Would anyone mind sharing with me?

[Anonymous]

I will share!

In order of account age...

Macy's: $1400/$0 balance
US Bank: $1000/$6(!!) balance
Capital One: $1050/$0 balance
AmEx Delta: $2000/$0 balance
Banana Republic: $600/$0 balance
AmEx Blue Cash: $7400/$300 balance
Discover More: $4900/$0 balance (haven't got the card yet, it should arrive any day now!)

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I will share!

In order of account age...

Macy's: $1400/$0 balance
US Bank: $1000/$6(!!) balance
Capital One: $1050/$0 balance
AmEx Delta: $2000/$0 balance
Banana Republic: $600/$0 balance
AmEx Blue Cash: $7400/$300 balance
Discover More: $4900/$0 balance (haven't got the card yet, it should arrive any day now!)

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With numbers like these, I do think that you'll be OK with American Express. But then, they do have those Voices in their Head...

[Anonymous]

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

I will share!

In order of account age...

Macy's: $1400/$0 balance
US Bank: $1000/$6(!!) balance
Capital One: $1050/$0 balance
AmEx Delta: $2000/$0 balance
Banana Republic: $600/$0 balance
AmEx Blue Cash: $7400/$300 balance
Discover More: $4900/$0 balance (haven't got the card yet, it should arrive any day now!)

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With numbers like these, I do think that you'll be OK with American Express. But then, they do have those Voices in their Head...

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Sigh... I do hope you're right - I WAS so pleased with my AmExes, and would love to continue to be so. I used to think that so long as you treated AmEx right, they would do likewise, but obviously they've proved beyond any reasonable doubt that that's no longer the case! It's so wearing, thinking 'is this utterly innocuous purchase (or whatever) going to tip AmEx over the edge?!' all the time. Not to mention the fact that after all I've read about people's horrible experiences with them, AmEx have plummeted in my opinion so much that I'm faintly disgusted at myself for not just sockdrawering their cards and being done with 'em!

Enough about them - we all waste far too much of our energy worrying about what they might or might not tolerate. Like you and others have said before, they're like the most neurotic, high-maintenance boyfriend/girlfriend imaginable... only it used to be the case that they'd make all that pandering worth your while! "Voices in their Head"... I love it!

[Anonymous]

HaulingTheScoreUp, I thought it was said that once you opened the account the damage was done and you may as well leave it open? Won't closing the accounts have a negative impact on your score? You also said that you only have so many accounts open because of the "too many accounts with balances" ding. I am new to this, so I may be wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just pay down the ones you have instead of opening new ones?

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:

HaulingTheScoreUp, I thought it was said that once you opened the account the damage was done and you may as well leave it open? Won't closing the accounts have a negative impact on your score? You also said that you only have so many accounts open because of the "too many accounts with balances" ding. I am new to this, so I may be wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just pay down the ones you have instead of opening new ones?

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Whenever you apply for credit, several things happen.

You get a hard inquiry on the credit report which was pulled. This might affect your scores, depending on how many inqs you have on that particular CRA.

If you are granted credit (you get an actual account), you get the newness ding on your scores. This will last for 12 months. It's the presence of any account under 1 year old.

Your average age of accounts (AAoA) will be re-aged. Because you have a new account, your average age drops.

Once you apply and are approved, you have this account, whether you much want it or not. It will report on all three CRA's, and even if you close it immediately, it will keep reporting for the next ten years. So since you have the thing, you might as well make it work for you.

As for the number of accounts, I only have one CC account with a balance, and that is a 0% BT account. And it bugs me to see a balance every time I look at it. I never, ever, ever carry balances, other than this one, and I do not pay interest to any of my CCC's.

One of the things that the FICO scoring formula looks at is the number of accounts with balances, and for this, they include revolving (CC) accounts, plus installment, including mortgages. So I have a mortgage, a car loan, and a HELOC (home equity line of credit), all of which have balances on them. Plus I have the BT, so that makes four.

There are two different formula requirements (for lack of a better word): half or fewer of ALL accounts with balances, and less than half of all revolving (CC) accounts with balances.

So let's say you have 8 accounts, three of which are a mortgage, a car loan, and a student loan. These always have balances until they are closed. Looking at the formula above, you can have half or fewer reporting balances without being penalized. 8 X 1/2 = 4 accounts. Three will always have balances, so you can have one CC with a balance. Of your five credit cards, the formula says you can have fewer than half (2.5) with balances, so that means 2 cards. But the other formula (total accounts) says only one can report, so there you are: just one card can report.

I was in the above situation for a long time, and one CC was an AU card that I consider my husband's. I don't use it. He loved to use it three days before reporting, so there went my wiggle room. And all it takes is one of the others to get off-kilter in reporting, and there you are with "too many accounts with balances."

Between this, and the strategic advantage of getting additional (new) clean credit lines to dilute the damage from those with lates, AND the necessity to upgrade some of my accounts, I now have a bunch of cards. Two are headed for the chopping block, and two more are circling the drain. HTH

[Anonymous]

HaulingTheScoreUp, you SO rock! Thanks so much for taking the time out explain that to me. While I must admit it is a little complex, but thats the name of the game. It certainly clears up my "too many accounts with balances" dilemma. Thanks again!

[felixfly2000]

Dodge Visa BofA 14.1K/2100

Chase Visa           10K/0

5/3 Plat MC           6.6K/2300

Wamu ESPN        6K/0

Wamu Plat Visa     2K/0

No apps this year, holding out til Dec, for PenFed

[Anonymous]

I call myself trying to follow the Debt Snowball approach, and so far so good. I've taken my accounts with the lowest balances (although this doesn't save me money on interest, it certainly dose create momentum) and began paying them down until the utilization is at 30%, then I move on to the next card. Considering all of my cards (except my Angel's card) were nearly maxed out, I think I'm making some progress here...

Citi - 1700/2000

1st Financial Bank - 4275/4500

Victoria's Secret - 40/1030

Capital One - 130/500

Target - 300/1000

HSBC - 400/1300

Now its time for the big ones, lol...

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have 60 accounts, between all the Credit, Gas, and store cards I have. About 95,000 in available credit.

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Wow! Why so many?

[Phoenix-rising]

AmEx Blue Cash:   $15,000 /$2,625 (PIF monthly)
Chase CirCity:        $5,000  /$0 
Chase VISA:           $4,500  /$1,425 (PIF monthly)
Chase VISA:           $25,000 /$9,495 (BT - 4.99%)
Chase VISA:           $13,000 /$0 
Dell:                        $5,500  /$0 
Citi Drv Edge MC:  $7,400 /$2,143 (PIF monthly)
Citi DiamRewMC:  $25,000 /$11,720 (BT 3.99%)
Discover:                $10,000 / $0  
Discover:               $1,850  / $0  
Old Navy:               $500  / $0 

TOTAL:                 $112,750 / $27,408    Util:  24%

These are only the open CC's.  According to my report I have 26 accounts, but in addition to my open  CCs I only have 3 other open AC's - 1 mortgage and 2 auto loans.  Which gives me a total of 8 ACs with balances.

The other 12 AC's are closed ACs from CC's I closed when I divorced my Ex or installments that were paid off.  I'm surprised that they still seem to count in the total number of accounts.  I only got a "flag" on Accounts w/ Balances when the number was 10 out of 26.  It didn't seem to count when I had 9 of 26 with balances.

Message Edited by Phoenix-rising on 09-20-2008 09:11 PM