I Have a Credit Card Confession

[Anonymous]

Thats crazy! I thought I was the only person in the world that does this.. wow Im happy you posted this OP. I struggle with this daily. I stay up late checking, then double checking to make sure everything is zero balance on EVERY card and account I have. I keep saying, "oh, I will pay our vacaction off using one of my 0% cards in a few payments." then on the way home I find myself paying for everything because I can't stand the thought of owing anybody... On a side note the rewards make using the cards worth it. 

[marty56]

You don't have to revolve a balance to get the benefit of having a balance report out your CR.  As long as you can control the reported balance and PIF,  you will maximize your Fico score and credit profile and not pay any interest on those accounts.

[redpat]

It’s not debt if you PIF before the due date, this is called float.

Why panic if you have the money to pay it and you are not applying for credit.

Everyone should freeze their reports and stop looking at their credit scores on a monthly basis when it doesn’t matter.

[AverageJoesCredit]

+1 redpat. I find my scores dont change much anyway and even when i do apply i find most times my score means squat or bears no weight. They just normally look at your income, debt load snd inquiries lol. Im a unique case. I could have 800's and still get no

[kdm31091]

I personally would find AZEO too much of a headache and I only have five cards! You should let your credit work for you, not the other way around. All the stress and you went from 769 to 752...in lending terms, I don't think your rates offered upon an app would be any different with those two scores.

I think it is good to keep on top of one's score and credit history, but not as good to obsess over it. Pay your bills on time and let accounts age. That is by far more important than eeking out every little point (especially when you aren't apping anyway).

[Flex1]

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@grower1 wrote:

I feel like I can only discuss this here, as friends or DH would call me 1st world problems.

So this afternoon I was talking on the phone to my mom, she expressed some major concerns with her current bed/bedroom setup and I agreed that she needed new furnishings. I promtly set out online to find her a new bedroom set, mattress, box sping, pillows, comforter set, delivery with set up etc. She lives in another state, so I had to send her many photos until she decided on everything.

This whole time I was thinking about which card I would charge it to, which card would give me the most time to pay it off before the next statement cut (thus keeping my utilization low) and which card I could harvest the most points with. I was all strategy. 

Everything was going according to plan, we picked out all of the items she wanted. I decided to myself that I would pay it off in 3rds, 3 big payments and be done with it by early in the new year 2019. However when the pending charges showed up on my account about 30 minutes later, I paid the whole balance in full, sigh.  

I don't have the bravery to let my credit...actually be a credit. I have to pay off everything the moment that I see it. To make matters worse, I do AZEO because I do see a slight point benefit from it, but even carrying a $5-$20 amount makes me feel uneasy. Does anyone one else feel this way? I'm addcited to paying bills and can't rest if anything is unpaid. I'm suffering from some sort of my fico illness

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I'm the same exact way. bought a few things for Chistmas. Planned on paying next month. Paid everything off immediately, before it was even due, like a few days later. I have a hard time carrying balances as well. Makes me feel uneasy. I don't need any credit cards at all for the most part.  Just good to have for an emergency or any type of unexpected event etc... . Sometimes I'm at the checkout counter, I look at my credit cards, think about using one, then I just pull out cash or use my debit card. Just feels good not owing anyone. I feel like by carrying a balance, I could accidentally miss something and get dinged.

[Anonymous]

Wait, I'm confused. Does this mean you literally make a payment every time you purchase something? For example a $5 Starbucks coffee you'd log on and make a payment?