A Credit Card Question

[WylieCoyote]

^^^ Perfectly Said ^^^
Same here and the cards I use are for cash back on top of it, what you describe is what my wife and I do. Right now we just finished off a car payment so that was gone maybe last year. (14 months ahead of time making extra principle payments steadily meaning not lump sum, not more one month and less the next, steady I think is key) We do treat our 30 year mortgage as a 15 year mortgage and automatically every month, the same extra amount of money to be applied to principle is paid. All set up in my online bank bill pay.

True story, Ive been on this planet for a long time been in some way dealing with finances in my own life and other peoples indirectly. Im not in anyway saying this to boast about it, I was just taken by surprise and I didnt even know or think it could happen.(or would ever happen to me)

We run the same scores you do, but not more then two years back for 3 months a row (and only 3 months) my score was reported as 850 on the 850 FICO scale. (these days they have other scales too)
It doesnt matter that it did hit that but it was cool that it happened to me since I am into these things, sometimes like a competition with my wife. Fun thing for us. But it never hit that again and now I get frustrated! *LOL* and that's ok though at least I can remember one time in my life that it did. 🙃

I managed to get to 850 once in 2017 when I bought my CX-3. I hadn't done anything differently than I've done in the last decade, so I really don't know what caused it, but the financing office loved me I got the Mazda 0%. It's never been to 850 since that day. They'll keep you down one way or the other. They can't make up their minds if they like my $0 balance credit card or not.

 

[GON]

I managed to get to 850 once in 2017 when I bought my CX-3. I hadn't done anything differently than I've done in the last decade, so I really don't know what caused it, but the financing office loved me I got the Mazda 0%. It's never been to 850 since that day. They'll keep you down one way or the other. They can't make up their minds if they like my $0 balance credit card or not.

WC,

To supplement that- people with 800 plus credit scores are not a financial intuitions best customer, far from it. A financial intuitions best customer is someone who pays their bills, and often late.

The entire credit score thing is a con job. It is a way of telling someone they have to pay a higher rate of interest, and justify it with a credit score. The scoring model is designed to consistently find ways to lower ones score, and thus have to pay a higher interest rate- at times regardless of that person's past credit history or current/ future ability to repay a loan.

Don't be fooled the big banks are not behind the credit score model. The big banks are the biggest subscribers to credit score agencies- the big banks dictate how the score should be calculated. they may not own the credit score firms, but they surely dictate to the credit score firms.

Someone posted in this thread their Dad had one loan his entire life, a 11 percent mortgage in which he paid off quickly. My speculation is this Dad had a rock solid bank account, and the banks did grow rich with his money. I know all the doom and gloom one has to have credit. We have allowed this to happen as a country. Hats off to the folks that don't give the banks a easy payday, either directly of indirectly.

 

[tbm5690]

The entire credit score thing is a con job. It is a way of telling someone they have to pay a higher rate of interest, and justify it with a credit score. The scoring model is designed to consistently find ways to lower ones score, and thus have to pay a higher interest rate- at times regardless of that person's past credit history or current/ future ability to repay a loan.

I've had nothing but an increase in score minus one or two "temporary" hits when opening a new line. I'm 32 and have had low 800s since my mid 20s. Paying off student loans were the primary contributor, never had a car payment. Increase in credit has also helped...the same card I opened in college with a $500 limit reached a limit of about $20k. Still have it open for the sake of old accounts helping the score although I never use it anymore. I know the system is rigged against the users but people also have to be willing to play the game and make good decisions. My 2 cents.

 

[hrv]

I've had nothing but an increase in score minus one or two "temporary" hits when opening a new line. I'm 32 and have had low 800s since my mid 20s. Paying off student loans were the primary contributor, never had a car payment. Increase in credit has also helped...the same card I opened in college with a $500 limit reached a limit of about $20k. Still have it open for the sake of old accounts helping the score although I never use it anymore. I know the system is rigged against the users but people also have to be willing to play the game and make good decisions. My 2 cents.

Paying off your student loans..... Thats a novel idea....Good job...

 

[KJH]

If you do not keep a balance and the card has no annual fee(a large portion of them nowadays), then there is virtually no downside to using a CC. The bogus quasi-market economic system that has developed in this country and the world through over financial-ization and monetary policy is, on a macro level, indeed complete BS, but unless you want to go off-grid lifestyle you gotta play the game and a CC has advantages to those who don't use them improperly. The CC's make money off of those who are lured with the incentives they offer then do not pay balance and get wrecked with interest. If you simply never have to pay interest the incentives are nothing but a benefit, albeit usually small. If you want to get large gains from CC's it does require much more effort, such as managing cost/benefit for the high-annual fee but high rewards cards, choosing which card to use for what spending to yield maximum rewards, funneling rewards to were they yield maximum value based on your own needs/wants, taking advantage of intro 0% apr for planned large purchases etc.

 

[WylieCoyote]

If you do not keep a balance and the card has no annual fee(a large portion of them nowadays), then there is virtually no downside to using a CC. The bogus quasi-market economic system that has developed in this country and the world through over financial-ization and monetary policy is, on a macro level, indeed complete BS, but unless you want to go off-grid lifestyle you gotta play the game and a CC has advantages to those who don't use them improperly. The CC's make money off of those who are lured with the incentives they offer then do not pay balance and get wrecked with interest. If you simply never have to pay interest the incentives are nothing but a benefit, albeit usually small. If you want to get large gains from CC's it does require much more effort, such as managing cost/benefit for the high-annual fee but high rewards cards, choosing which card to use for what spending to yield maximum rewards, funneling rewards to were they yield maximum value based on your own needs/wants, taking advantage of intro 0% apr for planned large purchases etc.

Every single thing I purchase, except gas, and a small number of purchases made at Target on their card, goes on my BOA cc. I get between 1% and 3% cash back on all of it, and I pay it off at the end of the month. I'm probably one of BOA's worst customers, besides the ones who don't pay at all.

I'm kind of sniffing around for a cash back card that gives better rewards. If you have any suggestions, please lay them on me.

 

[KJH]

Every single thing I purchase, except gas, and a small number of purchases made at Target on their card, goes on my BOA cc. I get between 1% and 3% cash back on all of it, and I pay it off at the end of the month. I'm probably one of BOA's worst customers, besides the ones who don't pay at all.

I'm kind of sniffing around for a cash back card that gives better rewards. If you have any suggestions, please lay them on me.

Depends entirely on your income and spending habits and what you plan to spend on in the future (short, medium, long term). There are so many cards out there that do very different things, you can optimize as much as you want, like the poster in here who has rewards funneled into his brokerage etc. I usually go on nerdwallet, their rankings are ok, but they list all the relevant info in the most organized way i have found which is why i like it.

1-3% is pretty good and you probably wont get much higher than that with the basic no annual fee cash back cards (discounting their intro instant cashback), the best cards in that category are 1.5%-5%(Chase freedom unlimited) and 2% flat(Wells Fargo Active Cash). To get better than that and if your monthly spending is moderate to high, you gotta research the annual fee cards that offer better rewards and find one that suits your spending to get max cash-back. Some popular ones in that category are the Chase Sapphire and Cap1 Venture, but the rewards variability depending on what you purchase w/ it gets crazy in this category and beyond so it really just depends on what you spend on.

 

[tbm5690]

Depends entirely on your income and spending habits and what you plan to spend on in the future (short, medium, long term). There are so many cards out there that do very different things, you can optimize as much as you want, like the poster in here who has rewards funneled into his brokerage etc. I usually go on nerdwallet, their rankings are ok, but they list all the relevant info in the most organized way i have found which is why i like it.

1-3% is pretty good and you probably wont get much higher than that with the basic no annual fee cash back cards (discounting their intro instant cashback), the best cards in that category are 1.5%-5%(Chase freedom unlimited) and 2% flat(Wells Fargo Active Cash). To get better than that and if your monthly spending is moderate to high, you gotta research the annual fee cards that offer better rewards and find one that suits your spending to get max cash-back. Some popular ones in that category are the Chase Sapphire and Cap1 Venture, but the rewards variability depending on what you purchase w/ it gets crazy in this category and beyond so it really just depends on what you spend on.

Capital One earning schemes on the Venture and Venture X are pretty straight forward and basically flat rate, with increases for certain travel categories when using their booking service. IMO the Venture for most people wanting a travel card is the way to go.

 

[eljefino]

Or how a bank is going " to get us" some way - some day. That's a nonsensical argument.

Sure they are. Here's an example from back in 2005 or so:

I had a citi card. Statement generated on the 10th of the month. I log on on the 11th, see my balance, pay it off.

A charge from the 9th was floating around for a while and hit the card later, giving me a statement balance of five bucks for that billing cycle.

My dingbat wife loses her wallet, I call citi and cancel the card in order to get a new one etc.

They take their time sending a new one. Meanwhile they lock me out of my online account "because of fraud."

Then to reopen my online account I need them to snail-mail me a password.

Then because my account is "new" they only let me pay $1000, not the entire balance, in case I'm using a hijacked checking account.

Long story short, they did the two-month averaging thing and charged me five bucks interest on a five dollar balance.

Could I have done some things differently? Absolutely. But it's a game where the house has all the advantages.

 

[CKN]

Sure they are. Here's an example from back in 2005 or so:

I had a citi card. Statement generated on the 10th of the month. I log on on the 11th, see my balance, pay it off.

A charge from the 9th was floating around for a while and hit the card later, giving me a statement balance of five bucks for that billing cycle.

My dingbat wife loses her wallet, I call citi and cancel the card in order to get a new one etc.

They take their time sending a new one. Meanwhile they lock me out of my online account "because of fraud."

Then to reopen my online account I need them to snail-mail me a password.

Then because my account is "new" they only let me pay $1000, not the entire balance, in case I'm using a hijacked checking account.

Long story short, they did the two-month averaging thing and charged me five bucks interest on a five dollar balance.

Could I have done some things differently? Absolutely. But it's a game where the house has all the advantages.

I have had credit cards for over 30 years. Never a issue - not a single one. Have very large monthly balances-paid off by due date. I have an 824 FICO. I borrow money, want a new card-I have banks, credit unions, loan officers standing in line to loan me money.

I get hundreds in rebates every year. Remind why I shouldn't have credit cards......

 

[dishdude]

I have had credit cards for over 30 years. Never a issue - not a single one. Have very large monthly balances-paid off by due date. I have an 824 FICO. I borrow money, want a new card-I have banks, credit unions, loan officers standing in line to loan me money.

I get hundreds in rebates every year. Remind why I shouldn't have credit cards......

Because everyone knows cash is king 🤣

 

[Pablo]

Not that anyone cares, but I WAS in the 820-830+'s.

Then I changed health insurance (costs $400 LESS, COBRA ended had to switch), got a $6000 limit WalMart.com CapitolOne 5% card to buy precious metals from WMT, and I changed phone carriers - all involved credit checks.

"Your credit score has DECREASED by 32 points since last month."

Nothing FINANCIALLY changed, in fact maybe more room in the $ department. We never carry balances over. No debt, well wait the zero interest iPhone 14 scheme with T-Mobile. (overall bill will be LESS ironically)

I get it, I get it. But really this tells you something about +/- 30-40-50 points on your credit score. It ain't braggin' rights.

 

[alarmguy]

I have had credit cards for over 30 years. Never a issue - not a single one. Have very large monthly balances-paid off by due date. I have an 824 FICO. I borrow money, want a new card-I have banks, credit unions, loan officers standing in line to loan me money.

I get hundreds in rebates every year. Remind why I shouldn't have credit cards......

Because the credit cards come from those big BAD evil banks that lend people money when they ask. Such evil in this world!
I too, benefit greatly from credit cards, never carried a balance and my wife and are in the thousands of free money/cash back over the years.
Roughly around 1k a year.

 

[PW01]

You've totally missed the point of my question. I'm not concerned about my lower score, or it "bouncing back." I am just curious as to why the card company may have increased my credit limit at this time (lower score, owing lotsa $$$, and having turned down a request for an increase earlier). Of course I pay my bills in a timely manner ...

Probably because you got close to your limit. They are increasing their opportunity to make more money off of you

 

[alarmguy]

Every single thing I purchase, except gas, and a small number of purchases made at Target on their card, goes on my BOA cc. I get between 1% and 3% cash back on all of it, and I pay it off at the end of the month. I'm probably one of BOA's worst customers, besides the ones who don't pay at all.

I'm kind of sniffing around for a cash back card that gives better rewards. If you have any suggestions, please lay them on me.

1. 2% on everything all year = Citicard and Wellsfargo

2. 5% on categories that change 4 times a year. (I love this one) right now until Jan 1st its 5% off all purchases made with Apple Pay and at Amazon.com = Discover Card (PS every summer for 3 months 5% off everyplace we eat and we eat out a lot in the summer and vacations)

3. 3% on gasoline and groceries = American Express

Finally as you know all the above cards have many different "programs" The above is what we use, however my wife has a Citicard that is a variation of my Citicard her card gives 5% of the category for the month that she spends the most on. So we choose to only buy gas or eat out with her card and that gives us 5% back