I need a pruning plan

[Anonymous]

Echoing what other have said, dump the subprime cards that ppl have listed for you (I’m in the keep the CapitalOne for the rest of the year camp, but dump those others ASAP. Good riddance) Those cards will report for 10 years after closing, so no point keeping them.

As for carrying a balance, did you see if any of the cards you just got have a 0% balance intro offer for you? You might be able to transfer the balance off the interest barring card, saving you $20 or so a month in interest charges (be sure to pay it off by the end of the intro offer)

[Anonymous]

I've only been carrying a balance on the Kay card because I've read about and have been following the AZEO method (I keep a small varying $5-10 balance on all of my cards every month just to keep them reporting.

I finance one large purchase at a time on one card at a time -- in this case, a purchase for my wife on my Kay card. Until recently, all of my APRs  were within a negligible margin of each other, so it really didn't matter which card I used. I don't really care about the balance, I could pay it off right now if that would benefit me, but considering my utilization is 4.5%, I figure it doesn't matter and at least shows I'm using my credit. The interest doesn't concern me as I've been looking at it as a nominal monthly fee for building my credit. I'm not going to pay for a BT to a zero interest card for no reason.

As for Cap One -- I've been with these sorry suckers for 37 months now, still waiting for that graduation to an unsecured card. I've app'd for an unsecured Platinum every quarter since July 2015, and not only have they continued to decline me, they've flat out told me they have NO intention of EVER honoring their original offer (as advertised at time of account opening) of auto graduation after 18 months so long as I maintained good account history.

That's seriously unsettling considering my recent approvals from Amex, Chase, BoA.. I can't even get a $300 limit Platinum or QSOne like so many newcomers to credit and rebuilders after bankruptcy often do? Seriously? I've read about countless others who got their secured platinum in the same time frame as I did who also got cheated out of the graduation. Apparently Cap One discontinued the offer before the end of our 18 month period and then reintroduced it shortly thereafter only for new accounts. I guess it doesn't hurt to let the card just sit there and age some more since I already paid the fee for the year, and I just use it for Netflix and Google Music with autopay before statement date. Do you all really think there's some magic going to happen for me here in the next year though?

As for all my subprimes -- how will closing all of these NOW affect my AAOA? Banks look at all accounts, not just open accounts like the FAKO sites (i.e. Credit Karma), right?

As for the previous two posts, thank you guys for the great advice. I intend to use my Amex and Chase heavily and pay frequently as I've read that this is the path to big rewards in the form of CLIs and higher card tiers. I plan to pay all my big monthly bills with the Amex and pay them off as soon as they post to the account. As for the Chase, I intend to use it for everything else I normally spend cash on -- gas, groceries, and everything in between, and just pay off the balance every few days. My goal is 0% utilization and maximum return via CLI / PC to better cards i.e. Blue Cash and Sapphire Preferred. This is the best strategy to follow to accomplish this, right? Since BoA won't give me but $401 of unsecured credit, I don't plan to show them much love. I figure I'll treat it like the Cap One and charge my iTunes and Amazon Prime Video subscriptions to it and leave it on autopay until they show me some more love.

[Anonymous]

I think you might have a misunderstanding about AZEO. It’s based on what balances are reported (meaning what shows up on your statement, for most institutions). You don’t actually need to carry a balance past your due date. Once the starsmsnt cuts, it counts for scoring & you’re free to pay it off. The important part of AZEO is that only 1 statement SHOWS a balance (again, some companies report balances at a time different to the statement, but that’s the usual time)

As for how it effects your FICO 8 score, those accounts do help you until they fall off 10 years from now, but I don’t know how to determine the exact point change you’d experience, if any.

You certainly can close that Cap1 Card early if you want to; my only argument for keeping it open is that it’s your oldest card, but, again, since it takes 10 years to fall off, that’s not a huge deal.

I should probably mention that it looks to me like your app spree might cause chase to quickly close your new card. They often close newly approved cards if, when the other cards report, they realize you’ve applied for too many cards recently for their liking. I don’t know that they’re entirely consistent with that, but lots of myfico posters have discussed it happening to them.

[Anonymous]

I see. I was advised to close most of the new cards I was approved for. Perhaps I should wait and see what comes down the pipe.

As far as AZEO - I understand it to mean leave all zero except for one, except that I have mostly subprime cards that seem notorious for not reporting if I leave a zero balance. For example, my Care Credit account doesn't even cut a statement if there's no balance. I carried a small balance on it for 6 months, then PIF in Dec 2017, and no statement has been generated since the first $0 balance later in December. I just put $168 on it this month for a new pair of glasses for one of my kids and immediately paid $128 leaving $40 so they'd cut me a statement again and report my new CLI of $6500 (this card is also known to close if you don't use it apparently).

My solution to this is to rotate a small balance on and off my statements each month. For example, starting with Capital One, I will leave $5 on this month so statement cuts with $5 balance and reports the same, then make sure it's paid in full by statement next month so statement cuts with $0 balance and reports the same, then next month leave $7, then $0, then $4, then $0.. and so on.. I do this with all of my cards just to keep them active and make sure they are reporting monthly. I'm using far more than these amounts of course, I'm just referring to what I leave on as far as an actual balance on statement day.

[LionLaw]

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@Anonymouswrote:

I see. I was advised to close most of the new cards I was approved for. Perhaps I should wait and see what comes down the pipe.

As far as AZEO - I understand it to mean leave all zero except for one, except that I have mostly subprime cards that seem notorious for not reporting if I leave a zero balance. For example, my Care Credit account doesn't even cut a statement if there's no balance. I carried a small balance on it for 6 months, then PIF in Dec 2017, and no statement has been generated since the first $0 balance later in December. I just put $168 on it this month for a new pair of glasses for one of my kids and immediately paid $128 leaving $40 so they'd cut me a statement again and report my new CLI of $6500 (this card is also known to close if you don't use it apparently).

My solution to this is to rotate a small balance on and off my statements each month. For example, starting with Capital One, I will leave $5 on this month so statement cuts with $5 balance and reports the same, then make sure it's paid in full by statement next month so statement cuts with $0 balance and reports the same, then next month leave $7, then $0, then $4, then $0.. and so on.. I do this with all of my cards just to keep them active and make sure they are reporting monthly. I'm using far more than these amounts of course, I'm just referring to what I leave on as far as an actual balance on statement day.

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I think you're worrying way too much about showing that your using credit and about what balances are getting reported to the CRAs.  Like I said in my previous post, you can relax now--you've got plenty of cards, and with all your new accounts and inquiries, you really need to spend the next 12-18 months gardening.

The thing to remember about utilization is that it's the one part of your FICO score that has no memory--it only looks at what's current.  It doesn't matter if all your cards were maxed out for years, or if you've been consistently using only a small percentage of one card for years; the only thing that will affect your score is what you're using right now--total number of accounts with balances, utilization percentage of each credit line, and utilization percentage of total available credit.  When it comes time to apply for new credit, then you can worry about getting to AZEO and making sure your score is maximized.  In the meantime, it doesn't make any differene what your utilization is.

As for accounts closing for lack of use: it takes many, many months of total non-use before this becomes a concern, so don't feel like you have to scramble to get charges on every account every month.  Don't be afraid to stick some cards in the sock drawer and forget about them for a while--this is particularly true with respect to all the store cards you have.  And honestly, if a couple of them do get closed for non-use a year from now, who cares?  You already have more accounts than you need, and the cards you ARE using regularly during that time will grow to suit your needs.

Lastly, don't be afraid to close an account if you're not happy with it.  If Capital One is jerking you around, screw 'em!  You don't need them!  A year from now, they'll be crawling back to you with promos if you keep taking care of your credit.

[Anonymous]

Just a little update -- see my signature ;-)

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymouswrote:

Just a little update -- see my signature ;-)

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NICE!!! Way better than before, congrats!!!