Improving Your Credit Score

[Atfulldraw]

The apps I use...




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[Ryan81]

The apps I use...




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What is nerd wallet?


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[txwhitetail]

I use a lot on my for business and its the same way. If i pay it "early" or before the monthly statement it stays up. If i wait and pay after the statement comes in it may jack it up to 50% of available credit or something and will drop credit score 50 pts sometimes.

[Reelthreat]

My score was 815 when we bought our house... I paid off all debt (our two cars) and cancelled a couple of CCs. A few years later I went to finance an SUV for my wife and my score was 612. WTH! I went and got a points CC that I pay off each month and my score is now 780.

It's all B.S.!

[glen]

I have one CC I use for everything and pay the balance off weekly. Don’t really care about credit score as I don’t plan on ever needing any real credit in the future. I have not checked my score in a few years. If you are not going to pay a CC off before you are charged any interest it is a bad idea to use

[Mike D]

I have one CC I use for everything and pay the balance off weekly. Don’t really care about credit score as I don’t plan on ever needing any real credit in the future. I have not checked my score in a few years. If you are not going to pay a CC off before you are charged any interest it is a bad idea to use

This is exactly what I do. I’ve had this card for almost 9 years now and have never paid a penny in interest.

Don’t care what my score is either.


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[Pushbutton2]

Makes sense.
Following for more tips. I’m about to pay off some credit cards and was told instead of paying them off completely, to leave a small balance on each one. Is this true?


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In 2002 our house was foreclosed on.
Didn't pay them. My fault. I was out before they said I had to be out. We left the house spotless clean.

Shortly before that we had a 10k total I. Credit Cards. They was maxed out, we was making minimum monthly payments. We had poor spending habits. Anyways. Wife's dad died we got $72k life insurance. 10k paid a lawyer, he didn't have a will. $10k paid off credit cards. Ain't had one since. I pay cash or don't get it.
I'm 47 now. Tried getting a $2,500 loan from bank to buy my pickup. They said no. You have no credit. We need a credit score of 600.

So I'm trying to build my credit. @ 47 flipping years!

I said all that to say I wouldn't give them up. I'd use them but pay them off monthly

[kmitchl]

I have one CC I use for everything and pay the balance off weekly. Don’t really care about credit score as I don’t plan on ever needing any real credit in the future. I have not checked my score in a few years. If you are not going to pay a CC off before you are charged any interest it is a bad idea to use

The fallacy in this logic is your credit score is used by insurance companies to set the rates they charge you. So credit score is not all about needing a loan or financing a purchase.

[kmitchl]

I just do not understand getting a CC for the points reason. Aren't most CC'ed capped on points and will this offset the interest charged?

Now, I do carry an Amex that my company pays each month. I do this purely on its easier to itemize a statement. But for personal use, we do not have a CC as we live with our means "if you cant pay cash, you cant afford it".

For those claiming needing debit for credit, go to the bank and show them your assets, you will get a lone just fine.

You are correct. Some credit cards do cap the cash back you can earn. But at the end of this process I had enough cash back accumulated to buy a $1700 table saw. You can change table saw to rifle, pistol, hunting blind, UTV trailer, etc. I paid no interest because the balance was paid off every month.

[kmitchl]

I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about credit and credit cards. In the last 18 years, I’ve never had this happen or heard of it happening to anyone. It’s extremly unlikely that a credit card company is going to lower your limit for no reason (inactivity). I have a card that I have not used in over 5yrs (zero activity) and my limit continues to increase.

Home Depot did this to me. IMO they are the worst. I think Citicorp issues the HD cards. I got sucked into a HD credit card by their $75 credit offer. Initially I had a $5k credit limit. I never used the card after the initial purchase. Next thing I know my credit score is dinged by their lowering my credit limit to $2.5k with no notice. Now the cashiers at HD get a pretty snappy answer when they offer me a credit card. I suspect they get some sort of compensation for getting you to sign up.

[tigerscowboy]

Any account not used should be closed IMO.

Gap, Macy's, VS, whatever either of you have opened. If you don't use the account, close it.

[BertramBass]

What is nerd wallet?


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I believe nerd wallet will give you your vantage score as opposed to fica...

[huntingjunkie]

I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about credit and credit cards. In the last 18 years, I’ve never had this happen or heard of it happening to anyone. It’s extremly unlikely that a credit card company is going to lower your limit for no reason (inactivity). I have a card that I have not used in over 5yrs (zero activity) and my limit continues to increase.

This happened to me. It's been a number of years ago now, but I paid my card down to a zero balance and didn't use it again. It was an emergency card if you will. I went to use it about a year after I paid it off and it declined. Called Discover to see what was going on and they closed my account for 6 consecutive months of inactivity. Because of this, I'll still buy lunch or gas or something on my credit cards periodically to keep this from happening.

[BrianL]

This happened to me. It's been a number of years ago now, but I paid my card down to a zero balance and didn't use it again. It was an emergency card if you will. I went to use it about a year after I paid it off and it declined. Called Discover to see what was going on and they closed my account for 6 consecutive months of inactivity. Because of this, I'll still buy lunch or gas or something on my credit cards periodically to keep this from happening.

There are several reasons companies do this, and I have done it with my credit card program that I run. Few of the reasons, contingent liability to the financial institution(FI) has to be reported in gov't reporting and on financials. Accounting for future losses, a contingent liability is a factor. Fraud is the biggest risk to a FI. We don't like writing off fraud losses. It cost money to maintain a credit card account if a customer isn't using it no need to maintain that account.

[GarrettH]

I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about credit and credit cards. In the last 18 years, I’ve never had this happen or heard of it happening to anyone. It’s extremly unlikely that a credit card company is going to lower your limit for no reason (inactivity). I have a card that I have not used in over 5yrs (zero activity) and my limit continues to increase.

I had it happen to me!