who knows how credit actually works ?

-
I'm no credit card expert but my own system has worked perfectly for me.

I have one credit card that I pay off every month. Once in a while I may forget to pay it off for a few days so I might accumulate $3 of interest a year. After a couple years of buying food/gas etc with it, I had a 785 credit score. I bought a house and it dropped my credit way down. A year or so later I was back up to 700 and I'm sure I'm back to where I was in the beginning.

Too many people go around carrying balances thinking it's ok because it helps their credit. Well who cares if it helps their credit if they're paying extra money to the credit card companies for it? You don't have to pay them a damn thing to build your credit up. Use your credit card to keep from carrying cash around. Don't use it to purchase things you can't afford. Just keep to the simple rule of never spending money you don't already have. You don't need a new couch or new car right this minute. Rough it out, save the money and then go pay with your card and pay it off with the cash you saved. Now you have what you want and you have a high credit score as well. You do it the other way and you have what you want but with built up debt and a lower credit score. It's a lose lose.
 
AdamR said:
I just paid off a credit card that I dont plan on using anymore, Is it best to call and close the account ?
Click to expand...

No, keep the account open or you will end up with a lower credit score. They like it when you have available credit that you are not using.
 
ESP47 said:
I'm no credit card expert but my own system has worked perfectly for me.

I have one credit card that I pay off every month. Once in a while I may forget to pay it off for a few days so I might accumulate $3 of interest a year. After a couple years of buying food/gas etc with it, I had a 785 credit score. I bought a house and it dropped my credit way down. A year or so later I was back up to 700 and I'm sure I'm back to where I was in the beginning.

Too many people go around carrying balances thinking it's ok because it helps their credit. Well who cares if it helps their credit if they're paying extra money to the credit card companies for it? You don't have to pay them a damn thing to build your credit up. Use your credit card to keep from carrying cash around. Don't use it to purchase things you can't afford. Just keep to the simple rule of never spending money you don't already have. You don't need a new couch or new car right this minute. Rough it out, save the money and then go pay with your card and pay it off with the cash you saved. Now you have what you want and you have a high credit score as well. You do it the other way and you have what you want but with built up debt and a lower credit score. It's a lose lose.
Click to expand...

I had no credit till I bought things I couldnt afford and paid them off. No way could I ever save enough to buy a $13000 car or even the furniture Ive been promising my wife for years. But Ive also learned what I can afford to pay off and what I cant so when I did get credit for the second time I didnt put myself in the same position I did when I was in my early 20s which took me almost 10 years to straighten out.
 
Redfish hit the homer on this one ,the credit card companies want to make a little off you and that helps your score , call Mastercard and tell them you are thinking of dropping a competitors card but don't want to lose the available credit and I bet they offer to raise your limit to cover what you had an probably a little more because you took the time to call and ask , you don't have to ever use the extra limit but you now have increased your available credit without buying anything . People spend a lot of time worrying about credit score and trying to buy their way up when the reality is if you save your money and buy with cash you will have the cash on hand to make a bigger down payment on the house you want and someone will lend you the money because you will have a better loan value in the house by putting more down up front , remember mortgages are sold to investors not held by banks as people think and if you can put 20% down instead of 5 %or 10 % you will get the loan you want .
 
I got my self into credit card HELL...between remodeling a few houses, starting a business...teen age daughters...all kinds of excuses. Over 90K in debt just a few short years ago...CRAP. This year we will be completely out of credit card debt. Only about 2k to go. Yes it feels very good. Never again. My wife and I only do cash. We have no car payments. Pretty soon I can tackle that mortgage.
I'd cut it up.
 
First and most important rule on credit card use:
NEVER, EVER put anything on the card, that you will not have when the bill arrives.
 
how it works...

You get as much as you can, charge the ever loving crap out of it, don't pay your bill and file BK... at least that's how my sisters douchebag husband has done it MULTIPLE times. Then complain about how f'd up it is to buy things and soaring costs.

Adam, keep the card open, if you don't plan or want to use it, cut it up. If the provider decides to kill the account at some point in time, so be it. Just make sure there isn't a yearly fee if you decide to keep it.
 
Put it up, every 2-3 months or so, buy something like a tank of gas and pay it off when the bill comes. This will actually help your credit.

Just lock it back up after your once a quarter purchase!!!!
 
MommaCat said:
Put it up, every 2-3 months or so, buy something like a tank of gas and pay it off when the bill comes. This will actually help your credit.

Just lock it back up after your once a quarter purchase!!!!
Click to expand...

The Problem is its a dell computers account. Not a regular card so I would have to buy a new computer every 1/4. No thanks, LOL
 
Don't close the account, as others have mentioned. That will hurt your credit score. Leave it open and just cut up the card if you think you could be tempted to use it.

If you can qualify for a major bank card, get one and use it occasionally. Never charge up more than 1/2 of the available credit line IMO. That will keep your debt ratio looking good to the credit bureaus.
 
cannucky said:
Redfish hit the homer on this one ,the credit card companies want to make a little off you and that helps your score , call Mastercard and tell them you are thinking of dropping a competitors card but don't want to lose the available credit and I bet they offer to raise your limit to cover what you had an probably a little more because you took the time to call and ask , you don't have to ever use the extra limit but you now have increased your available credit without buying anything . People spend a lot of time worrying about credit score and trying to buy their way up when the reality is if you save your money and buy with cash you will have the cash on hand to make a bigger down payment on the house you want and someone will lend you the money because you will have a better loan value in the house by putting more down up front , remember mortgages are sold to investors not held by banks as people think and if you can put 20% down instead of 5 %or 10 % you will get the loan you want .
Click to expand...

I'll have to disagree with some of the comments about home mortgage. A home mortgage is the very least interest rate you will pay. Automobile is about the same. Finance with minimum down stroke if you can and keep your own money in the bank or somewhere that pays 2%. At least it only costs 2% to keep your money. Remember if you give all your money away then need some, the credit card sourse is too convienient and too expensive.
Loan insurance that makes the monthly installment when you cant is worth every penny too.
In my opinion a reverse mortgage is probably the very worst financial move but it is a popular trend today. I honestly beleive the reverse mortgage trend is the underlying reason for the properly value decrease that occured a couple years ago.
There I go getting off topic again.
 
crackedback said:
how it works...

You get as much as you can, charge the ever loving crap out of it, don't pay your bill and file BK... at least that's how my sisters douchebag husband has done it MULTIPLE times. Then complain about how f'd up it is to buy things and soaring costs.
Click to expand...

Lets not forget GM, Mopar and countless other businesses did the same freaken thing. Now the "new" GM wants 10 billion in credit..would I trust them again, ha ha ha

Gets me so tick off, I never abused my credit and always paid my bills on time but yeah I know of low life's who took out loans on their home and partied most the money away and then filed Bankruptcy..low life is still living in the home since its value has crashed cause the other people did the same ****

Just cause you have credit doesn't mean you have to use it. I have let credit cards sit for years, then the bank sent me a new card cause the old one expired so I started using it again.

If you got little self control then yes close the account but you really should just put it in a safe place and not use it but its there just in case of emergency...and a mid life crisis is not an emergency, lol
 
Get rid of it.You have other cards you can use and too many credit cars will hurt your score.Lets say you get a loan a year from now and still have the card with zero balance.It will hurt you some because you have the credit there to use at anytime,so more possible debt.Just get rid of it if you do not need it.It is best for your credit score to keep your credit cards at about 1/2 of there limit.I used to kee 3 credit card now I only keep one and a revolingaccount at the bank.Last year my score was at 820 now that I more debt it is at 719.It took me awhile to figure out how to keep my score above 700.The best score you can have is 850.
 
Business credit (at the multimillion $ corporate level) and consumer credit are two wildly different things.

Put a bar tab on a card? Sure.

Put 90K on a card when you bring home 50K- uh, no!

Put $900 on a card if you can pay back $940 in three months- OK.

Keep a Dell card open for more than 3 years-

I'm gonna hafta say no, but...

I'd keep it open for a while, then maybe apply for a more general card...then close the Dell card.

...and on the asking for more credit or a better rate- I asked Cap 1 for a rate to match a card offer I got in the mail. They said no. I said, fine I'll cancell- they didn't care. WTF, they lost every penny of my future finance charges. All over 1.75%.
Whatever.
 
it is good to spend a few dollars on it and paying it off immediately every once in a while.
 
hemitheus said:
it is good to spend a few dollars on it and paying it off immediately every once in a while.
Click to expand...
I learned that the hard way when I got one of my credit limits cut because I never used the card for a couple of years. That is when I changed patterns of using my cards.

I have a bunch of credit cards. I have one card I always use and I pick two additional cards a month and use those three. When the statement comes in I pay the balance in full plus $10.00 just in case. The reason I use the one card is it pays me a percentage as high as 5% on items I buy. My home owners insurance takes credit cars at no cost to me so I charged the whole year’s premium and got 2% rebate back. Since I paid the card in full I made money using their credit card. I charge all medical bills as they come in and I get 1% but that also makes accounting easier at the end of the year for tax reasons. The other two cards I use that month are nickel and dime purchases since they don’t give me any rebates.

Right now because of health reasons my business will not support a large debt but I am on the verge of turning the corner. Since I have kept the credit cards and rotated them my credit rating is real good. I can borrow money at the bank at any area bank at a good rate.

The biggest thing is you must control your cards and not let them get out of control. The more cards you have the more you can get. Never take a card that you have to pay a yearly membership for. The free interest for 6 months is just dangling bait in front of people and the credit card companies know that most people will never be able to pay them off during that time. If you can’t control your cards then get rid of them because they can sink you.
 
AdamR said:
I had no credit till I bought things I couldnt afford and paid them off. No way could I ever save enough to buy a $13000 car or even the furniture Ive been promising my wife for years. But Ive also learned what I can afford to pay off and what I cant so when I did get credit for the second time I didnt put myself in the same position I did when I was in my early 20s which took me almost 10 years to straighten out.
Click to expand...

Well to each his own. I was just trying to tell you that you can build your credit by buying sandwiches or packs of gum at the gas station. You don't have to make big purchases and pay interest to build credit. I know it's tough to save $13k, but if you can wait a year to get that car or living room set, then you can save up a few thousand that can cut $1000 off the money you put into it after payments are done.
 
Not sure what you make a year but theres no way Im saving 13K in a year. Maybe $1300 if Im lucky.
 
I got more credit then I make in a year - make that 2 years

There is no way I get $20,000 credit on a card today if I tried yet cause I got in long ago, I still have it. Believe my banker knows cause a few times they offer to "sign" me up for a new credit card but I decline every time. I use the card every month but only charge $50 - $150 on it each month and always pay it off in full.

In past credit was easy to get. Once I closed an account and they rolled over my credit from the old card to the new card - how that one card has $20,000 of credit. My other cards have over $10,000 each on them.

My credit score is 750, was a bit higher a few years back, I believe anything over 720 is great - not certain. Home ownership helps which I don't own a home

The big thing is not to let other people use your credit cards and keep them hidden out of sight. (mine are in a book, looking at it you never know what is inside till you flip the pages)
 
Oklacarcollecto said:


I learned that the hard way when I got one of my credit limits cut because I never used the card for a couple of years. That is when I changed patterns of using my cards.

]
Click to expand...

Bank of America is the best bank for doing that. They should talk, buying Countrywide was the dumbest thing they ever did

They cut my credit so I did cancel it. Told them to keep their cards, I want nothing to do with that dumb bank, lol
 
B of A is the most unfriendly, unwilling to listen, holier that thou financial institution I have ever tried to do business with. I will NEVER do business with them as long as I live. Cap 1 is a close second.

OTOH, I highly reccomend BB&T. Nothing but good.

I also tried TD....took them THREE WEEKS to get back to me- no thanks.
 
YY1 said:
B of A is the most unfriendly, unwilling to listen, holier that thou financial institution I have ever tried to do business with. I will NEVER do business with them as long as I live. Cap 1 is a close second.

OTOH, I highly reccomend BB&T. Nothing but good.

I also tried TD....took them THREE WEEKS to get back to me- no thanks.
Click to expand...


I really like Chase myself. As other companies have gone under Chase has taken many of the over so now I am blessed with Chase cards.

I hate GE Money which is the PayPal card bank. I have gone round more times with them. Example, my due date would be today and I have already paid my bill at the first of the month. Tomorrow I pay what I charged this month since we are in a new cycle. November bill I get a late charge for a missed payment. I went through this twice with them to find out I have to wait 8 days after the due date of the previous bill to pay the bill. They have credited my account each time but I find it amazing that they take 8 days when all my other cards are able to be paid the next day after the due date. GE Money no longer gets my business because I rerouted my payment to another card.

I swear this must be the problem with GE Money.
 

Attachments

  • afghan-crank.jpg
    71.6 KB · Views: 144
Im in my early 20's and over the past few years ive dug myself into a whole with credit. To be honest i hate having cards i became addicted to the idea of having what i want when i want it. Well after countless cards ive paid about 5 off and have 3 left to a total of about 20k. (8k of that it snap on that nice shiny truck is evil) i had great credit i was up about 800 since then it has dropped to 630. I had to have my fiance cosign a consolidation loan to help save on interest. She took all my cards and ive learned my lesson instead of saving for a house im using every last penny to pay the cards off. Credit cards are evil i say pay it off cut it up and never use it again or like others have said use it once in awhile. But after they get paid off im using cash only. Saving like hell and buying a home. Canceling cards only affects your credit for about 3 months from what a financial advisor told me. As long as u only cancel like 1-2 a year. I have my fiance keep them shes very good with her cards so she will not give them to me at all.
 
Thats what my wife did when we first met. Racked a bunch of cards up and couldnt afford to pay them off. I never got that deep but it still took me a while to straighten it all out. Im pretty anal about paying everything early and if i cant pay it in full I pay atleast twice the minimum payment.
 
Keep the card, use it once every month or 2 and pay it off but keep it. You can't even rent a car without a major credit card. You need it to buy on the internet. If you pay for something with it and it turns out to be a POS you can challenge the charge and get your money back even if the merchant does not cooperate. Tons of reasons to keep it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top