The Finances and Debt Thread

[The Process God]

So, funny story. After I posted this, I got a call from the recruiter. Theh are interested in me for the branch manager and assistant branch manager positions, but there are no positions open that are close enough to where I live. So, for now, I'm waiting for a position to open up. So they are interested. Fooled me.

 

[David.]

Is cc cycling OK?

 

[The Process God]

Is cc cycling OK?

I'd advise against it. Your average age of your credit accounts will go down, and your inquiries will go up. Yes, this is all temporary, but, when the time comes that you need a big loan, you don't want the loan officer looking at a bunch of BS like credit card churning. I think churning is being penny wise, but pound foolish.

 

[Ob1]

I'd advise against it. Your average age of your credit accounts will go down, and your inquiries will go up. Yes, this is all temporary, but, when the time comes that you need a big loan, you don't want the loan officer looking at a bunch of BS like credit card churning. I think churning is being penny wise, but pound foolish.

Completely disagree. I churn (and have churned) for 3 years and my credit score is well over 800. I also just got a home mortgage in the last 6 months and had no problems. You just have to be smart about it.

 

[TopGun]

Completely disagree. I churn (and have churned) for 3 years and my credit score is well over 800. I also just got a home mortgage in the last 6 months and had no problems. You just have to be smart about it.

You probably had great credit before you started churning and so the recent activity did not significantly negatively impact your substantial positive credit history. If you're hovering around 600 churning will have a much more adverse affect on you than if you're in the high 700s.

 

[Ob1]

You probably had great credit before you started churning and so the recent activity did not significantly negatively impact your substantial positive credit history. If you're hovering around 600 churning will have a much more adverse affect on you than if you're in the high 700s.

Was around 675 when I started...

 

[TopGun]

Was around 675 when I started...

So you went from 675 to over 800 in 3 years with active churning and no other major activity besides the recent home mortgage?

 

[Ob1]

So you went from 675 to over 800 in 3 years with active churning and no other major activity besides the recent home mortgage?

Things that helped my score in order of importance:
1) Contested a late payment and won (huge increase)
2) Added enough lines of credit to be over 11 (from 5) (semi large increase)
3) Had my dad add me to one of his oldest cards as an authorized user (large increase)
4) Asked for more credit on all of my amex cards (moderate increase)
5) all my cards added became 3 years older (small if any)
6) kept every paid off on time (small if any)


#1 was the biggest factor, think I rose to like a 730 just from that.

 

[Pick6]

I'm not positive, but I don't believe closed accounts affect your credit until 10 yrs after they are closed. Also, getting more cards is going to increase your available credit, thus improve your utilization %, assuming you are paying the cards off.

I haven't partaken in churning yet as I really don't have enough spending for it to make sense as a single man, but I've heard its basically no effect on your score.

 

[The Voice]

You’d have to ask @The Oi and @Lee. I think they both deal with credit on a daily basis.

 

[Lee]

Things that helped my score in order of importance:
1) Contested a late payment and won (huge increase)
2) Added enough lines of credit to be over 11 (from 5) (semi large increase)
3) Had my dad add me to one of his oldest cards as an authorized user (large increase)
4) Asked for more credit on all of my amex cards (moderate increase)
5) all my cards added became 3 years older (small if any)
6) kept every paid off on time (small if any)


#1 was the biggest factor, think I rose to like a 730 just from that.

Contesting is a huge risk if you don't win as mortgage lenders wont let you refinance with open contested lates, they want the contest to be settled.

5 is the correct number of open credit typically for 800 fico, but you want zero balances and them to be over 5 years old. Basically never close a credit card, let them close the card.

Auth user is supposed to be a closed loophole, but its not. Take full advantage of this, but make sure the card has almost no balance

asking for more credit on all cards is smart

time of credit is huge, 3 years is nothing, 5 years, 10 years, and 20 years really helps

credit is based upon what you owe on the last day of the month, pay off all credit cards on the 30th or 31st no matter when the cycle actually is, basically pay credit cards early.

 

[Ob1]

Contesting is a huge risk if you don't win as mortgage lenders wont let you refinance with open contested lates, they want the contest to be settled.

Nice info didnt realize

5 is the correct number of open credit typically for 800 fico, but you want zero balances and them to be over 5 years old. Basically never close a credit card, let them close the card.

Weird, my credit score site says 11+ 5-9 is in the average range

Auth user is supposed to be a closed loophole, but its not. Take full advantage of this, but make sure the card has almost no balance

Should I be worried about not getting grandfathered into this?

asking for more credit on all cards is smart


time of credit is huge, 3 years is nothing, 5 years, 10 years, and 20 years really helps

Wasn't trying to say my cards are at 3 years, was just saying in the last 3 years it has ADDEd 3 years to the time, bumping them into good levels.

credit is based upon what you owe on the last day of the month, pay off all credit cards on the 30th or 31st no matter when the cycle actually is, basically pay credit cards early.

Thanks for all the info, very helpful.

 

[TopGun]

credit is based upon what you owe on the last day of the month, pay off all credit cards on the 30th or 31st no matter when the cycle actually is, basically pay credit cards early.

This is not necessarily correct. It varies by company as there is no stated rule. Most of my cards report on the statement date, which you can change to any day of the month.

 

[Lee]

This is not necessarily correct. It varies by company as there is no stated rule. Most of my cards report on the statement date, which you can change to any day of the month.

I will tell I have seen about 40,000 credit reports in my time. Time and time again people say they pay their bill in full and they still have a balance. Its because credit card companies report on what you owe at the end of the month.

Also, the credit reports are updated only once a month, usually the 4th or 5th of the month.

I am giving advice based upon my experience of over 100,000 credit cards having been reported. And no you can call your credit card company and ask, the person answering the phone has no fucking clue and why would they?

 

[TopGun]

I will tell I have seen about 40,000 credit reports in my time. Time and time again people say they pay their bill in full and they still have a balance. Its because credit card companies report on what you owe at the end of the month.

Also, the credit reports are updated only once a month, usually the 4th or 5th of the month.

I am giving advice based upon my experience of over 100,000 credit cards having been reported. And no you can call your credit card company and ask, the person answering the phone has no fucking clue and why would they?

As someone that worked on the other side, I can tell you that most banks are not going to devote extra resources to running unnecessary reports. They'll run your statement once a month and report that balance to you and the credit bureaus. They will not wait until the end of the month and then re-run every single account again.

When the credit reporting agencies choose to update their reporting is not the same thing as when the credit company reports balances.

Changing your statement date is easy, most companies have it as an option to do online.