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Credit Card Maintenance, the Sock Drawer, and Credit Line Decreases!

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iNathanDrake
Valued Member

Credit Card Maintenance, the Sock Drawer, and Credit Line Decreases!

Good afternoon everyone and Happy New Year!

 

I was looking to gain some knowledge on maintaining your credit cards and lines. In a lot of peoples signatures you'll see everyone has their cards and the limits on those cards. For those of you who have like 15+ cards, all with credit lines 15k and above, how do you manage them without any decreases? 

 

Currently I have:

American Express BCE - $19,800.00

Discover IT - $20,500.00

Discover IT Chrome - $7,500.00 (Current card in use)

Chase Freedom Unlimited - $10,000.0 (Back up card for "Sorry we don't accept Discover)

Chase Freedom - $2,400.00 (Never grew -.-)

Capital One Quick Silver - $2,000 (Never grew, least favorite card/bank anyway)

 

I aim to have 15+ accounts eventually, and I'd like to do whatever I can to make my cards limits grow! I generally open a card yearly to take advantage of APR free periods and never have to pay interest. Considering Cash Magnet or Capital One Savor One (I know I know, my comment). However as time goes on I'm starting to think about the cards that don't have a spot in my wallet anymore. Ya know, the ones that are nice and cozy in the warmth of my sock drawer. Will I eventually lose the progress I made on those cards? 

 

Side note: Any advice or tips on how to make Freedom and maybe (maybe) QS grow a bit? If I open Savor can I merge it to my QS eventually to increase it's limit? Savor One of course, not AF Savor. 

 

Thanks in advance for anyone who takes the time! 

10 REPLIES 10
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Credit Card Maintenance, the Sock Drawer, and Credit Line Decreases!

Happy new year!  My comments below in blue.

 


@iNathanDrake wrote:

Good afternoon everyone and Happy New Year!

 

I was looking to gain some knowledge on maintaining your credit cards and lines. In a lot of peoples signatures you'll see everyone has their cards and the limits on those cards. For those of you who have like 15+ cards, all with credit lines 15k and above, how do you manage them without any decreases? 

 

That has an easy answer.  For any cards that are not being used, pull them out of your sock drawer once every six months and make a small purchase on them.  That's especially easy to do at he grocery store.  Another favorite is to add each card to an Amazon account and use the card to add $3.01 to your gift card balance.

 

Currently I have:

American Express BCE - $19,800.00

Discover IT - $20,500.00

Discover IT Chrome - $7,500.00 (Current card in use)

Chase Freedom Unlimited - $10,000.0 (Back up card for "Sorry we don't accept Discover)

Chase Freedom - $2,400.00 (Never grew -.-)

Capital One Quick Silver - $2,000 (Never grew, least favorite card/bank anyway)

 

I aim to have 15+ accounts eventually, and I'd like to do whatever I can to make my cards limits grow!

 

Why are higher credit limits especially important to you?  Your total credit limit is over 60k now, and it will grow naturally if you open a card per year.  Do you find yourself often spending over 6k per month?  Higher credit limits do not in themselves help your score.  A person can easily have an 850 score with three credit cards each of which has a $500 limit.

 

I generally open a card yearly to take advantage of APR free periods and never have to pay interest.

 

You can also avoid paying interest by paying your statement balances in full.  0% offers can have value if a person has an emergency that entails him being in debt, but in general the best approach is to make sure that you have no CC debt (except for whatever small amount might be purchases from this month -- that is arguably not "debt" if you are paying your statement balances in full each month.

 

A much more lucrative criterion for opening a new card is whether you can get a huge sign up bonus for it.

 

Considering Cash Magnet or Capital One Savor One (I know I know, my comment). However as time goes on I'm starting to think about the cards that don't have a spot in my wallet anymore. Ya know, the ones that are nice and cozy in the warmth of my sock drawer. Will I eventually lose the progress I made on those cards? 

 

Unsure what you mean by progress.  As I mentioned above, you can prevent them from being closed by using them every six months.  That will likely prevent any CLDs as well.

 

Side note: Any advice or tips on how to make Freedom and maybe (maybe) QS grow a bit? If I open Savor can I merge it to my QS eventually to increase it's limit? Savor One of course, not AF Savor. 

 

Thanks in advance for anyone who takes the time! 


 

Message 2 of 11
AverageJoesCredit
Legendary Contributor

Re: Credit Card Maintenance, the Sock Drawer, and Credit Line Decreases!

If you want your Chase cards to grow, USE them. Chase wont give auto love if you arent at least using them heavy.
Message 3 of 11
iNathanDrake
Valued Member

Re: Credit Card Maintenance, the Sock Drawer, and Credit Line Decreases!


@Anonymous wrote:

Happy new year!  My comments below in blue.

 


@iNathanDrake wrote:

Good afternoon everyone and Happy New Year!

 

I was looking to gain some knowledge on maintaining your credit cards and lines. In a lot of peoples signatures you'll see everyone has their cards and the limits on those cards. For those of you who have like 15+ cards, all with credit lines 15k and above, how do you manage them without any decreases? 

 

That has an easy answer.  For any cards that are not being used, pull them out of your sock drawer once every six months and make a small purchase on them.  That's especially easy to do at he grocery store.  Another favorite is to add each card to an Amazon account and use the card to add $3.01 to your gift card balance.

 

Currently I have:

American Express BCE - $19,800.00

Discover IT - $20,500.00

Discover IT Chrome - $7,500.00 (Current card in use)

Chase Freedom Unlimited - $10,000.0 (Back up card for "Sorry we don't accept Discover)

Chase Freedom - $2,400.00 (Never grew -.-)

Capital One Quick Silver - $2,000 (Never grew, least favorite card/bank anyway)

 

I aim to have 15+ accounts eventually, and I'd like to do whatever I can to make my cards limits grow!

 

Why are higher credit limits especially important to you?  Your total credit limit is over 60k now, and it will grow naturally if you open a card per year.  Do you find yourself often spending over 6k per month?  Higher credit limits do not in themselves help your score.  A person can easily have an 850 score with three credit cards each of which has a $500 limit.

 

I generally open a card yearly to take advantage of APR free periods and never have to pay interest.

 

You can also avoid paying interest by paying your statement balances in full.  0% offers can have value if a person has an emergency that entails him being in debt, but in general the best approach is to make sure that you have no CC debt (except for whatever small amount might be purchases from this month -- that is arguably not "debt" if you are paying your statement balances in full each month.

 

A much more lucrative criterion for opening a new card is whether you can get a huge sign up bonus for it.

 

Considering Cash Magnet or Capital One Savor One (I know I know, my comment). However as time goes on I'm starting to think about the cards that don't have a spot in my wallet anymore. Ya know, the ones that are nice and cozy in the warmth of my sock drawer. Will I eventually lose the progress I made on those cards? 

 

Unsure what you mean by progress.  As I mentioned above, you can prevent them from being closed by using them every six months.  That will likely prevent any CLDs as well.

 

Side note: Any advice or tips on how to make Freedom and maybe (maybe) QS grow a bit? If I open Savor can I merge it to my QS eventually to increase it's limit? Savor One of course, not AF Savor. 

 

Thanks in advance for anyone who takes the time! 


 


Hey! Thank you so much for the input. I have some feedback/questions if you have the time!

1. Why that amount? Why $3.01?

2. I guess their importance and my understanding was for the purposes of utilization. The higher the limits and the over all totals, the less impact any big spending could really do ya know? I've also seen my score fluctuate as my limits increased.

3. I understand this 100%, however I'm a firm believer of letting other peoples money work for you and make you money, so there are certain situations where I prefer a balance sit for some time before being paid (waiting on payments [profits] to come in and pay back with that rather than my own money. In these cases, having the APR free periods is yet another plus for me. By this same method, I'm also slowly but surely getting to my goal of accounts, all the while never paying a dime of interest. 

4. The sign up bonuses also play a nice role in further reaping as much benefits as are available.

5. I guess again my understanding of progress was reaching big numbers, and building up my availability and such as high as I could go.

 

I learned everything I know about credit cards and scores and such through reading and asking questions on these forums. I definitely have a lot of room for imporvement and a lot to learn. I've been doing it this way (opening accounts yearly, living in APR free periods, trying to increase my limits at every chance I get, trying to stay on top of best bonuses and such), for as long as I've been learning about this. Which I started understanding what a credit score was in early 2016 (currently 25 years old). So I may very well be wrong and all the more reason I am open to everyones advice and suggestions. But of my own understanding of all of this, I have managed to take myself from a 548 score to a 785. And I'm very eager to continue growing.

Message 4 of 11
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Credit Card Maintenance, the Sock Drawer, and Credit Line Decreases!

As far as the $3.01 amount, I just choose that so that the amount is over $3.  Making incredibly tiny charges on CC's can look odd.  Some people charge a single ultratiny amount (e.g. 88 cents) in the hope that the CC issuer will forgive the tiny statement balance rather than send you a bill for it.  That can indeed happen but it is also (possibly) a red flag for someone trying to engage in manipulative behavior.  And if a person is adding an amount to his Amazon gift card balance there's no reason not to make it at least $3.

 

As far as utilization and credit limits go, you can always make an additional payment in the rare event that you end up making some weirdly expensive purchase some month.  E.g. a $9000 TV say.  Even still your limits are so high (60k total) that you'd have to have a REALLY odd month (e.g. 40k worth of spending) before it would matter much.  Because even if your scores go down temporarily, they go back up in a month, if you are paying in full.

 

I think you'll find that if you focus on choosing CC's with amazing signup bonuses you will more than you'd make by choosing 0% offers.  Suppose you are carrying 15k each month on 0% cards -- and you are able to place that money in a high-interest savings account at 3%.  That's $450 of money you will be making a year, which you will then have to pay taxes on.  So maybe $300 after taxes.  With signup bonuses you should be able to make at least $500 after taxes. 

Message 5 of 11
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Credit Card Maintenance, the Sock Drawer, and Credit Line Decreases!

In terms of balance forgiveness, you have to spend MORE than the following amounts if you DON'T want the issuer to potentially 'forgive' the balance. Examples of why you wouldn't want the small amount to be forgiven are if you were strategically trying to post specific amounts for utilization purposes. 

 

  • Discover - $1.99
  • AMEX - $0.50
  • Visa - $0.99
  • Mastercard - $0.99

So the above suggested Amazon gift card spend of $3.00 makes perfect sense.

Message 6 of 11
kdm31091
Super Contributor

Re: Credit Card Maintenance, the Sock Drawer, and Credit Line Decreases!

It seems to me you are doing pretty well. A 785 score is going to qualify you for the best rates on most products. I'm not sure what you mean by progress, as it seems you have made a lot of it and are in good shape.

 

I wouldn't mess around with leaving tiny balances in hopes of it being erased by the issuer. To me it's just not a good thing to do repeatedly and intentionally if you want to have a good customer relationship with the bank. We can debate how much "relationship" really matters (I'm one who isn't that convinced overall) but I still wouldn't do that.

 

Both Chase and Capital One, in general, are not especially known for great CLI growth results. Don't take it personally, it's just how they operate. With both banks, the quickest way to get a large bump in the limit is merging cards if you have one you want to give up. That said, will you really use the cards more with a higher limit? If they aren't useful anyway, I wouldn't stress out about making them grow because it doesn't matter.

Message 7 of 11
HeavenOhio
Senior Contributor

Re: Credit Card Maintenance, the Sock Drawer, and Credit Line Decreases!

Discover and AMEX will tolerate low usage of high limits. If I remember correctly, Chase decreases tend to be related to weird usage rather than low usage.

 

But you're right to be concerned as some banks will decrease limits. Synchrony, Bank of America, and Barclays come to mind. Capital One will decrease 5-digit limits to 10k when usage is very low.

 

If you want to get limits just because you can, Discover and AMEX are the safest. For most banks, you'll want to land on a limit that you can justify with your spending.

Message 8 of 11
iNathanDrake
Valued Member

Re: Credit Card Maintenance, the Sock Drawer, and Credit Line Decreases!

I was just curious as to the amount. Everyone went on to say all this stuff about smlaler charges and minimums. I don't plan on making such a small transaction. I was just curious if this was a method or something since $3.01 was so specific lol! 


Message 9 of 11
iNathanDrake
Valued Member

Re: Credit Card Maintenance, the Sock Drawer, and Credit Line Decreases!

No intention of leaving small balances or looking for forgiveness lol. Not sure where it came from but I never suggested nor asked about forgiveness on balances. I just wanted some advice on how often i should use the sock drawer cards and became curious when I was suggested the $3.01 amount on gift cards ya know? But he said it was just a value over 3 bucks.

Message 10 of 11
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