Confessions of an Addict

Discussion in 'Credit Talk' started by Mark LA, May 7, 2002.

  1. lbrown59

    lbrown59 Well-Known Member

    Way ta go:
    Everybody should be giving the crooks more of their business so we can cry more about it when they put the screws to folks.
    Don't u though~?
     
  2. Mist

    Mist Well-Known Member

    I have 5 Major Credit Cards - all Platinum

    Juniper $17,500 CL Bal $0
    CitiBank Select $10,900 Bal $0
    CitiBank AAWorld $15,000 Bal $0
    ATT Universal $15,000 Bal $0
    FirstUSA $12,000 Bal $6000 @ 4.99 til paid (just used a x-fer this week til I can get another 0% offer)

    Two retail cards which I almost never use
    Strawbridges $500 Bal $0
    Kohl's $300 Bal $0



    In June of last year I just had

    FirstUSA $12,000
    Peoples $4,000

    Peoples decided not to renew my card in January (with a 747 EQ FICO!!!) so it's closed now.

    I had expected to have all $0 balances by now but had a few wrenches thrown into my plan but am on track again to be credit card debt free by late fall.

    EQ 731
    EX 705
    TU 758
     
  3. marci

    marci Well-Known Member

    Congrats, Mist. I hope that you reach your CC debt free goal. I'm right behind you!
     
  4. ted75

    ted75 Well-Known Member

    When is it a "liability"

    I see lots of members with LOT$ of accumulated credit...Great Job!

    However, I could have sworn I read a post a few months ago about the optimal number of credit cards, loans, retail cards, etc... that would optimize your score... or...is this a "myth."

    I have the following...and worried that any more would hurt my score...

    Cap1 Gold - $1500
    Cap1 Kmart Gold - $4500
    My Credit Union Visa Gold - $5000
    My Credit Union Line of Credit - $2500
    Target Guest Card - $400
    PayPal Visa - $1500

    my current scores listed below...
     
  5. Mist

    Mist Well-Known Member

    Thanks Marci,
    Last June I was pretty maxed out and my EQ was only 621 at one point, primarily because of utilization ratios.

    After buying my new house I stupidly listened to the mortgage broker and had closed a slew of credit lines. What a fool - it tanked my ratios and thus my score.

    Certainly I was in pretty deep, but their advice only caused me to have problems with Peoples trying to jack my rate from 13.99% to 27.99% because of the tanked score and ratios. That was actually a blessing because if that hadn't have happened to me I wouldn't have found CreditNet and I probably would have continued to ignore my debt - most of which my hubby didn't know I had. Now I can come clean - LOL.

    In addition to about 14,500 in cc debt at the time (last June) I had a LOC I owed 2700 on. In 10 months I've paid off abt. $11,000 - feels good!
     
  6. Mist

    Mist Well-Known Member

    Re: When is it a "liability"

    Ted,

    No need to worry about having too much with what you've listed.


    You have...

    4 Major CC's
    1 Retail CC
    1 LOC

    and you only have $15,400 of CL.

    What is the total of your balances? That's a key component.

    If you owe more than 25% of the total Credit available your scores will be lower. Get more credit (or pay down debt) and your scores go higher.

    I do think too many cards can eventually hurt the score but it seems the biggest jumps in scores I've gotten have been when I added additional available credit. Many here can attest to the same thing.

    If I were you, my plan would be to try to get some prime cards with big CL's - let them age to 1 year and then close a couple of the ones which have small CL's and won't give you increases. When deciding which ones to close it's a good rule of thumb to keep your oldest cc account open.

    Of course, it's always a good idea to also have a debt reduction plan. Quicken is terrific for helping you budget, track expenses, and put a plan together which you can then follow.
     
  7. Mark LA

    Mark LA Well-Known Member

    repky to lbrown

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    "Way ta go:
    Everybody should be giving the crooks more of their business so we can cry more about it when they put the screws to folks."
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    While i did admit to the addictive nature of apply for ccs online, and while i'm aware of the downfalls of having too many cards - there is an upside, in my opinion.
    if someone does try to "screw u over" with higher interest rates, etc - at least you have other cards that you can transfer balances to.
     
  8. Mist

    Mist Well-Known Member

    Re: repky to lbrown

    EXACTLY!
     
  9. Mark LA

    Mark LA Well-Known Member

    score effect

    I'm waiting to see how the negative and positive factors will affect scores
    Negative: two new accounts on the report (when they post) and the hard inquires
    Positive - better debt cl ratio when cards post
    i wonder which has more of an effect on the score
     
  10. lbrown59

    lbrown59 Well-Known Member

    Re: repky to lbrown

    Well that is one way to look at it!
     
  11. Mark LA

    Mark LA Well-Known Member

    Re: reply to lbrown

    just out of curiousity lb - how many cards do you have?
    hope you don't mind me asking
     
  12. lbrown59

    lbrown59 Well-Known Member

    Re: reply to lbrown

    About 8 total.
    I use one for my ISP.I don't use it for anything else and I never carry a balance on it.

    I have another one I use the same way for my cell phone and another card is handled the same way for long distance phone service.

    ================================
    My idea is to use cards for convenience not to make the banks rich.
     

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