How to use my credit cards effectivley

[jamevfan]

Quick question,

I see so many of you who have several cards that is used on a regular basis, my question is how are you using the card to where it works for you?

I have some charges on several of my cards but I dont find it useful because after ive made charges I have to get on a payment regime in addition to my other current bills to pay them all off and im trying to get a grasp of how everyone regularlay use thier cards without creating more bills, choas and confusion....

[Anonymous]

There are some hardcore MyFicoers here that have spreadsheets that help them keep track of their cards.

For others, like me, it is a bit more simple. Each card has a purpose. RIght now, I am using Discover for all gasoline purchases for 5% cash back; next quarter, I will be using Chase Freedom for 5% groceries. When groceries or gas is not on a higher cash back on Chase or Discover, I use my Bank of America for groceries (2%) and gasoline (3%). I am currently using my Navy FCU Cash Rewards for all non catagory spend at 1.5% cash back. 

The rest of my cards I have mostly for age or other specific charges-I make small charges to keep them open and current. Others here are more sophisticated with their reward chasing, but I believe the general idea is the same. 

[Gmood1]

First if you use them for all recurring monthly bills that you must pay anyway. That alone will make things much easier to track.

Second, use them only for what you could afford if using a debit card.

As far as rewards, just focus those recurring payments on the cards that get you the most return.

We have only two bills in the entire household that aren't paid with a CC. That would be two auto loans. Even the mortgage is paid with a CC.

Every card that allows it, is set to auto pay.

[HeavenOhio]

Make a master list of your credit card due dates and statement dates. You might find that you'll want to rearrange some of your due dates to best suit your needs. I prefer mine to be staggared. That makes it easy to "rest" a card if I want it to report zero to the credit bureaus. Some people might want to work their dates around paychecks. Sometimes, the statement date will vary a bit from month to month, so keep the statement dates on your list updated. Due dates won't change; the law prevents that.

Simplify your bills by auto-paying as many as possible by credit card. If possible, put them on the card that offers the best rewards. Make a list of your auto-pays as you set them up because occasionally they'll need to be updated, either because of a new card number or expiration date.

Also, keep track of the dates that your bills are typically charged to your card. I say "typically" because a weekend or holiday may switch things up occasionally. Knowing when the bills appear on your transactions list will help you make any necessary payments toward your balance, and it'll help you choose the most favorible due date for that card.

[Anonymous]

I'm a newbie. At first I used all my cards to show usage, but with so many payments and different statement cut dates it got old.

So now have been cutting back. I pay my regular bills between 2 cards, those get paid off before statement cuts. And 2 cards with better APR's I use for commodity items, low end that I wanted to finance. The rest lay stagnant.

Then after a couple months I switch cards for regular bills. So I use 4/11 at a time. Seems to work.

[grillandwinemaster]

Sounds like you are of the "simplify" school of thought. In my opinion, credit cards should be used to help simplify and manage ones finances. They should NOT complicate matters.

It sounds like you may be spreading or diluting your credit card rewards too thin over several cards. You may want to consider using only one or two cards and have most of your household expenses funneled through them. Or maybe a Chase Trifecta if you like UR points? Or amex if you favor MR points. Find a program/system that works for you and stick to it. 

This way, your actually having to pay only one or two bills a month vs 10+. 

[Anonymous]

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@grillandwinemaster wrote:

Sounds like you are of the "simplify" school of thought. In my opinion, credit cards should be used to help simplify and manage ones finances. They should NOT complicate matters.

It sounds like you may be spreading or diluting your credit card rewards too thin over several cards. You may want to consider using only one or two cards and have most of your household expenses funneled through them. Or maybe a Chase Trifecta if you like UR points? Or amex if you favor MR points. Find a program/system that works for you and stick to it. 

This way, your actually having to pay only one or two bills a month vs 10+. 

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This is what I'm working towards now...after having so many new cards for about 6 months now...I'm really evaluating whether or not I want to remember what went on what card where, when is this due, this card isn't working for me. I have now moved on to simplifying, sending some cards to thte eternal sock drawer, seeing which cards I really like. In a year I'm planning on combining my two chase cards into a single product, things like that.

You only need to have 20 cards if you want to.

[SouthJamaica]

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@jamevfan wrote:

Quick question,

I see so many of you who have several cards that is used on a regular basis, my question is how are you using the card to where it works for you?

I have some charges on several of my cards but I dont find it useful because after ive made charges I have to get on a payment regime in addition to my other current bills to pay them all off and im trying to get a grasp of how everyone regularlay use thier cards without creating more bills, choas and confusion....

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I keep a daily record of everything I owe to everybody. But that's not for every one. Each person has to find his or her own comfort level and do things the way he or she likes to do things.

If you don't like having a lot of credit card bills and payments then you should just use one card and forget about the rest.

[Anonymous]

I have 7 cards that see regular use every month for bills, daily spend, amazon, etc. It took some time but I got all the due dates changed so they are between the 5th and 7th of each month. On the 27th of each month I pay all of the cards to zero in a single day before I close out my monthly budget. The 27th is within all of the cards billing cycle, and because I pay it off before the due date at the start of the next month they all report zero usage. There may be a few straggler transactions between the 27th and the due date, but I am getting the best of both worlds by having swipes to satisfy the CC companies and zero or very low usage ratio on my report. Bonus is that I only have to mess with it once a month. 

[Anonymous]

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@jamevfan wrote:

Quick question,

I see so many of you who have several cards that is used on a regular basis, my question is how are you using the card to where it works for you?

I have some charges on several of my cards but I dont find it useful because after ive made charges I have to get on a payment regime in addition to my other current bills to pay them all off and im trying to get a grasp of how everyone regularlay use thier cards without creating more bills, choas and confusion....

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Quick answer:

Turn on auto-pay for all cards. Sock drawer any CC that does not have auto pay feature. Set up 'current bills' to be automately paid using cards. 

Then sit back and relax