MM: How many credit cards do you have? What's ideal for you?

hoffse · October 2015

On annual fees...

I used to be super opposed to annual fees. But I have come around to it for limited things. Our IHG cards each charge an annual fee, but then we get 1 free night. So we are paying $49 for that "free" night. The intercontinental hotel chain counts, and there are IC hotels in many of the destinations we want to visit. There is also one in Atlanta and New Orleans. Plus, IHG owns Holiday Inn. We travel enough for obligatory stuff that we will always be able to use both of our "free" nights, and they cost us $98 per year for two cards.

I am also willing to pay one annual fee to leverage the Chase cards for travel points. The thing is, Chase lets you combine points across all of your cards that earn ultimate rewards. You can also combine points with your spouse. So we can consolidate all the points we earn on multiple cards into a single account. When I redeemed 120K points for a two RT flights to Europe, I essentially gave up $1200 in cash value. That was real money because Chase points can be redeemed for cash at $0.01 each.

However, the actual cost of those tickets bottomed out at $1500 each, so we would have spent $3K if we had paid out of pocket. So we "spent" $1200 worth of points to get us $3000 worth of flights. After realizing how valuable that could be, we determined that spending $99 per year on ONE annual fee for the Chase ultimate rewards cards had us coming out way ahead, and that's something we are willing to do.

Now that could change post-kids if we stop traveling as much. You just have to do the math to see if the value is there for the annual fee, and I think it should be reassessed each year.

short+sassy · October 2015

On the "no credit vs. mortgage loans" thought, one thing to keep in mind when qualifying for a mortgage is each bank can be very different in what they like to see and what they don't. I had former tenants who were in their late 20s, but they were both anti-credit people and neither of them had ever had a loan or a credit card at all.

Then they found a house they wanted to buy. Their credit scores were very good, mid 700s. I think the credit bureaus automatically start people off with a good score. However, they had zero credit history. Initially, their loan officer was excited and said their good credit score was the main thing...blah, blah, blah...and they received a pre-approval. They went under contract. But then their contract went to the bank's underwriting department and they were given a big, fat NO. Because they had no credit history. They were going to do a 20% down payment and then offered a higher one when they were denied. The bank told them it wouldn't matter, no credit history=no home loan of any kind.

I am not at all doubting @brij2006 and I actually did advise them to talk to different banks. I don't know if they did or not, but the wife's father ended up buying the house with their agreement they would pay the mortgage. Except he didn't co-sign for them, it is just under his name. So, they STILL aren't adding anything to their credit history because they aren't on the loan.

Short story, long. I always recommend people with no credit who are interested in obtaining a home or car loan, get a credit card. It starts that history and even just one purchase every month or two, immediately paid off, makes getting a loan much more likely.

simplyelise · October 2015

I just don't want to take any chances that we would have trouble buying with 20% down. We are going to be debt free for almost 2 years before we buy. Neither of us has had a car loan or mortgage before. And with the housing industry, you just don't know how the regulations are going to change from year to year. So for us, when we've never had a single issue with the temptations of credit, we are going to play the game to get the best rates possible.

julieanne912 · October 2015

short+sassy said:

On the "no credit vs. mortgage loans" thought, one thing to keep in mind when qualifying for a mortgage is each bank can be very different in what they like to see and what they don't. I had former tenants who were in their late 20s, but they were both anti-credit people and neither of them had ever had a loan or a credit card at all.
Then they found a house they wanted to buy. Their credit scores were very good, mid 700s. I think the credit bureaus automatically start people off with a good score. However, they had zero credit history. Initially, their loan officer was excited and said their good credit score was the main thing...blah, blah, blah...and they received a pre-approval. They went under contract. But then their contract went to the bank's underwriting department and they were given a big, fat NO. Because they had no credit history. They were going to do a 20% down payment and then offered a higher one when they were denied. The bank told them it wouldn't matter, no credit history=no home loan of any kind.
I am not at all doubting @brij2006 and I actually did advise them to talk to different banks. I don't know if they did or not, but the wife's father ended up buying the house with their agreement they would pay the mortgage. Except he didn't co-sign for them, it is just under his name. So, they STILL aren't adding anything to their credit history because they aren't on the loan.
Short story, long. I always recommend people with no credit who are interested in obtaining a home or car loan, get a credit card. It starts that history and even just one purchase every month or two, immediately paid off, makes getting a loan much more likely.

I'm in the real estate industry, and I've seen this happen as well. I was an agent for a good long while and often heard "They don't have bad credit, they just have no credit" from lenders when someone was trying to buy a house and it was causing difficulty on the loan end of things. Around here, missing your loan dates mean you lose the house.... the market is crazy here so if the seller has buyers lining up to buy their house, they're not going to give more time for a buyer to get a loan.

short+sassy · October 2015

I have a lot of credit cards, though I don't use most of them. Mainly got them for the perks/sign-on bonuses. Usually pay them off each month, unless I am in an interest-free period.

HD and Lowes for their 5% off purchase

Sam's Club and Walmart. I got the Sam's Club one when I had a membership there. And I actually got a membership recently again with a Groupon. It can also be used at Walmart. I also have a Walmart card for their $25 sign up bonus, plus I am there pretty often. Both cards also have a feature where you can get up to $60 as a cash advance, with purchase, but the cash advance is treated like a purchase. That is sometimes handy.

Amex (my Costco card). Got it to use at Costco, though that will be ending next year. 3% on gas and 1% on everything else. It is supposed to be 2% on travel and restaurants, but I've noticed they "miscategorize" those purchases more than half the time.

Barclay's - 1% back

Chase Freedom - 1% back, with 5% rotating bonus categories, plus I got a $200 signing bonus. 5% bonus category through Dec. is Amazon, for my fellow Chasers out there.

BofA - 1% back and I think there is more for other categories. They had a $100 sign up bonus and 18 months of no interest. This is currently the main card I use and the only one I have a balance on because of the no interest thing.

BTW, on that BofA card, I was so excited I had earned $75 cash back last month...until I realized it was because I had charged $7500 that month, lol. Spendy for me, but it was for some of my duplex rehab.

--Two Capital One cards, but each of them are from my "challenged credit score" days. So they both only have a $750 limit and I've also had them long enough they help boost that section of my credit report.

So 6 major credit cards and 4 store cards. Phew!

On top of that, I REALLY need to open a credit card for my LLC business. Right now, I have recurring monthly charge for my business going against one of my personal cards. Not cool. Plus all that rehab stuff is under my business, but I have needed to use my personal cards for some of it.

MrsRap720 · October 2015

hoffse said:

blondie42107 said:

Do you track each of these 1-2x monthly to watch for possible fraud? Bless your heart for keeping up with all of these! I think I need another coffee after reading through that!

Well almost all the cards are through Chase, so there's one login to see all of mine and one login for H to see all of his. I monitor the store cards for fraud monthly when I get my statements. Actually, every travel card we have is Chase and the Amazon card is also Chase. So I really just log in to his Chase account, my Chase account, and then the fidelity account and that's it for daily fraud monitoring. I would log in to Fidelity every day anyway to see how the market is doing.

Except for Target, we don't carry those store cards and only pull them out when we are going to that store. Kohls and PB get used 3-4x per year, Macy's gets used 1-2x (which is why I will probably shut that down). Those cards are also ONLY good at those stores, so the likelihood of fraud with them is pretty low.

If I had a separate login for each card it would be too much, but since the majority of them show up on one or two screens.... nah, it's not that hard to monitor for fraud.

Reading this thread with a lot of interest since my H and I got the Chase Sapphire Preferred in August and doing our best to work points for a free flight in the future. Question for you - do you and your H each have your own version of the same card? Meaning - do you each have your own Chase Freedom, Sapphire, or Ink card on a separate account, or do you just have one account together in both of your names? Ours is in my name and H is an authorized user, so he has his own card with his name it but the same account number as mine. I'm wondering if it would be worth opening one in his name as well and making me an authorized user on that since it sounds like we could potentially pool our points together that way. Is that allowed? You clearly know a lot more about this than I do!

hoffse · October 2015

@Short+Sassy, Discover has had 5% back at Amazon for the last two quarters. And you are right that Chase Freedom is 5% back this quarter.

Plus I can buy Amazon gift cards at Office Depot to get 5% back all the time with the Ink card.

To be honest, I've thought about closing the Amazon credit card. The only reason we haven't is it's one of my oldest cards. I basically never use it anymore though because it only does 3%, and I can usually do a lot better at Amazon with other cards.

short+sassy · October 2015

hoffse said:

@Short+Sassy, Discover has had 5% back at Amazon for the last two quarters. And you are right that Chase Freedom is 5% back this quarter.

Plus I can buy Amazon gift cards at Office Depot to get 5% back all the time with the Ink card.

To be honest, I've thought about closing the Amazon credit card. The only reason we haven't is it's one of my oldest cards. I basically never use it anymore though because it only does 3%, and I can usually do a lot better at Amazon with other cards.

I remember Chase Freedom had Amazon as one of their categories for the last quarter, last year. Smart maneuver to make sure people are grabbing that card for their Christmas shopping

.

lbonga1 · October 2015

I have a ton that I've opened for promotional rates, intro bonuses, etc. I'm sure some of them are closed out now because I never use them. Here are my main cards:

Nordstrom Visa- opened when I worked there when I was 18 because they wouldn't let employees use other credit cards and still get their discount. I still use it a couple times a year because the foundation I use is MAC, and I tend to buy my jeans there.

Bank of America- A BofA employee opened this one for me when I was in college and opening a checking account. She said "We'll just see," then was surprised that I had high enough credit. Now it's my highest limit card, and I have FI as an authorized user on it.

Target- For the 5% discount and free online shipping.

Chase Slate- opened for 0% balance transfer promotion. Will probably close when it's paid off because it doesn't give any rewards.

I haven't been using credit cards lately, but I was considering opening a travel card when we book our honeymoon so we can easily meet the opening bonus requirements and easily get enough points for another small trip.

dragonstarjk · October 2015

brij2006 said:

Maybe it helps that we work with a credit union and not a large chain? I have never once had an issue. We have 2 banks that we have accounts and debit cards with. I always make sure there is enough money in the checking at the 2nd bank, in case we were to run into an issue while traveling. I also call and authorize the dates of travel beforehand so they can know the transactions during that time frame are legit.

Probably not so much to do with the credit union and just that you have been lucky I work for a smaller regional bank rather than a large chain. Some of the restrictions can be selected by the bank if they see a history of fraud amongst their customer transactions. However, a lot of them are determined by the federal government as part of counter-terrorism measures, so banks and credit unions don't have any control over those.

It all really depends on where you travel. The list of restricted/partially restricted countries is updated on an almost daily basis, so it can be hard to keep track of. We had customers in London that had trouble using a debit card because it was restricted in the UK. The next day, it was open to pin-based transactions only. This is why I say to ALWAYS carry an alternate form of payment.

hoffse · October 2015

MrsRap720 said:

hoffse said:

blondie42107 said:

Do you track each of these 1-2x monthly to watch for possible fraud? Bless your heart for keeping up with all of these! I think I need another coffee after reading through that!

Well almost all the cards are through Chase, so there's one login to see all of mine and one login for H to see all of his. I monitor the store cards for fraud monthly when I get my statements. Actually, every travel card we have is Chase and the Amazon card is also Chase. So I really just log in to his Chase account, my Chase account, and then the fidelity account and that's it for daily fraud monitoring. I would log in to Fidelity every day anyway to see how the market is doing.

Except for Target, we don't carry those store cards and only pull them out when we are going to that store. Kohls and PB get used 3-4x per year, Macy's gets used 1-2x (which is why I will probably shut that down). Those cards are also ONLY good at those stores, so the likelihood of fraud with them is pretty low.

If I had a separate login for each card it would be too much, but since the majority of them show up on one or two screens.... nah, it's not that hard to monitor for fraud.

Reading this thread with a lot of interest since my H and I got the Chase Sapphire Preferred in August and doing our best to work points for a free flight in the future. Question for you - do you and your H each have your own version of the same card? Meaning - do you each have your own Chase Freedom, Sapphire, or Ink card on a separate account, or do you just have one account together in both of your names? Ours is in my name and H is an authorized user, so he has his own card with his name it but the same account number as mine. I'm wondering if it would be worth opening one in his name as well and making me an authorized user on that since it sounds like we could potentially pool our points together that way. Is that allowed? You clearly know a lot more about this than I do!

For our first trip I opened Sapphire and Freedom and he opened Ink bold. He has a side business. We made each other authorized users just so we would each have a copy of those cards. That netted 123,500 points when you also count our minimum spend requirements. We use the Sapphire card for travel because it has a no foreign transaction fee, and I find it easiest to keep all our travel expenses on a single card in case we have to present it for some reason. So we pooled all the points onto my Sapphire card and booked flights that way. We also use those cards for their respective spending categories, and we generate at least couple thousand points per month doing that, often more.

For the next trip H is opening Ink cash and Sapphire and I am opening Ink bold. I've sold stuff on ebay and Amazon, so that's my side business. That will net us 146,000 points with the minimum spend included. The Sapphire card and Ink Bold cards both have annual fees, but they are usually waived the first year. The Ink Cash and Freedom cards are free, but you can only use those points for travel if you have one of the paid cards. H will close his Ink Bold card before the annual fee hits, and we will just pay the annual fee on my Sapphire card.

Do watch Ink Bold if you try to open it - sometimes they have the annual fee during the sign up year, and sometimes they don't. After doing this for a year, it wouldn't bother me to pay the fee on Ink for the first year if it means I got another 10K points or something. 10K points = $100 in cash (so you break even on the fee), but it can be worth more than that when redeemed for flights.

So yeah, H and I tag-team with the points. We try not to go crazy with it because points tend to devalue over time, and we can't travel all the time due to our jobs. Our goal this past year has been to fund the flights for one international trip as well as our domestic flights and hotels on points. So far we've been able to do that (and more). Our goal next year is the same. I will say that it would have been slower to earn these bonuses if I wasn't paying LLM tuition every 4 months. It makes no sense to buy stuff you don't need just to hit spending minimums for sign up bonuses. But I had more than $16K worth of spending on my LLM tuition this past year. I've always had more than a month's warning to pay, and I know what each installment costs. So it has been pretty easy for us to do multiple cards at once.

To consolidate your points you just hover your mouse over your points ticker and there will be a drop-down menu with a button that says "combine points." That's how you move them from one account to the other. Their T&Cs permit you to transfer points to your spouse. Once you enter the recipient's account number it is saved for future transfers. The transfers are instantaneous. It's SUPER easy, and I consolidate all of our points onto my Sapphire accounts once a month.

hoffse · October 2015

@MrsRap720 - one suggestion is to look at your preferred airlines to make sure they tend to have awards availability for the destination(s) you are considering before you bank tons of points. Chase works for us because we can transfer to Southwest and United. But if I wanted to transfer to Delta, it would involve a really obscure thing that involves faxing stuff to Korean Air and getting them to book Delta for me. Too complicated.

We started this as a way to afford a trip to Belgium to visit H's family. Belgium is geographically situated so we could fly into at least 5 major cities and be within a couple hours' train ride to Brussels. That makes it a really good destination for points, because we had fewer concerns about blackout dates. We ultimately found availability on United/Lufthansa flying into Frankfurt and out of Brussels over Christmas week, so we decided to spend a few days in Germany before training to Brussels. That works great for us because neither of us has been to Germany, and we're excited to see the Christmas markets. Still, Germany wasn't part of our initial plan when we earned those points.

For the trip next year we have in mind either Vienna+one other city (maybe Prague) or else Hawaii. I've done some dummy bookings for this winter, and there is plenty of availability on United for both options. That's a decent indication of what next year will be like, so we went ahead and started the points run on Chase again. If United didn't have a lot of availability, we would have checked other airlines before opening cards. Obviously there are no guarantees, so we are still prepared to be flexible next year.

formerlyGDaisy09 · October 2015

@brij I'd agree that you're very lucky not to have had your card locked up while you're traveling internationally. We bank with a local bank, not a national chain, and many of the protocols they have in place for our protection would make it nearly impossible to consider our debit card a reliable form of payment while overseas (not to mention the fact that there is literally no one there to get in touch with outside normal business hours).

I've benefitted from their protections (my debit card information was stolen (in the US) and the card was used like a credit card to make $3500 in purchases at a store in the UK), despite the fact that the bank flagged it as potentially fraudulent activity it took months to re-coup that money...but my card was deactivated soon after the charges were made. if it had been a credit card I never would have had that money taken from my checking account in the first place.

I'll agree that there are definitely people that cannot handle the buying power offered by credit cards, but when approached in a reasonable way (H and I still go through the exercise of asking ourselves if we'd be comfortable writing a check for something if our cards were declined at the register). I check our card balances at least weekly and all purchases go through our budget. It takes a lot of work to treat credit cards like cash, remembering to price check things to make sure you aren't over paying because you're shopping at one of your card-stores.

But, as far as buying more expensive things because you have a card to that store, sometimes it's really the other way around, for example, we have a card to LLBean because we like their brand, which is definitely more expensive than many other options out there, but having the card to the store actually makes the brand more affordable. I don't think I've actually paid for something from LLBean in more than a year...I think the last time was when we bought the dog bed and I had $120 Bean-bucks and the bed cost $139.

brij2006 · October 2015

It's interesting to hear how many issues you girls have had using debit outside the country. I used my 1 and only debit card from my local small town bank that only has 3 locations, while studying abroad for 6 weeks (8 years ago). During that time I traveled all throughout Europe and used it for every transaction possible. Never had 1 issue.
Tried to use my credit card 1 time at the train station and it was declined. They shut my card down and left a message for my mom (she was authorized as my contact while out of the country for extended period) to let her know that I can not use it at an airport or train station in a foreign country. Thank God I had my debit card with me, because I used that instead.

I did call the bank and let them know exactly what dates I would be traveling. They even increased the daily spending limit restriction for me so it could allot for the exchange rate.

We have also had our debit card info stolen just as many times as our credit cards were. The debit cards were actually easier to take care of. They're backed by the card company the same as a CC is. Again, maybe it's our bank. But they credited our account that same day. We didn't even know our account had been hacked yet. They called us at 9pm on a Sunday night to let us know, and give us a heads up on the transactions that would come across our online banking. They also overnighted us a new debit card (only my information had been stolen that time). They have a 3rd party company do the off hours monitoring. That is also the same phone number that is on the back of your card for any questions you have while traveling or needing something outside business hours. I have called that number while traveling abroad when I needed our spending limit increased for a large transaction. Had no problem whatsoever and swiped my card 1 minute later.

However, now that our Target debit card has the chip in it, we will probably use that for the next international travel since it's easier to use in foreign countries. But that's linked to our checking account and has the same rights as well.

BlueBirdMB · October 2015

My goodness some people have a ton of cards! I could never keep track of all of those! 3 seems like a ton!

vlagrl29 · October 2015

I have my main visa card with my credit union. The others are all store cards that have zero balance but I mainly use for points - macys, old navy, express, victorias secret. DH has 1 personal cc and 1 business cc.

dragonstarjk · October 2015

Federal regulations have changed about a hundred times since 8 years ago. I don't doubt at all that you've had luck with just using a debit card, but I just want to make sure that people understand all of the risks and hassle that this *could* subject a person to.

You are correct that debit cards have the same protections as credit cards. However, w/ credit cards you have a longer amount of time to dispute a fraudulent transaction than you do with a debit card. Also, some people don't keep high balances in their checking accounts, so fraud on a debit card can tie up your daily living funds for days. Not always, but sometimes, that is the case. It depends on if research needs to be done. If fraud happens on a credit card, you typically don't have to worry about those funds being tied up because you wouldn't need them anyways (unless your card is maxed out, in which case that is a whole other MM conversation and you shouldn't be using a credit card in the first place)

JoanE2012 · October 2015

Our main card is the Chase United Mileage Plus - we live near a United hub and travel alot, so we use this card for pretty much anything and everything we can. We've gotten lots of free flights - including our flight to Hawaii this weekend! I do have a few other store cards (Macys and Kohls) used solely for discounts. ( I think my DH regrets not opening a Pier One credit card when we first bought our house - I live in that store!) We also have a couple of other Visa/Capital one cards between us - never used, but we like having a couple cards with us when we travel for emergencies.

short+sassy · October 2015

dragonstarjk said:

Federal regulations have changed about a hundred times since 8 years ago. I don't doubt at all that you've had luck with just using a debit card, but I just want to make sure that people understand all of the risks and hassle that this *could* subject a person to.
You are correct that debit cards have the same protections as credit cards. However, w/ credit cards you have a longer amount of time to dispute a fraudulent transaction than you do with a debit card. Also, some people don't keep high balances in their checking accounts, so fraud on a debit card can tie up your daily living funds for days. Not always, but sometimes, that is the case. It depends on if research needs to be done. If fraud happens on a credit card, you typically don't have to worry about those funds being tied up because you wouldn't need them anyways (unless your card is maxed out, in which case that is a whole other MM conversation and you shouldn't be using a credit card in the first place)

OMG, this! I don't keep much in my checking account. Although it wasn't out and out fraud, about five years ago I paid my electricity bill as a ONE-TIME payment using my debit card. For my next month's bill, Entergy just willy-nilly took the money out of my account. I had transactions bouncing everywhere. I disputed the charge with my bank and, while I ultimately reigned victorious, it took about one week for the charge and all the corresponding NSF fees to be reversed.

Thank goodness I always keep at least a small cash reserve at the house, or I would have been left with only credit cards for that entire week and weekend.

That was also the LAST time I ever used a debit card to pay a recurring type of bill.

julieanne912 · October 2015

short+sassy said:

dragonstarjk said:

Federal regulations have changed about a hundred times since 8 years ago. I don't doubt at all that you've had luck with just using a debit card, but I just want to make sure that people understand all of the risks and hassle that this *could* subject a person to.
You are correct that debit cards have the same protections as credit cards. However, w/ credit cards you have a longer amount of time to dispute a fraudulent transaction than you do with a debit card. Also, some people don't keep high balances in their checking accounts, so fraud on a debit card can tie up your daily living funds for days. Not always, but sometimes, that is the case. It depends on if research needs to be done. If fraud happens on a credit card, you typically don't have to worry about those funds being tied up because you wouldn't need them anyways (unless your card is maxed out, in which case that is a whole other MM conversation and you shouldn't be using a credit card in the first place)

OMG, this! I don't keep much in my checking account. Although it wasn't out and out fraud, about five years ago I paid my electricity bill as a ONE-TIME payment using my debit card. For my next month's bill, Entergy just willy-nilly took the money out of my account. I had transactions bouncing everywhere. I disputed the charge with my bank and, while I ultimately reigned victorious, it took about one week for the charge and all the corresponding NSF fees to be reversed.
Thank goodness I always keep at least a small cash reserve at the house, or I would have been left with only credit cards for that entire week and weekend.
That was also the LAST time I ever used a debit card to pay a recurring type of bill.

That happened to me with my mortgage! I did set it up for autopay... but they took it out twice! They're like "Oh we'll just credit it towards next month so you don't have to pay it then". I'm like "ummm no, you just cleaned out my checking account by taking $1300 out twice... put it back". Took a couple days, but they did.

short+sassy · October 2015

@julieanne912, Wow! That is unreal they actually thought it was NBD to just say "Sorry, but you're good for next month."

MommyLiberty5013 · October 2015

We have (all are always paid in full each month):

Target Red Card. Use it weekly for all our groceries and get 5% cash back on all purchases and free online shipping.

DH's Citi Visa: Mainly use for our charitable giving to Gospel for Asia (to get points back), which is 1% - this one of DH's oldest cards, so while the cash back is low, we don't want to close it since it has longevity.

My USAA MasterCard: My oldest card. Gets 1% cash back on everything. Use this for online shopping and all other non-Target purchases.

Joint Amex: It's our Costco membership card. Use for gas, restaurants, and hotels due to the 2% cash back. Cards got compromised the other month. DH got a new one, I did not. I know I should for the 2%, but I like the clean simplicity of having a few cards only.

I also have a back-up USBANK Visa, that I use 1-2 times per year to stay active and then use if my main MC gets compromised.

DH has a Discover, which was his first ever CC. It is never used. But we have it in the safe.

Other store cards that are open, but unused are Best Buy and Macy's Amex and are both in the safe.

I like a slim, clean wallet, so I only carry my MC, VISA, and RedCard.

PurpleBookmark · October 2015

We have one credit card, a Chase Visa. When DH and I graduated high school we each had one credit card, when we married we paid off and closed out our credit cards and got one credit card with me as the cardholder but DH and I each have a card with the same account number.

Honestly we didn't know much about money at the time, I believe our thinking was that one credit card was better than two and we put it in my name since our car loan was in DH's name so that we would both build credit.

We recently took out a different auto loan and received a statement from our credit union letting us know why our credit card score was what it was. It listed the fact that we had limited credit history, that we only had one card and that it had only been open for 8 years (this seems like a long time to me!) as one reason that our score was not higher. It also listed that we did not have a mortgage since we are renters. We were really surprised because we thought it was better to have less debt and were actually excited about once the car loans are paid off we will be completely debt free. Throughout our marriage we have had one credit card and one car loan at a time, this is the first time that we have two car loans at once. Student loans were paid off when we married. Despite that we still apparently have limited credit history.

We do pay our credit card off multiple times per month, we use it for everything to earn reward dollars and I check it every other day and pay off the balance as we go.

short+sassy · October 2015

PurpleBookmark said:

We have one credit card, a Chase Visa. When DH and I graduated high school we each had one credit card, when we married we paid off and closed out our credit cards and got one credit card with me as the cardholder but DH and I each have a card with the same account number.

Honestly we didn't know much about money at the time, I believe our thinking was that one credit card was better than two and we put it in my name since our car loan was in DH's name so that we would both build credit.

We recently took out a different auto loan and received a statement from our credit union letting us know why our credit card score was what it was. It listed the fact that we had limited credit history, that we only had one card and that it had only been open for 8 years (this seems like a long time to me!) as one reason that our score was not higher. It also listed that we did not have a mortgage since we are renters. We were really surprised because we thought it was better to have less debt and were actually excited about once the car loans are paid off we will be completely debt free. Throughout our marriage we have had one credit card and one car loan at a time, this is the first time that we have two car loans at once. Student loans were paid off when we married. Despite that we still apparently have limited credit history.

We do pay our credit card off multiple times per month, we use it for everything to earn reward dollars and I check it every other day and pay off the balance as we go.

Thank you! One of the other reasons I think credit scores/histories can be really screwy. One of the detriments for my credit history is that it is "too new". Never mind that I'm 41 and have had at least one CC since I was 18. But that doesn't matter at all. They only look at the average length of time of your current open accounts. They don't look that you have had many credit accounts in good standing, most of them are just closed now, for your entire adult life.

Same with loans. Once they are paid off and closed, they are no longer calculated into your score, though lenders can still see them on your history. The payment history might still be calculated for a few years, I'm not sure about that. Of course, if you had a late payment on it at some point. That still definitely counts against you negatively for up to 7 years (rolling eyes).

brij2006 · October 2015

short+sassy said:

PurpleBookmark said:

We have one credit card, a Chase Visa. When DH and I graduated high school we each had one credit card, when we married we paid off and closed out our credit cards and got one credit card with me as the cardholder but DH and I each have a card with the same account number.

Honestly we didn't know much about money at the time, I believe our thinking was that one credit card was better than two and we put it in my name since our car loan was in DH's name so that we would both build credit.

We recently took out a different auto loan and received a statement from our credit union letting us know why our credit card score was what it was. It listed the fact that we had limited credit history, that we only had one card and that it had only been open for 8 years (this seems like a long time to me!) as one reason that our score was not higher. It also listed that we did not have a mortgage since we are renters. We were really surprised because we thought it was better to have less debt and were actually excited about once the car loans are paid off we will be completely debt free. Throughout our marriage we have had one credit card and one car loan at a time, this is the first time that we have two car loans at once. Student loans were paid off when we married. Despite that we still apparently have limited credit history.

We do pay our credit card off multiple times per month, we use it for everything to earn reward dollars and I check it every other day and pay off the balance as we go.

Thank you! One of the other reasons I think credit scores/histories can be really screwy. One of the detriments for my credit history is that it is "too new". Never mind that I'm 41 and have had at least one CC since I was 18. But that doesn't matter at all. They only look at the average length of time of your current open accounts. They don't look that you have had many credit accounts in good standing, most of them are just closed now, for your entire adult life.
Same with loans. Once they are paid off and closed, they are no longer calculated into your score, though lenders can still see them on your history. The payment history might still be calculated for a few years, I'm not sure about that. Of course, if you had a late payment on it at some point. That still definitely counts against you negatively for up to 7 years (rolling eyes).

Correct. We just closed all of our accounts and paid everything off in July. It's been 3 months and our closed accounts are already not reflected in our score. So if we were to go apply for anything today, my credit score is officially zero. Even though I had debt and a credit card in good standing, for the past 10 years.

formerlyGDaisy09 · October 2015

short+sassy said:

PurpleBookmark said:

We have one credit card, a Chase Visa. When DH and I graduated high school we each had one credit card, when we married we paid off and closed out our credit cards and got one credit card with me as the cardholder but DH and I each have a card with the same account number.

Honestly we didn't know much about money at the time, I believe our thinking was that one credit card was better than two and we put it in my name since our car loan was in DH's name so that we would both build credit.

We recently took out a different auto loan and received a statement from our credit union letting us know why our credit card score was what it was. It listed the fact that we had limited credit history, that we only had one card and that it had only been open for 8 years (this seems like a long time to me!) as one reason that our score was not higher. It also listed that we did not have a mortgage since we are renters. We were really surprised because we thought it was better to have less debt and were actually excited about once the car loans are paid off we will be completely debt free. Throughout our marriage we have had one credit card and one car loan at a time, this is the first time that we have two car loans at once. Student loans were paid off when we married. Despite that we still apparently have limited credit history.

We do pay our credit card off multiple times per month, we use it for everything to earn reward dollars and I check it every other day and pay off the balance as we go.

Thank you! One of the other reasons I think credit scores/histories can be really screwy. One of the detriments for my credit history is that it is "too new". Never mind that I'm 41 and have had at least one CC since I was 18. But that doesn't matter at all. They only look at the average length of time of your current open accounts. They don't look that you have had many credit accounts in good standing, most of them are just closed now, for your entire adult life.
Same with loans. Once they are paid off and closed, they are no longer calculated into your score, though lenders can still see them on your history. The payment history might still be calculated for a few years, I'm not sure about that. Of course, if you had a late payment on it at some point. That still definitely counts against you negatively for up to 7 years (rolling eyes).

credit scores are so screwy! our home owner's insurance went up this year because my credit score took a hit after my SLs came out of deferment from me being done with graduate school, we'd been paying the loans the whole time, but all of a sudden it looked like we had another $14K in debt.

PurpleBookmark · October 2015

brij2006 said:

short+sassy said:

PurpleBookmark said:

We have one credit card, a Chase Visa. When DH and I graduated high school we each had one credit card, when we married we paid off and closed out our credit cards and got one credit card with me as the cardholder but DH and I each have a card with the same account number.

Honestly we didn't know much about money at the time, I believe our thinking was that one credit card was better than two and we put it in my name since our car loan was in DH's name so that we would both build credit.

We recently took out a different auto loan and received a statement from our credit union letting us know why our credit card score was what it was. It listed the fact that we had limited credit history, that we only had one card and that it had only been open for 8 years (this seems like a long time to me!) as one reason that our score was not higher. It also listed that we did not have a mortgage since we are renters. We were really surprised because we thought it was better to have less debt and were actually excited about once the car loans are paid off we will be completely debt free. Throughout our marriage we have had one credit card and one car loan at a time, this is the first time that we have two car loans at once. Student loans were paid off when we married. Despite that we still apparently have limited credit history.

We do pay our credit card off multiple times per month, we use it for everything to earn reward dollars and I check it every other day and pay off the balance as we go.

Thank you! One of the other reasons I think credit scores/histories can be really screwy. One of the detriments for my credit history is that it is "too new". Never mind that I'm 41 and have had at least one CC since I was 18. But that doesn't matter at all. They only look at the average length of time of your current open accounts. They don't look that you have had many credit accounts in good standing, most of them are just closed now, for your entire adult life.
Same with loans. Once they are paid off and closed, they are no longer calculated into your score, though lenders can still see them on your history. The payment history might still be calculated for a few years, I'm not sure about that. Of course, if you had a late payment on it at some point. That still definitely counts against you negatively for up to 7 years (rolling eyes).

Correct. We just closed all of our accounts and paid everything off in July. It's been 3 months and our closed accounts are already not reflected in our score. So if we were to go apply for anything today, my credit score is officially zero. Even though I had debt and a credit card in good standing, for the past 10 years.

That is so weird! You would think your credit score would be through the roof with that history.

PurpleBookmark · October 2015

PurpleBookmark said:

brij2006 said:

short+sassy said:

PurpleBookmark said:

We have one credit card, a Chase Visa. When DH and I graduated high school we each had one credit card, when we married we paid off and closed out our credit cards and got one credit card with me as the cardholder but DH and I each have a card with the same account number.

Honestly we didn't know much about money at the time, I believe our thinking was that one credit card was better than two and we put it in my name since our car loan was in DH's name so that we would both build credit.

We recently took out a different auto loan and received a statement from our credit union letting us know why our credit card score was what it was. It listed the fact that we had limited credit history, that we only had one card and that it had only been open for 8 years (this seems like a long time to me!) as one reason that our score was not higher. It also listed that we did not have a mortgage since we are renters. We were really surprised because we thought it was better to have less debt and were actually excited about once the car loans are paid off we will be completely debt free. Throughout our marriage we have had one credit card and one car loan at a time, this is the first time that we have two car loans at once. Student loans were paid off when we married. Despite that we still apparently have limited credit history.

We do pay our credit card off multiple times per month, we use it for everything to earn reward dollars and I check it every other day and pay off the balance as we go.

Thank you! One of the other reasons I think credit scores/histories can be really screwy. One of the detriments for my credit history is that it is "too new". Never mind that I'm 41 and have had at least one CC since I was 18. But that doesn't matter at all. They only look at the average length of time of your current open accounts. They don't look that you have had many credit accounts in good standing, most of them are just closed now, for your entire adult life.
Same with loans. Once they are paid off and closed, they are no longer calculated into your score, though lenders can still see them on your history. The payment history might still be calculated for a few years, I'm not sure about that. Of course, if you had a late payment on it at some point. That still definitely counts against you negatively for up to 7 years (rolling eyes).

Correct. We just closed all of our accounts and paid everything off in July. It's been 3 months and our closed accounts are already not reflected in our score. So if we were to go apply for anything today, my credit score is officially zero. Even though I had debt and a credit card in good standing, for the past 10 years.

That is so weird! You would think your credit score would be through the roof with that history.

ETA: So if we pay off our car loans and only have one credit card we pay off monthly will our credit score be worse? That's crazy lol.

short+sassy · October 2015

@brij2006 and @PurpleBookmark, well of course you all have zero scores. You know how fiscally irresponsible people who pay off their debts, live within their means, and don't acquire more debt are :P.

simplyelise · October 2015

PurpleBookmark said:

short+sassy said:

PurpleBookmark said:

We have one credit card, a Chase Visa. When DH and I graduated high school we each had one credit card, when we married we paid off and closed out our credit cards and got one credit card with me as the cardholder but DH and I each have a card with the same account number.

Honestly we didn't know much about money at the time, I believe our thinking was that one credit card was better than two and we put it in my name since our car loan was in DH's name so that we would both build credit.

We recently took out a different auto loan and received a statement from our credit union letting us know why our credit card score was what it was. It listed the fact that we had limited credit history, that we only had one card and that it had only been open for 8 years (this seems like a long time to me!) as one reason that our score was not higher. It also listed that we did not have a mortgage since we are renters. We were really surprised because we thought it was better to have less debt and were actually excited about once the car loans are paid off we will be completely debt free. Throughout our marriage we have had one credit card and one car loan at a time, this is the first time that we have two car loans at once. Student loans were paid off when we married. Despite that we still apparently have limited credit history.

We do pay our credit card off multiple times per month, we use it for everything to earn reward dollars and I check it every other day and pay off the balance as we go.

Thank you! One of the other reasons I think credit scores/histories can be really screwy. One of the detriments for my credit history is that it is "too new". Never mind that I'm 41 and have had at least one CC since I was 18. But that doesn't matter at all. They only look at the average length of time of your current open accounts. They don't look that you have had many credit accounts in good standing, most of them are just closed now, for your entire adult life.
Same with loans. Once they are paid off and closed, they are no longer calculated into your score, though lenders can still see them on your history. The payment history might still be calculated for a few years, I'm not sure about that. Of course, if you had a late payment on it at some point. That still definitely counts against you negatively for up to 7 years (rolling eyes).

Correct. We just closed all of our accounts and paid everything off in July. It's been 3 months and our closed accounts are already not reflected in our score. So if we were to go apply for anything today, my credit score is officially zero. Even though I had debt and a credit card in good standing, for the past 10 years.
That is so weird! You would think your credit score would be through the roof with that history.
ETA: So if we pay off our car loans and only have one credit card we pay off monthly will our credit score be worse? That's crazy lol.

It won't necessarily be lower in that scenario. Brij2006 doesn't have any lines of credit anywhere, so that's why her score went to zero. For more info about how your FICO score is calculated, check out their site: LINK

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