You'll gain some points by letting one of your cards report a less than 8.9% balance and then PIF. Having no cards report anything can cost 15-25 points on average.
@leo222 wrote:I have been paying down my debt very aggressively this year...I have made great progress, and have paid down almost half of it, as well as raised credit lines by almost $10,000 in the past couple of months - in all this time, I didn't use my credit cards for anything...Just cash and/or debit card.
As a result of this, my FICO has gone from 620 to 703 in a very short amount of time...I expect my FICO to get to around 720, by next month. By that time, I plan on applying for balance transfer cards, so that I can pay off the rest of my debts interest free. My better FICO scores should hopefully help me to do that.
With that said, I have gotten some offers in the mail for credit cards with Cash Rewards signup bonuses. One specific offer is the Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card. You get $150 for spending $500 in the first three months. I am self employed, and feel like I can easily spend that on eBay fees that I already pay with PayPal every month anyway.
Wondering what you guys think about this.
Personally speaking, I'd focus on the absolutes of the situation. What I mean by that is, you already know for an absolute fact that you're going to be applying for a BT card. I don't know what you're monthly spending habits are, but even if you transitioned 100% to using a new cash rewards card instead of cash/debit, and then simply paid off the card at the end of the month with the cash you didn't spend, you're not going to outweigh the savings of a great BT card. Bank of America has the BankAmericard that has 15 billing cycles 0% and no balance transfer fee. I wouldn't jeopardize what you know for a fact you're going to be doing in exchange for some temporary rewards.
I'm well versed in BofA's products, so I'll stick on that train to make a mathmatical point. Let's say you got their cash rewards card, which has a $200 bonus if you spend $1000 in 90 days. It also has 3%, 2% and 1% categories (but, like most cards, higher tiered earnings are capped). On their card, if your combined quarterly spending in the 3% and 2% categories is more than $2500, it drops down to 1%. So let's say you spent 100% of your money in a 3% category (which isn't going to happen, but let's just say it did), that's $75 a quarter. In exchange for you possibly jeopardizing the ability to get a top notch BT card in a few months, you net a piddly $275. I'd prefer to make every effort I could to move a few thousand dollars from one card to another without having to pay anything to do it.
I wouldn't make any moves, as you were already doing anyway, and make sure you get the best BT card you can. After that, do whatever you'd like, but I wouldn't do it before. My two cents 