Preapproved doesn't mean much. Unless you have bad credit you're going to be approved for most cards anyway and the process is the same whether you were preapproved or not. Preapproval letters are basically just an advertisement for a card, so yeah, I'd pick out a bonus whoring card or a card you'd actually use instead.

Also big fan of the new credit karma layout. Now with two scores.

Idk if I like the layout any better, but being able to monitor Equifax is very nice. Those vantage scores are worthless, but the report part, being able to keep tabs on what cards report and when, is clutch.

Speaking of scores, I discovered a trick not often discussed, for good reason. I'd recommend not abusing it. But if you have the Walmart card, you can get a fresh TU FICO anytime by unenrolling, logging out, logging in, and re-enrolling. Useful.

So Citi is offering a free FICO score each month now just like Discover. My Discover FICO is 777, Citi is 776 and only Citi includes this line, "Too few accounts currently paid as agreed". I've never been late or missed a payment so I'm guessing this is just due to having only 3 cards. I did only have 2 up until December when I signed up for the Chase Freedom promotion. They both are stating that another key factor affecting my score is "Lack of recent installment loan information". Don't really know how to fix that as I have no interest or plans to take out any auto loans or mortgages at all in the future. I have been avoiding signing up for a car payment like the plague and I have no interest in being a "home owner". Don't need those headaches.

I was thinking of signing up for a few new cards in the near future in order to bonus whore enough points to get me over to Thailand in the next year. Looking at the Citi Hilton Honors card, Citi AA Advantage, and Chase IHG Rewards card. I also want to get the Sallie Mae card for all of its 5% cats.

Currently have-

Chase Freedom
Citi ThankYou Preferred
Discover More

Citi and Discover have been open for something like 15 years. Should I go and open those other 4 cards? How would you do it? All at once? One every few months?

I opened the new credit karma the other day and it's showing a delinquent payment on one of the two scores.... It's quite annoying as its from a card I haven't used in ages and never saw anything negative on it.

Any way to find out what is causing that?

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@sofocused978, that's an awesome score. Ignore the installment thing, you might get a few points boost at best, and it's not worth opening a loan. You can easily get over 800 and never have a loan.

You can pretty much open whatever you want, you're golden. In your spot I'd open 2 or 3 cards (or more, if you want) on the same day. All at once is optimal because the issuers all see that great score before a new card hits and takes a few points off. However, with only 3 cards reporting, you may even see a small boost in your score until you get beyond 5 or 6 cards, so you've pretty much got free reign.

Have you had an Amex before? If you have, consider opening a card with them, as it will report as having opened the year you first had a card with them and further bolster your average age. Another thing to consider is trying to get some credit line increases on the cards you have, and wait for those to report before you do an app spree. Higher limits beget higher limits.

@camz2895, you need to get your real reports, either from https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action or buying them directly. Sounds like your Equifax has some payment info that doesn't match what your TU says. But even on CreditKarma, you should be able to see a watered-down report with a payment history that will show you when you were supposedly late. If you know that you weren't late it should be easy enough to dispute, I imagine.

Ty sir. I've been checking the last few years and I had 0 late payments so idk what's up with that. Score is 801(sick brag) so I'm guessing it hasn't affected it to much

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I'd give up hope on holding out for this guys. Apparently multiple CS people have said this offer is over and not returning. Sucks as I missed it as well. Not saying the Double Cash won't have another signup bonus at some point, but right now that lucrative 200 dollar one seems to have already passed us by.

Completely agree. Really no point to open up non bonus whoring cards (either signup or elite cashback/travel rewards). A whole lot of those out there and really no reason to open up a card that doesn't offer something of value.

I opened a couple of new cc over the last year or two due to sign up bonuses. Most all of them had annual fees (waived for the first year) which I am now being charged. I called one card and said I wanted to cancel it; when asked why I said because of the annual fee, so their retention dept. said they would issue a statement credit to offset the fee if I didn't cancel. Don't know if that will work for all but am hoping so.

Anyway, I have a small biz and I place all biz expenses on credit cards. Primarily I use Capital One cards due to their 2 miles per dollar spent (no category restrictions) and ease of using those points for travel-related charges. Currently I have approx. 1.5 million miles (points?) on various Cap 1 cards. My question is this:

Supposedly these points never expire, but that doesn't mean they won't change the rules for the program &/or how the points can be redeemed. I would prefer to save these points and use them exclusively for vacations & personal travel, but most of the trips (airplane tickets, hotels, meals, etc.) I take now I can write off as a legit business expense, so I prefer to pay out-of-pocket for these charges.

Any compelling reason I should use these points instead of holding on to them? I assume points earned on a Capital One account cannot be sold / transferred to someone else like F.F. miles can be (legality issues aside)?

It's relatively safe to hold those type of points for a little while. The base rate of redeeming for travel of 1.25c or even 1.0c is very unlikely to change in the shortterm.

With 1.5M points at stake, I don't think it's worth the risk to try to sell them, but you can ask the guy in the marketplace that is selling flexperks points his thoughts (mraggromonkey I think).

yo, yo, yo

for rotating categories getting 5%, does it end up getting an additional 1%(the usual purchase rate), or is it flat 5%? i could go look at some statements i guess but thats tedious, figured id ask here first. Does it vary from card to card?

bout to refer my wife to CHase sapphire preferred, need that $450 in credits bills due, ****s getting serious round here. Need milk for my cereal.

whats my play for my upcoming chase sapphire preferred AF? Its essentially no use to me, i can get better stuff elsewhere, do i try downgrading to regular sapphire?

i downgraded mine to a no fee card but that was over a year ago so it may have changed

I've been reading up a bit on this and JL514 is correct. Collectors are becoming more and more wary of doing this. Read this article just the other day, but it's old so it may not be news to anyone. It dispells the common misconception (likely pushed by collectors themselves) that it is "illegal" for them to do pay to delete:

http://www.ehow.com/info_7748512_ill...ay-delete.html

There is one way that I have gotten things deleted which might work for you, provided that you have not already disputed the collection with the credit reporting agencies:

1. Pay the balance in full (in my experience this does not work when settling)

2. Wait at least one full calendar month (this gives them time to process your payment, update their records and enter a new accounting period)

3. Dispute the paid-in-full debt with all three credit reporting agencies

Often (but not always) once a collection agency has been paid in full, it no longer cares whether or not the collection is on your report; they have their money. They will often simply ignore the request for confirmation from the credit reporting agency and, if they do not respond within 30 days, it comes off your credit reports.

I have done this twice with undisputed debts and both times they were removed from my report. (It was so long ago that I did not even know what "pay for delete" was at the time.) I did it once with a debt I had previously disputed and it did not come off. I'm not sure if this was because it had been previously verified by the collector or because the collector actually responded to the CRAs, but it was there. I later reported that it had been "paid in full" and that was reflected on my credit reports afterward, but it stayed on there. YMMV, as always.

So if your credit is already being ruined, what benefit (other than not being a scumbag) is it to pay the debt?

don't ever pay a collections bill in full
**** those parasites don't give them more then 25% and don't give them a nickel if they won't erase it off your credit report

It really depends on the situation. Sometimes if you're trying for a mortgage, or even trying to lease an apartment, the difference between being approved and being denied can lie in your ability to show that you made good on collections accounts that appear on your reports, even if you only show a settlement.

I mostly agree with this. In my situation, the two collections were medical collections and, for whatever reason, the collector did not add any of their bull**** fees onto the balances either time so the amount I paid was the actual amount I owed. IDK if this is because of the nature of the bad debt (medical) or what.

It ends up being 5% flat with no additional 1%. This is for all cards.

I hope you're not serious that you're relying on credit card signup bonuses to help pay bills. If so, you need to worry about your spending habits, debt, assets, income, etc. before you worry about signing up for new CCs.


I downgraded my Saphhire Preferred when the AF hit. They offered me a small retention bonus, but it wasn't worth it to me. I have other Chase cards that have transfer ability for my URs, and I have other cards with higher %s than the preferred, so I had zero reason to keep it and pay an AF.

OP
Talked to Amex yesterday. Was told I have to wait 3 years, then I can reapply. Pretty happy with that. I really miss that line of credit and the benefits that go with it. About a year to go....

what do you guys think about the paypal extras mastercard for someone who buys a lot of antiques and collectibles on ebay?

You get 2x points on ebay purchases, which is ok, but you could just get a different CC that gives you 2% CB on everything (Fidelity Amex, Barclays Arrival, etc.).

After reading some reviews about it, it looks like those points have very little value. Assuming these reward redemptions are correct, it is a terrible card to get. $.83 per point puts the ebay purchases at 1.66%, so less than the 2% you could get back on other cards (that would also give you 2% back on EVERYTHING else).

Right now the Chase INK is getting 5x on ebay...

What is a good credit card to apply if someone has limited credit history and this is the first cc they're applying to?

Get your free credit score and then let us know what it is. We can give better advice that way

A lot of times people dot really realize the extent of their history.

tl;dr

okay so I'm a ex708/eq708/tu745 with a flawless payment history but only 2.5yrs avg credit and 3 accounts with a total of $5,500 in available credit with monthly carryover of ~5% on average. I have a disputed state tax lien that was released but still being reported on ex and eq. I imagine that's where the difference lies. Otherwise pretty flawless credit with just a really short history.

Anyway, I got an email from USAA (I'm a 7 year member who also has auto/renters insurance, never missed a payment) encouraging me to apply for the USAA World Mastercard. I did some research and it's not a particularly good card. But as I got the preapproved email and as it had been a year since my last hard inquiry I figured an expansion of my credit line at this stage would probably be a good thing and I felt likely to be approved. Anyway, ummm... $10,000 approved limit instantly. Well, ****. May as well try to get an Amex since I've never thought I had good enough credit to get one. Went ahead and applied for USAA Cashback Rewards Plus Amex (5% on gas, 2% groceries) certainly not great but would be the best card I was ever approved for. Guess it's my lucky day. $11,000 approved instantly.

So questions. I spend roughly $1,500 monthly aggregate and pay off everything down to about $100 on each card. I've got no reason to change those spending habits. But now I'm sitting with this set:

Capital One Platinum (Approved at ~630s across the board two years ago, my first unsecured credit card. Recently increased limit to $2,250) 1.5% cashback standard with no fee. Just got it waived by being wishy washy on the phone about canceling.

Chase Sapphire Rewards (Approved at ~660s two years ago, $1,000 limit and only really around for an emergency. I don't use it. Thinking of canceling it?)

Military Star ($2,500 limit and gets me some good cash back deals on military bases. 10% off deals and things like that. Had this card for 7 years. Never missed a payment. No increases on limit.)

USAA World Master ($10,000 limit and just a standard 1.5% cashback)

USAA CR+ Amex ($11,000 limit, 5% gas, 2% grocery)

So, noob questions. The (large, 400%) increase in limit available is ultimately a good thing for me even though my utilization % has now become miniscule? Should I try to make even one purchase on each card each month? Am I more likely to be approved for a better Amex in the future now that I can show positive action on an Amex?

What should my strategy be in the future to keep expanding my credit? I feel like I'm on my way. Because of this thread I've jumped ~100 points in two years so thanks a lot. Are there other things that would help? A small loan of some sort? I've never had a car loan either. And I don't particularly want one. I prefer paying cash. Is this a leak?