Which card to focus usage on?

[Cmikul]

I'm currently a little....lol...a lot over extended.

I want to consolidate spending to one card....right now I have all reoccuring payments for monthly crap going thru various cards...as their only spend.

Not sure which one would be the best to use though.

my choices are:

Chase United Club

Chase Marriott

Amex BCE...not accepted everywhere so that's a ding.

Currently using my Amex Plat for 90% and want to get away from that.

 Wow....what the heck happened to my CC pics...they are huge now....sorry

[wasCB14]

If United Club still earns 1.5x and you can use the miles and perks well, that would stand out to me as a strong contender.

[Anonymous]

It really depends on what kind of rewards you are after. I am a cash back guy so if I had your line up, I'd be using Freedom for quarterly spend and then BCE for everything else. 

You don't really seem to favour one reward type over another but I would guess you are more interested in travel. If that is the case, you may be more interested in the Chase trifecta of CSR/CSP + Freedom + Freedom Unlimited. 

It looks like you have a few annual fee cards (if your signature card icons are up to date); if you aren't using them to earn rewards it may be time to downgrade or close them.

[Anonymous]

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@Cmikul wrote:

I'm currently a little....lol...a lot over extended.

I want to consolidate spending to one card....right now I have all reoccuring payments for monthly crap going thru various cards...as their only spend.

Not sure which one would be the best to use though.

my choices are:

Chase United Club

Chase Marriott

Amex BCE...not accepted everywhere so that's a ding.

Currently using my Amex Plat for 90% and want to get away from that.

 Wow....what the heck happened to my CC pics...they are huge now....sorry

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This happened nearly a year ago. You can read this if you are interested:

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/SmorgasBoard/UPDATE-6-9-17-Info-regarding-the-extra-large-credit-ca...

[Cmikul]

Fixed....thank you....

[pipeguy]

If you are overextended the first thing I would do is kill the AmEx Platinum and it's $550 AF. The second thing I would do either close of sock drawer all non-AF cards and just use one enough to pay in full each and every month. As far as AF cards, frankly I'd close all of them unless for business reasons (travel, etc) you receive true benefits greater than the AF - which in that case I'd keep only 1 open. 

There are more than a few threads having to do with different ways to pay off balances on too many cards - chasing rewards is a poor choice if you have to pay interest on cards, any card. IMO you need to "stop" and create a plan to pay each and every card off before you even consider chasing rewards.

Although you didn't say how much you owe, just that you were overextended, a debt consolidation installment loan might get you back to manageable payments, but not if you continue to spend more than you can pay in full every month. There are also balance transfer options that even with a 3% upfront charge would save a lot of interest, but you have to pay a BT in full before it expires to really save using that option.  

[wasCB14]

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@pipeguy wrote:

If you are overextended the first thing I would do is kill the AmEx Platinum and it's $550 AF. The second thing I would do either close of sock drawer all non-AF cards and just use one enough to pay in full each and every month. As far as AF cards, frankly I'd close all of them unless for business reasons (travel, etc) you receive true benefits greater than the AF - which in that case I'd keep only 1 open. 

There are more than a few threads having to do with different ways to pay off balances on too many cards - chasing rewards is a poor choice if you have to pay interest on cards, any card. IMO you need to "stop" and create a plan to pay each and every card off before you even consider chasing rewards.

Although you didn't say how much you owe, just that you were overextended, a debt consolidation installment loan might get you back to manageable payments, but not if you continue to spend more than you can pay in full every month. There are also balance transfer options that even with a 3% upfront charge would save a lot of interest, but you have to pay a BT in full before it expires to really save using that option.  

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Cmikul,

Please clarify. I suggested United Club thinking that by "overextended" you meant you could pay your bills in full and on time, but that the sheer number of cards (despite low balances) left you feeling disorganized and/or stressed. If you are not able to pay in full, then minimizing interest and fees is certainly more important than earning rewards.

[HeavenOhio]

@Cmikul, we're not clear on what you mean by overextended. Is this a financial issue where you aren't able to pay in full? Or are you paying in full and simply feeling disorganized?

If you're not paying in full, recurring payments should go onto a card where you're not paying interest. If you're paying in full, simply choose the card with the best rewards fit.

[Cmikul]

I can see now that my question is not clear. 

Mostly due to different opinions and theories on how to utilize credit and bank exposure. 

I have my answer thank you all. 

[Anonymous]

Use the one that gains you the most benefit rewards. If you travel then your travel reward card is a sure bet. If you get rewards from 2 use two and sock drawer the rest and work on paying down your balances. I wouldnt recommend closing as that will often cause a score drop and impact your UTL.