July Credit AMA [Ask Me Anything] live with user @CreditAddict - Part Two

[Anonymous]

CA, what strategies or specific advice do you reccomend when considering targeted credit reduction? For targeted, planful credit acquisition? Thank you.

[Anonymous]

I see that you have 126 credit cards now, what is the total credit line combine them all? and what is you next credit card in your list ?

[Anonymous]

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@Creditaddict wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

@Anonymous on your response to @Anonymous, what is the craziest thing an analyst manually reviwing your credit has ever said to you?

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Usually, it's the people not making the final decisions that will say the craziest things... Mercedes general manager was funny... He was like I have been doing this for over 25 years and I see a lot of credit reports and I have NEVER seen someone with 126 accounts... and you are so young!

Then I handed him my Ritz Card to pay the deposit and he said oh, I have a black card too and pulls out his wallet and pulls out the Barclay "The Black Card" and I just "Oh, You need to upgrade!"

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Wooooo... Interesting. Haahahaa.

[Anonymous]

Based on the spend of $2k - 3k a month, do you think you'd ever cut down on the cards?  Based on the number of cards you have, I thought you'd have spend of about $25, 000 or more...

[Anonymous]

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@Creditaddict wrote:

The list I posted in Part One shows my cards and the few that I'm AU on but with opening all our businesses we removed each other from almost all our cards accept for our daily use cards because neither of us needs the extra util. or age of accounts hitting us for the banks that still count all of that stuff!

I believe the number is in the 80's currently

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 Do you remember if that temporarily hurt your score? Do you recommend other couples not add eachother as authorized users?

[Creditaddict]

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@Anonymous wrote:

CA, what strategies or specific advice do you reccomend when considering credit reduction? For credit acquisition? Thank you.

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In general, outside of me... I usually prefer a credit spree in steps, meaning:

A lot of times when I'm helping someone they only have 2-4 cards because they don't "want" credit and they use to be near 800 but now they have allowed the cards to trickle up and all of a sudden a 0% runs out and now they can't get a new card! so that's when we go on a hunt for maybe 1 card, shuffle things around and wait for the reports to hit and then BAM get 3 new cards!

or else on the other end of the spectrum someone with credit scores below 550, they are almost easier to get new credit because usually a few disputes, add 1 new account and boom the score jumps 100 points but then it's a slow climb from there... the 600-700 rebuild is the slowest part of a rebuild!!! I just cleared into the 700 recently, I have been in the mid to high 600's for nearly 2 years!

but when it's someone like that, you have to plan out in phases and that's when a lot of times a comenity or sync backed card can be your best friend in a rebuild!

plus someone recently getting back into credit, it's sometimes easier to keep them from maxing out a 76 gas card than it is say a capital one visa! and people rebuilding are their own worst enemies with figuring out how to use a card but not max a card and carry a balance!

Reduction, I prefer to consolidate over just eliminate but it depends what you got and if you are talking sync and max exposure, you have to reduce!

[Creditaddict]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I see that you have 126 credit cards now, what is the total credit line combine them all? and what is you next credit card in your list ?

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No, it's like 80 something... he was just going by TU that he pulled that gave total accounts but they are not all mine, and not all open, etc... just what reports for ALL accounts listed in last 10 years.

Perfect example of someone that doesn't completely understand how to read a credit file but is in a position looking at them all day long!!

[Creditaddict]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Based on the spend of $2k - 3k a month, do you think you'd ever cut down on the cards?  Based on the number of cards you have, I thought you'd have spend of about $25, 000 or more...

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that's personal, if I add in business it changes the number but yes... I think as I get busier with businesses, I care less about another 1% of using a card that's in the drawer then just charging it all to the same.

[Anonymous]

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@Creditaddict wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

I see that you have 126 credit cards now, what is the total credit line combine them all? and what is you next credit card in your list ?

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No, it's like 80 something... he was just going by TU that he pulled that gave total accounts but they are not all mine, and not all open, etc... just what reports for ALL accounts listed in last 10 years.

Perfect example of someone that doesn't completely understand how to read a credit file but is in a position looking at them all day long!!

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@Anonymous,

What is the total credit combine?  Also, how did having all these cards affect you guys getting a mortgage assuming you guys own?

[Creditaddict]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Creditaddict wrote:

The list I posted in Part One shows my cards and the few that I'm AU on but with opening all our businesses we removed each other from almost all our cards accept for our daily use cards because neither of us needs the extra util. or age of accounts hitting us for the banks that still count all of that stuff!

I believe the number is in the 80's currently

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 Do you remember if that temporarily hurt your score? Do you recommend other couples not add eachother as authorized users?

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No, it actually helped my score!

I LOVE AU accounts and they can be extremely pivotal in rebuilding and obtaining higher approvals on your own but they have a time clock I believe also.

If you both have good credit, you have no reason to be on each other's accounts unless it's because it's the card you both use.

If you get a new 0% card and are going to max it out, there is no sense both of you take the ding for that! it's one of the perks of having two of you!

I feel the same way about cars... Why both take the debt toll for 4-5 years when only one of you needs to get approved!

There was a time when I wanted to be on a car loan to help my credit but once that happened I refinance the car into my name only so that could come off my partners debt to income so we could get approved for mortgage (we didn't end up buying) but it's a perfect example!