Unfortunately there's no way to know which is better for you other than by just sitting down and running your numbers. However, unless you spend an absolute **** ton on groceries and plan to never get another credit card again you for sure are better off getting the CSP. And then when you are comfortable with it in another year or two, get another new card with a new sign up bonus. Even going at that super slow of a rate of new cards you'll still be far ahead of where you'd be just getting 3% back on groceries for example.

Man, Credit Karma is quick, just had a hard pull for a mortgage refi and boom, email. Thanks for the six point hit, lender.

I missed one payment on my mortgage. I missed December's payment but I didn't catch that. It was an autopayment issue (caused by me) for trying to change what date payments get paid.
It didn't show on my January statement via mail. It didn't show in February statement either. I only caught it by signing back in online. I immediately paid up and am now current. When I called they gave me some line about why it didn't show. I think this lending company is garbage..
But it now shows as a missed payment on my credit report and has dropped my score by 75 points. It's my only late payment. Is there any chance of getting this cleared? If yes, how? Contact lender?

I have my mortgage setup with USAA. Recently I inquired w/their CS about whether requesting forbearance due to what's going on would impact my credit. They more or less said "it may"

What are the odds it really does impact my score if I ask to put off payments for 3 months from today forward? And is there a benefit to waiting a bit longer before requesting the forbearance, in case the government decides to make any big step with this issue? thanks....

Bank error in my favor: My CSR AF posted a few months ago, in the window to get the $100 credit that they gave out to keep customers through covid. I was considering closing it to churn in a couple years anyway so I paid everything except the $450 discounted fee and called to close it. They credited me the full $550 though. I expected them to reclaim their $100 credit so I left it there but now it seems they're insisting on sending me a $100 check. I should just cash it right?

yup
give it to a homeless guy if you want but **** banks

wait CSR AF is $550 now? I had no idea they raised it

funny that you posted about it now, I myself totally forgot that I had a CSR until I logged into my online banking yesterday. called them and was able to reverse $450 AF and all the late fees on the account

would've made $100 same as you if I only paid attention

It's been a while since this thread got bumped. Is this section still more or less accurate?

Situation from the car ownership thread is just over two years ago wife and I bought a car together, she paid half in cash and co-signed a loan on the rest to help build my non-existent credit (yay poker). Fast-forward to now and my most recent credit score is 748 and the car loan is getting paid off early by insurance because the car was deemed a total loss after getting smashed while parked.

According to the above, it would not really make sense to take out a new loan for the remaining balance ($8-10k) on a new car if we don't have to (we don't).

Currently the only credit I have are 4 credit cards that I pay off in full every month so am just considering/curious about the affect of 'losing' (if that's even that correct way to think about it) the car loan credit line from my credit history.


fwiw, I just got a Chase Freedom Unlimited card for the $200 bonus for $500 spend offer + 5% back on groceries for a year. They included my most recent credit score from experian and included 4 factors that adversely affected my score;
-Length of time since the oldest credit card established
-Total available credit on credit cards
-Credit card balances compared to the age of the accounts
-Number of requests for new credit in the past 24 months

My oldest credit card is less than 24 months old. Total available credit combined for my cards is $18.4k. I don't remember specifically applying for additional cards in the last two years but it wouldn't be more than 2 or 3. Not really worried about any of the above as it feels like something that will work itself out over time but it's cool that Chase included that with my new CC info.

How do I get my FICO over 800? It's been at 798 for about 6 months. I'm asking not because there's any reason why I'd need it over 800, it's purely for bragging rights.

My credit history consists of a student loan from 12 years ago and 4 CCs, ranging in age from about 2-5 years. I don't have any missed payments in the last 7 years, and no inquiries in the past year.

I guess I could take out a loan, but then I'd have to pay interest obv and I'd prefer not to spend any money just to bump my credit score 2 more points. Are there better options?

Bragging to who? Definitely completely meaningless to be above 800, no diff in rates on loans being high 700s vs 800s. Definitely don't get a loan and pay interest just to try to bump your credit score. Score takes into account your credit line usage so if you have any balances paying them off and lowering your usage as much as possible would bump your score a little.

It's likely average depth of trade - not much you can do except keep paying and let your accounts age. You need to be careful not to let your older tradelines auto close due to inactivity. I lost a couple 10Y+ accounts a few years ago so now I track the date of last activity and ensure they get used at least once a year for gas or something

Closed accounts still stay on your report up to 10 years. The only downside of closing accounts is for utilization purposes. If you are carrying a balance and close a high limit account your utilization % is going to shoot up.

I finally got approved for the Blue Cash Everyday card! It has taken a few years, but I was finally approved for it. It will be coming in the mail.

My card list is as follows:

Capital One/ 1% on Everything/ $2,000 limit
Kohls Charge Card/ No special powers/ $300 limit
Discover It/ 1% on Everything + 5% on rotating categories/ $2,000 limit
Citi Double Cash Card/ 2% on Everything/ $1,100 limit
Fidelity Credit Card/ 2% on Everything/ $10,600 limit
Target REDcard/ 5% off on purchases from Target/ $500 limit
PNC Cash Rewards Visa/ 1% on Everything, 2% on groceries, 3% on dinning, 4% at gas stations/ $1000 limit
BlockFi Visa/1.5% on Everything (return in Bitcoin) / $8,000 limit
American Express Blue Cash Everyday / 3% on groceries, 2% at gas stations, 1% on Everything/ limit unknown

Anybody have a list of card powers for things other than groceries, gas stations, restaurants, and misc?
So far I can get 3% on groceries (Thanks to the new American Express card that I'll be getting), 4% at gas stations, 3% at restaurants, and 2% misc. If I can find other categories I may be able to get better deals.

I have been eyeing the Upgrade Cash Rewards Elite Visa which pays back 2.2% on everything which would be awesome. My credit has improved quite a bit over these last few years and I'm now at 717. I have to spend $2000 in the next 6 months in order to activate the $200 bonus which should be pretty easy. Basically 10% return. Maybe there is a card out there with a big juicy bonus that I could go for. I feel I have a good enough nest egg of cards to go for cards that I can even cancel and still have good credit by the end of it.

Anybody know of some good cards that have been out lately that I might add to my collection?

US Bank has a good one, A few 5% categories that you can pick from

Capital One Venture X seems to be a current KOTH as far as bonuses are concerned if you travel even a little bit

Chase periodically runs promotions for its Sapphire line of cards, I recently reopened a CSP card when they had 100K miles no annual fee offer

After reading reviews on the Upgrade Cash Rewards Elite Visa card, I decided not to pursue it. A lot of reviews were saying that it isn't actually a credit card.

I got the US Bank Cash+ card. I chose 5% on utilities, 5% on fast food, and 2% on restaurants. 5% on utilities will be very nice!

American Express did not pay out the $200 after I completed the bonus. It has been over a month, but I've received nothing.

I keep getting emails from Citi wanting me to upgrade my card from Citi Double Cash to Citi Rewards+, but I don't really see the point, because the old rewards seem better.

Ugh. I feel like such a Karen today. Just canceled both my American Express cards because they wouldn't waive the late fee and interest from one of the cards. It was the first time I've ever had a late payment in 6 years of doing business with them. It was one, maybe 2 days late. Paid it immediately when one of them (citi or amex) sent me an email notification that I was late. Late because I was on vacation and layed up with covid for my whole vacation, lol. **** them. Citi Costco Visa was the same, I have them all set up to come due at the same time so I can pay them all at once. They waived the late fee and interest in about 5 seconds with no questions asked.

Any good bonuses I should know about (NOT American Express), lol?

70k point sign-up bonus for Hawaiian Airlines Mastercard

$99 annual fee, 2x points on restaurants/groceries

Mostly useful if you plan to go to Hawaii at some point (I could've booked RT Direct from Boston with just that sign-up bonus), but you can use their miles to book JetBlue award flights as well (albeit you have to do so over the phone).

Sounds like you got a bad customer service rep on those AMEX cards - ridiculous they wouldn't waive late fee once, esp if you had a Platinum or Centurion

I went through several CSR on the phone, including, like the Karen I've become, a supervisor. Then I just blew it off, thinking maybe that was normal, it was the first time I've ever been late on a card and I've never carried a balance over, so never paid interest either. But then when Citi waived both immediately it pissed me off and I tried the online chat rep. No dice there either. Had the same rep cancel both of my cards right then. **** em. Not plat or centurion, they were Blue Cash and Hilton, but I've had both since 2016 without a single late payment or a single balance carried over. I guess maybe they don't value me as a customer for that very reason. Shrug.

Are you under 5/24 for chase cards?

I am. I only have the Business Ink.

Bullshit like sending a late notice the day after you are actually late is rage inducing.

I put any cards like that to the end of the line and will never use them again as long as there is no AF - trust me, if that card ever gets used again it will be because I have lost the ability to repay anybody and they are gonna lose thousands.

Before the morality police chime in - you should know I worked for credit card giant MBNA in the 90s and you guys have no idea how much effort we put in to **** you over with every decision we made. I would sleep like a baby if my cards charged off.

Start with chase sapphire reserve. 80k points after you spend $4k in 3 months = ~1200. Also has a $300 annual travel credit, you can double dip that for $600 total and then downgrade it to a freedom card after the 2nd $300, before you get hit with a 2nd annual fee. Then, once it is a Freedom card, you open a Chase Preferred for another sign up bonus with ultimate reward points.

In between that, you will be able to do 3 chase personal cards. Depending on upcoming travel, there are options for united/southwest flying, or marriott/IHG hotels.

Just setup autopay as a fail-safe.

Nah man, this is the way.