How to Manage so many Credit Cards?!

[thom02099]

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@Anonymous wrote:
i have about 21 tradelines that i have to keep track of. im a little bit old school in that every month ill write every tradeline on paper, so i can SEE what exactly im dealing with. on each tradeline is a balance (most times zero), my cl, my due date, my statement date, and the minimum payment (most times zero). when i pay on the account ill put a "x" next to my minimum payment with the amount i paid. it indicates that i paid on the account, and i dont need to worry about it for the month. i know its a little medieval and they have actually programs or apps to do this, but its easier for ME, since if im writting it down, i know for a fact its true. yeah weird, i know lol.

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+1

I also have a goodly number of tradelines and use the same methodology of "old school" above and "new school' -- setting my due dates and statement dates in my Droid's calendar with reminders set up 24 and 48 hours prior to the entry date.  I also use all of the tools at the various credit card sites and get reminders sent to my email and Droid, up to ten days prior to the due date. 

One other thing you could consider, rather than having all of your due dates on the same date, to have half on one date and the other half about two weeks out from that date.  Mine are set up that way, and it's really not difficult to manage it all. 

[09Lexie]

Besides the suggestions of using Manilla, spreadsheet, calendar on smartphone, and using the various companies to send you reminders- you might also want to have auto payments set up.

I have 23 open TLs plus my DH's 15 TLs. He's kind enough to forward his reminders to me.

[takeshi74]

For expenditures and crude budgeting I use Excel.  For logins I use 1Password.  It's definitely a matter of finding the solution that works out best for you.

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@800ficogirl wrote:
if I go 5 or 6 months without using them will my cc company close my account?.. what's an idea window of time for those other' cards you want to keep open due to account age.. 3 months?

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It really depends on the specific company/card in question.  There really isn't a fixed timeframe for every one out there.  I'd suggest checking with each company and setting a timeframe based on their answers versus relying on replies that rely on a generalization.

[Mrm-na]

I keep all my passwords (for everything, not just credit sites) in a text file.  The text file is encrypted in a .ZIP.  I just have to remember the password to open that file, and then can look up all my other passwords and usernames.

It's becoming increasingly necessary to constantly refer to that file, now that so many web sites seem to have decided to defeat the ability of web browsers to save passwords.

Recycling passwords is okay for some things, but you have to be careful about it with anything sensitive like financial sites.  If a password gets stolen from some random, badly secured site you participate in, you might not be worried about your "Sea Otter Enthusiasts" account, but you don't want them to get into your bank account.

As far as remembering payments, I haven't had enough cards so far for it to be an issue.  But as I add cards, I'm sensing it start to become a problem.  I like the idea of twice a month going through every account, logging into each one to verify if anything is owed.  This makes it very difficult to mess up, since you'd have to miss the bill twice before you'd be late.