What's next? What would you recommend next?

[Anonymous]

I'll admit that since my rebuilding efforts have really been paying off, I haven't been as methodical or judicious as perhaps I should have been with regards to what I apply for, when I apply and the like...

But... a touch of background.. I filed a BK7 back in early 2005.. The discharge covered I recall one or two citicards, a barclays subsdary card and few sub-prime cards as well (think credit one type stuff)...   naturally, the BK7 fell off my CR's several years ago and from that point, I've been slowly, but steadily rebuilding..  My fico today stands at around low, low 710's to mid 720's, according to the various CC's that allow me to see my fico (not from CK)..

As of today I have the following already... In order from oldest to newest..  Cap1 Plat, Cap1 QS (PCed from Plat), Commenity/VS, Chase FU, Amex ED, BofA Cash Rewards, Citi DC (PCed from TY Pref), Discover IT, Amex BC, Amex CM, Chase Amazon, Citi Simplicity, Discover IT Miles, Walmart MC, Paypal MC, Apple Card, Wells Fargo Platinum

AAoA = 2y 6m

Util = 9%

HPs= TU4/EQ1/EX3

Baddies= Thankfully, none.... anymore

Highest CL = Amazon @ 11,500

Average across all cards = about 6,000

On the banking side, because I work for a US company, but my workplace is overseas, I tend to use my Amazon card a lot (no FTF) and I have only one US-based bank account (my companies CU)..  I don't usually have a massive monthly spend -- maybe $500 or so... some months a touch more.... but $500 might be a good average across the year..  My ChexSystems is clear - nothing on it..  All 3 CRs are up to date with no obvious errors or old/bad account still showing....

I've posted in another thread that I've cold apped for Uber Visa and was auto-denied becuase (I suspect) I had a Barclays card in my BK7 - so bad prior relationship... and I cold apped for a US Bank card earlier this year and was shot down due to "excessive new accounts"  My Apple Card and Wells Cards are all new (Apple card from the rollout days and the WF is a week old) so they havent hit my CRs yet.. when they do, my AAoA will of course take a hit..  Adding in the Apple Card and WF cards I'd be 8/24 using the Chase metric.

With all of that.... What is everyones suggestions for a next card?  My plan right now is to 'garden' until late spring or mid summer -- at that point a few of my TU HP's will age off... but (embarassingly so) I have admit to having no real plan right now for the next card..  up until now I kind of took whatever I could get or thought I could get (beggars can't be choosers if you will)... but I look at my list now and I have many of the major players covered and some with 2 cards... so I think it's time that I get a bit more focused.

Your thoughts???

[NRB525]

Congrats on the results of your rebuild. 
With only $500 card spend a month, it is difficult to imagine any one card that could hope to make a difference on the earn rates of the cards you already have.  

Will you always be working outside the US, or is there a planned timing to return stateside?

Do you have any travel costs, or those are all covered by your employers card?

[Anonymous]

17 cards / $500/mo = you don't need more cards

The math just doesn't add up to needing any additional accounts to spread your 500/mo on.

Just because you can doesn't mean you should.  Let things mature a bit, get back under 5/24, and reassess what to keep, what to dump, and what to get later on.

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

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@Anonymous wrote:

17 cards / $500/mo = you don't need more cards

The math just doesn't add up to needing any additional accounts to spread your 500/mo on.

Just because you can doesn't mean you should.  Let things mature a bit, get back under 5/24, and reassess what to keep, what to dump, and what to get later on.

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+1

With that little spend, you run the risk of CLD or closures for non-use.what little you use to keep them active will come out of any earnings you want to make.  If anything, you should be figuring out what categories you spend the most on and start slimming down your cards to maximize the earnings rather than dilute them further. Maybe find a card that will give you more bang for the buck in what you spend while closing others that don't.

[Anonymous]

CLD?? That issue had honestly never crossed my mind.. I was purely in “get more” mode..  

There was an earlier question about my own spend versus spend on my employers ‘dime’. .... I can in fact put some of my work-spend on my own personal card .. the only downside (amd reason I’ve largely not done so) is that I have to do some paperwork to get reimbursed and it can take a solid week to as much as two weeks for that to happen after proper submission... so most colleagues just use the company cards to avoid all that.. but yes, I could shift a bunch of that’s business spend to person.. that would be around $1,500 to $2,000 max a month.

another earlier question was am I coming back stateside anytime soon?  I’d say not within the next 5 years.. I think the end of 2023 to sometime in 2024 would be the first realistic time that I might return - but that issue isn’t very much employer controlled.

thanks everyone who has given feedback... to be honest I wasnt even thinking CLD and other really adverse actions as being a realistic possibility.. up to know I’ve been singularly focused on getting more...

so.. barring some better advice, I think I’ll a) stop the pursuit of anything new from here... b) try to shift some work-spend to my personal cards (I’ll consider the paperwork I have to do as the price I have to pay) to avoid the risk of an involuntary CLD/closure and c) let my exsisting cards age a bit more..  maybe in a year I might revisit this plan. 

[Anonymous]

Umm, I wouldn't be worried about CLD or other AA as much as I would diluting rewards. Credit card companies don't mind low spend or I wouldn't have the success I have had with my measly $18K income (I spend between $500-$800 on my cards usually). The problem is that many cards have minimum redemption thresholds which can cause you to actually have to manipulate your spend in order to be able to actually get your rewards.

[Anonymous]

CLD/AA isn't where I was heading either.  

MORE MORE MORE is just the cycle we get into when building.  Just doing the math though makes it hard to hit each card @ $500/mo.

If you can generate up 2K/mo and work through the paperwork it's worth it purely in the points consideration.  1-2 week delay isn't that big of a deal if you have the cash on hand anyway since your expenses are so low in comparison.

I would concentrate some spend on 1/2 of them one month and the other 1/2 the following and keep rotating them to generate activity and grow the CL's instead of the # of accounts.  It really doesn't take much for most of them to move upwards.

Cap1 Plat, Cap1 QS

Commenity/VS,

Chase FU /  Amazon HP's galore if you decide to go that route.. personally I opt for the new card/bonus since it was 10X the CLI amount for the same # of pulls

BofA Cash Rewards, SP every 90-91 days // ask for 100K and let the system counter you for the max CLI

Citi DC / Simplicity, make sure you're asking every 6 months since it's a SP and if you want more you can ask for a HP

Amex BC / CM / ED, SP CLI on your highest card every 181 days since you as a person not per card

Discover IT // Miles, SP CLI all day long...ask every month  IF you decide to combine them into the older card you can when there's a CLI avaialble just don't accept it and call them to combine them and when they combine they'll even give you the CLI that's pending

Walmart MC, Paypal MC, 877-379-8175 - call credit solutions and ask for 25K/ea  they will counter with their highest offer  SP

Apple Card -- Barclays or GS?

Wells Fargo Platinum Gonna be a HP if you ever ask, sometimes known to give a SP 

Let us know if you have any questions..... I would cut the ones that are striked out.... Keep the SP's and grow them... HP's are useful then keep them active every 6 months or so // or let them die in the SD.

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

I'm not saying it would happen to him, but somebody with more cards and higher limits would have to worry about it if they didn't have enough spend for everything. Both Amex and Cap1 have done it not too long ago for a lot of people on here. Synch as well. 

[Anonymous]

I've got the high limits and more cards.  

The goal is to use them to generate activity and it doesn't have to be much but, if it's something small each month they leave you alone.  Even every 6-12 months works fine as well. If you want them intact and growing though more often is better.

I've taken many of my cards counterintuitively from small limits to over 50K just by putting my phone bill or something small on them with autopay.  It doesn't take thousands per month w/ exception of Cap1 to grow them.  W/ Cap1 if you're not using 30-50% of your CL you won't likely see a CLI from them.  However a small bill on BOA for instance grew it in CLI's from 12-18K/ea and Amex we all know to be generous as well.  Chase took some navigation with though to grow them between CLI's / new accounts and shuffling them around into a 65K CL on a single card and aggregate of 70K+ between 3 cards.  

If you work the system you can achieve sky high CL's w/o much effort.

[Anonymous]

If you're going to use personal accounts for business expenses, and you can rotate them for decent rewards on any card, to maximize float and eliminate any issues with reimbursement, use the card that just closed or recently closed to ensure you don't have a bill due before reimbursement funds have hit your checking account. That will give you up to maybe 55 days to pay the card.