@LowFICO2020 wrote:Everyone suggests paying by the statement closing date.
I have all my accounts set up for autopay but choosing the statement date seems like its going to be tedius because it always changes. Doing autopay on the due date is automatically set.
Is there an easy way to manage this?
You should be able to change your statement dates which will also change your due dates. I have aligned all of our cards to post a statement on the 15th of the month. That puts the due date about the 10th of the next month. Yes, there is some flex plus or minus a day or so, but I don't have to juggle a bunch of dates because they all post the same day basically. I know that by the 16th or 17th of each month, all our statements have posted. I know I need to pay those by the end of the month, even though I actually have more time to do so. You could set up a system like this as well. Just set your own internal due date. For me it's the last day of the month. I just always know that's when I HAVE to pay. It also helps with AZEO or AZET or whatever you do. For me, I try to get my cards paid to zero by the 14th so the statements post correctly. Lenders like AmEx are better at this because I can post a payment and it immediatly updates. Huntington takes a few days to post my payment, so I have to have that one paid down by the 12th or so.
@LowFICO2020 wrote:Current stats:
Fico 8 score (main page)
Equifax: 652
Transunion: 645
Experian: 659
Insights:
Payment History: Exceptional (0 late payments)
Amount of Debt: Poor (98% revolving utilization)
Length of Credit History: Good (4years, 2months)
Amount of New Credit: Very Good (3 months)
Credit Mix: Exceptional (20 accounts)
So clearly, the reason I have such low scores is high revolving utilization.
I've recently paid off my entire balances and am waiting for the POP on the credit score (should be within 2 weeks). According to the "simulator" my scores should be around or over 750 then but I dont know how accurate that is.
My question is basically about direction from here. I have a lot of low tier cards with low limits. I've set up most of my cards with one subscription so that they stay used and set up autopay on each to pay off each month completely. Some of them have "monthly" fees (not much but still dumb) and some have annual fees.
Ideally I'd like to apply for better cards in the future and cancel these but I think I need to wait until I get the better cards before cancelling anything.
In the meantime I figure I just have to deal with so many cards and keeping up with them. There are about 5 more cards I'm going to have use in a rotation for food expenses so they don't go inactive.
The ultimate goal is to get a few high limit cards and cancel many of these others (except my longest tenured ones)
Any insight, helpful tips, etc?
Your plan sounds good to me. When you get a good card, cancel one of the bad ones... preferably one with an annual or monthly fee.
@LowFICO2020 If your Quicksilver has an annual fee it's Quicksilver One, rather than the regular Quicksilver. That card can often be difficult to product change from, but it does happen sometimes. I had a QS1 and I product changed it to Venture One which had no annual fee, eventually was able to product change it to regular Quicksilver with no annual fee.
@LowFICO2020 wrote:So my cards have all been paid off for a couple weeks now.
Ten more days until I can view my new credit reports on here.
I called Capital One and tried upgrading my QS One to the regular QS rewards or whatever its called- they said they couldn't help me.
Then I asked when my next annual fee was and they said this month. I asked them if they could waive it- they said they couldn't help me.
Then I asked them if I could move my statement balance date to a date of my choosing- they said they couldn't help me.
At that point I was pretty frustrated and ended the call.
I have to figure my reports are updated by now but maybe not. On my homepage on here it says my scores are 664/657/669 which is an improvement but nowhere near where I expected so perhaps they aren't all updated (still seeing a high Utilization...which hasn't been updated on here).
I guess I'll wait ten days and get my new 3B report and see where I'm at then.......
Capital One sometimes relies on an old soft-pull report to base decisions off of. You might need to wait another billing period or so. Wait for others to chime in with more recent experience.
@NoHardLimits wrote:
@LowFICO2020 wrote:So my cards have all been paid off for a couple weeks now.
Ten more days until I can view my new credit reports on here.
I called Capital One and tried upgrading my QS One to the regular QS rewards or whatever its called- they said they couldn't help me.
Then I asked when my next annual fee was and they said this month. I asked them if they could waive it- they said they couldn't help me.
Then I asked them if I could move my statement balance date to a date of my choosing- they said they couldn't help me.
At that point I was pretty frustrated and ended the call.
I have to figure my reports are updated by now but maybe not. On my homepage on here it says my scores are 664/657/669 which is an improvement but nowhere near where I expected so perhaps they aren't all updated (still seeing a high Utilization...which hasn't been updated on here).
I guess I'll wait ten days and get my new 3B report and see where I'm at then.......
Capital One sometimes relies on an old soft-pull report to base decisions off of. You might need to wait another billing period or so. Wait for others to chime in with more recent experience.
A few things: Capital One changes what they offer you a lot. Very quickly, sometimes. So just give it time. There's a really good chance you'll get different offer soon.
Second, Capital One CSAs don't really have any power to override the algorithm. Don't get upset that they couldn't help you. Everything at Cap One is automated and the CSR are just talking heads.
Third, even if the AF posts, they will prorate a refund if you switch to a different card a few months later. You've already given up a triple hard pull to get the QSO, might as well wait it out and get the upgrade. It probably can eventually become a Savor.
You’re on the right path. Paying off your balances and maintaining a perfect payment history are two of the most powerful moves for long-term credit health; great job recognizing utilization as your main issue and tackling it directly.
Now that you’ve paid everything off; your scores should rebound significantly once the new balances update across your reports; especially since your mix, history, and new credit are all in good standing.
Here are a few tips going forward. Wait for scores to update before applying for better cards; let that low utilization reflect on all three bureaus first. Keep your oldest cards open; even if they’re low-tier; they’re valuable for age of credit history. Strategically replace cards over time; once your score improves and you qualify for better cards with no annual fees and higher limits; you can slowly phase out the low-tier ones. Don’t apply for too many at once; space them out by 3 to 6 months to avoid hard inquiry spikes and new account penalties. Consider product changes; some issuers will let you upgrade without a new account or hard pull.
You’ve done the hard part already; now it’s just patience and smart planning from here.
