@OmarGB9 wrote:I didn't have a choice last year, as I was rebuilding, and I didn't get my first CC (post-credit issues; I had CCs before, between 2015-2018) until December 2019. I learned to manage my finances a lot better, and I also learned to not overextend/sacrifice myself trying to bail out family. I have better control now, and while I still have some bad habits (still eat out too much rather than buying groceries and cooking for myself), I still always PIF, but I still run up my cards a bit with takeout. Other than that, I'm doing far better. Plus, I try to put away a bit into savings every month now, too. I didn't do that before, partially because I didn't really have any money left over to do so, but even when I did have a little extra, I still didn't. Now I make it a point to put aside some money, even if it's just a few hundred dollars a month.
Great job!
I'm still not able to put aside any money for savings yet, as whatever "leftover" money I have each month goes towards paying the cards down - I'm slowly making progress there and plan to have them all paid completely off and able to start setting aside savings in the next 6 months.
Total Loan Balance: $43k / $65k
Total SL: $78k
What's funny is that I've always used cc's when possible, considering them a temporary holding tank that I can pay when I get home or once a month. With a closed-top on them ($200 limit or $10,000 limit, either way, they are not money in the bank, just potential loans from a bank) they seem a lot safer for this reason:
When something fraudulent, duplicate or any sort of mistake happens on the credit card, I've found that the issuer is quick to take the responsibility off your hands and to fix it.
On the other hand, when you swipe your debit card and there's a mistake or any fraud, it's way more difficult to get it fixed and the bank acts like it's your money that got ravaged, so they aren't as motivated to help. A concrete example is that we used to swipe the debit card every place in town (which creates a headache with endless checking account balancing, for one thing.) One time a retailer put a charge through in triplicate. Bouncing the account and everything. Overdraft fees, contacting Walmart to get them to research it, etc. What a credit card would do for you, a bank will sort of require you to do, or at least help them with it. Not fun to straighten out!
So, I've always felt I want to keep my bank account cards in my pocket and not have that info going over every network in town, or all over the internet, if I can help it. Or at least I like to minimize it and have the high traffic go through the credit cards. Looks like you are already on my team, though, but I just felt like explaining why I came to this method a long time ago. 
@Anonymous Understandable. In the rebuilding phase also and I don't reach for the Cap One card much bc 1.) as you mentioned the low limit is restrictive and 2.) its been a PITA to make multiple payments a month, particularly when it seems to take 2-3 business days for the balance to update 
Wishing us both luck on this long journey to good credit!
I still use debit fairly often *gasp* But I have good reason, Chase checking cash back offers seem to always be in line with my spending habits so it makes more sense to use it. 5% back at Starbucks, 10% back at Petsmart etc.,
As long as similar offers are available I'll keep reaching for debit.
I was a debit card only person for awhile. I remember feeling like full citizen again when I could rent a car or check into a hotel without fear. LI still carry a debit card, but I've only been using it to make sure I didn't mess up AZEO when my statements cut. Now I have a 3rd bank card with a different cut date, I won't have to do that anymore.
I've only had $700 of available credit before this month and much more organic spend than that. I would generally just pay off my Discover card whenever I made a purchase in whatever 5% category. My QS I'd pay off ~every 10 days or so.
I really enjoy getting rewards on all of my purchases, even if it's not the most optimized cash back setup. Honestly, it's kinda shocking how much cash back one's able to rack up.
I think all those years of only using debit cards really helped us. We're used to not spending more than we have by habit. Provided we keep the same habits, we can only benefit from using credit cards.
@quikj9 wrote:I still carry a debit card, but I've only been using it to make sure I didn't mess up AZEO when my statements cut. Now I have a 3rd bank card with a different cut date, I won't have to do that anymore.
In that scenario, it can be a good idea to change your due dates, which also changes your statement cut dates accordingly (most cards let you do that every so often) so that it's easier to manage the reporting balances.
I like to keep my card due dates spread out about 4-5 days apart.
Well, generally nobody really needs to worry about AZEO unless they're about to apply for new credit and want to optimize their scores - but there's not much value in keeping AZEO going month after month. Also I believe that AZEO becomes less necessary when your scores are already above 780 or so, as a few more FICO points won't gain any better credit terms.
As far as juggling all the bills that probably happen almost daily, I would assume they would have to use autopay - if for no other reason than it being incredibly time-consuming to log into 10+ banks every month.
I only have 7 cards now, but I have them all set to autopay the minimum. That way I can't ever accidentally miss a payment. Usually I'll go in and make a manual payment for mmuch more than the minimum, but the autopay is just a nice safeguard to have.
I'd imagine that if one has enough funds in their checking account, they could set up their cards to autopay the full statement balance every month, and not ever need to micro-manage their accounts. I'm not even close to being at that point, myself 