What is your largest CL and which card?

[Anonymous]

I'd like to open a thread for extreme credit users, which for purposes of this post are those with at least 1 credit card over $50k CL and combined TCL of at least $250k).

Extreme credit started out as a hobby, but has become a way to create financial strength, and estimate wise credit use earns me $8-10k a year between rewards benefits, interest arbitrage, and investment profits. Below are just a couple ways I use extreme credit to my advantage:

1) Amex Gold (NPSL) and CSR ($62k limit) are used to pay for nearly everything to reap rewards points and limit utilization scores. I estimate $4k+ in rewards benefits vs $700 in AF for these cards ($250 & $450/yr).

2) my other cards (9 cards totaling $260k in TCL) almost all have $0 AF and rarely get used, although I will make a small purchase each year to keep the card open. I use about half of the cards just for 0% BT offers ( Citi, Discover, BofA, and Barclays). Mostly as a way to keep those cards active. Rather than use a HELOC or PLOC which charges interest, I will use 0% offers when I want to make a large purchase /investment (3% fee with 0% interest for a year). This is a better arbitrage than funding a personal loan (9%) or HELOC (6%) - which are available if needed to payoff the 0% cards if I dont have the cash on hand when promo rate expires.

I am wondering what do you do different from conventional wisdom to maximize the value from your extreme credit portfolio?

[AverageJoesCredit]

Nothing extreme needed here. 50k cards are archieved by many here with high income and not everyone who has one actually utilizes them heavy. Some even achieved one through account combinations so its not as extreme or amazing per se having a Centurian card.

260k + in total credit is possible even on low income so that threshold doesnt really hold much water in a thread such as this. High spenders and even normal people often maximize credit cards to earn huge rewards and this is seen everyday here on myFico. Just wanted to add a little perspective from a very unextreme Joe

[Peteyglad]

Funny thing is that between my wife and myself just about all our 50k+ cards get used sparingly and there are a few on the chopping block. The only exception is my Amex EDP. It gets probably 5k-6k a month put on it. Daycare alone is 2.5k. 

[Jnbmom]

Yes no forum needed for that.

We are all members and don’t exclude anyone , we all learn from each other no matter what our personal portfolio is.

[Remedios]

I just learned what extreme couponing is.
Not sure if I'm ready for extreme crediting quite yet.


Also, while it might make a smidgeon of sense, credit cards are really not "portfolio"
While you may benefit from them and they might be an "asset" to you, you're still at the mercy of a lender, because the imaginary money, unlike a true investment or asset, is really not yours.

[Citylights18]

Going back to the OP don't forget the airline cards. As a Chase/Visa guy I get value out of Citi AAdvantage as my World Elite Mastercard for Postmates and Fandango purchases ($5 dollars off both). Since you earn both MR and CSR you can dump those points over to BA and book legs or complete flights on American. Oddly enough, Citi doesn't have American as a primary partner or even BA yet they issue a co-brand AA card. Also the top cards from Citi are all World Elite Mastercard anyways negating the value of a catagory killer Citi AA card in your lineup. I estimated it adds about $346 dollars a year in value to my lineup.

In my estimation the best BT card is a NFCU if you can get in. They will give you up to 80k line on their Flagship and in most years the annual offer is 0% APR or 1.99 APR. They will allow you to BT from a mortgage if you want. What you could do is take out a home equity loan and make a 40k-50k BT to NFCU negating most of the interest. That is if you'll commit to making 4k a month extra payments to the NFCU for a year with a brokerage already well funded.

[OmarGB9]

Yea this seems kind of discriminatory, as not everyone can/wants to have that much available credit...nor is credit ever guaranteed.

[Citylights18]

Here is what I'm thinking once I move through the SUBs.

AMEX Gold x4 Dining/Groceries (MR generator)

Citi AA x2 Gas ($5 dollars off Postmates/Fandango)

Rakuten x3 Shopping Portal Card (Linked to MR)

CFU x1.5 Utilties/Non Bonus (2nd Shopping Portal Card)

CSP x2 Car Rental/Transit (1.25 Chase point multiplier)

Then combining it with an airline strategy.

American (Citi AA for bags, transferring MR/UR to BA for legs)

Untited (MilesPlus for bags, transfering over UR points)

Delta (AMEX Gold incidental to Delta for bags, transfering over MR points)

This way your covered by the big 3 airlines on bags with only 2 airline cards and are using 1 to 1 transfer of Chase/United and AMEX/Delta where its most valuable for domestic flights. Then you can choose between all three as to which one has the best price or schedule.

Rakuten has x8 bonus at the moment on Expedia. If you have the card its a x11 bonus. If you have the AMEX Gold it converts to x11 Master Rewards. Rakuten's bonus has been as high as x15 on Samsung (x18 with the card/x18 Membership Rewards) for cyber Monday.

The only things you need to keep at the top of wallet is AMEX Gold, Citi for gas and CFU for the occassional retail purchase. CSP/Rakuten can sit in the sock drawer like the balance transfer cards.