one at 9 percent- it was funny so I had to get online and almost PIF so there would be interest only on about three dollars. I asked him before he made a purchase to call me and we would both make a decision about which card to use.

Guess the moral is I need to sit down w/ him and bring him up to speed w/ the status of the cards. We both review our financial goals every mo- but I have taken up the work on the cards so need to bring him up to speed.

[Anonymous]

MV, I agree with you 1000%.  I would never have applied for that AMEX card had I not read about it on here.  Not blaming anyone, I'm a big girl but the seed was planted, I watered it and now, I've got another piece of plastic coming!  I am seriously done and also agree things went astray a bit. 

Like I stated earlier, I've worked far too hard to clean my credit and I will NEVER go back into debt with plastic but it is good to know I can practice such self control NOW because there was a time I couldn't.