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My wife does that for us both, I feel so dirty signing up for that stuff. My wife does it, and she gets the junk mail and has to call and fight to cancel the service.
Plus if either of us get hacked I can always blame her.
I use (and have for several years) creditkarma.com - gives you Transunion and Equifax scores and is totally free. As for credit cards I lean heavily on the Citibank Double Cash card that gives me 2% cash back. I usually get between $30 - $60 a month refund/rebate, however you do have to have a fairly decent credit score to get it. Yeah, go to creditkarma for your report.
What's the "catch". Who do they sell your information to?
Actually I've not been bothered at all - about the WORST of it is very occasionally when I log onto the site it will make suggestions about cards that I might want to apply for, but I don't get email or mail from the credit card companies. No, at least for me it's been all good.
I've been getting literally 5-7 credit card offers in the mail over the past two months. Now there's no more than ten unique/different cards overall, rather just a piss ton of junk mail from the usual suspects. But it is offputting to see all that waste. I have more credit cards than i can keep track of, and juggling their perks and due dates winds up being a little bir of work. At the end of the day, I'm pretty well compensated for utilising all the different offers.
I have to admit that the Gold Card just looks cool. Lol...
Otherwise I have the Citibank Double Cash to use for most purchases and the Citibank Costco Visa Card to use at Costco, to buy gas, to eat at restaurants, and pay for travel. If Costco allowed me to use a Mastercard in their stores in California, I would only have the Double Cash card.
For the Costco Card you get higher than 2% cash back for gas, restaurant, and travel purchases though so that's my reason for using it for those categories instead of using the Double Cash Card that yields 2% once you pay the balance off which I do every month.
With no annual fee for each card it's worth it for me to use these cards for all purchases to recoup at least 2% of the purchase price. It's not much but every bit recouped helps.
Well guys, here is what I learned recently.
If you don't want to use a credit card anymore, cut it up, but DON'T close the credit card account. Doing so could reduce the average age of your credit (which apparently influences your score). The credit agencies like to see an average age of at least 9yrs, which they consider "excellent" length of average credit.
Not knowing this, I recently closed a card that I had for 14yrs... After closing that 14yr old credit card account and refinancing my home mortgage, my credit dropped ~100pts!
To make sure your credit cards don't work against you, you should only carry 5% - 10% of your total credit available on all your cards
I've heard this before.
However, I'm not clear on whether you should avoid going above 5-10% at anytime, or avoid going above 5-10% after your balance is due...
I appreciate the input Ironman.
You know, this FICO stuff is borderline silly... I understand that staying current and avoid default is necessary to maintain credit score... No question.
But carrying over 5-10% of your available balance can hurt you, even if you are paying everything off in full each month?
Closing accounts can hurt you by reducing the average age of your open credit?
Under utilizing your open accounts can hurt you?
Having too many open credit sources can hurt you? -> although I've heard this one disputed by a "professional"
Requesting that your credit line is increased leading to a "hard" ding to your credit can hurt you?
How counterintuitive are some of these rules? SMH
If one pays their debt, one will have a high FICO
& they will not have to check their score.
Too complicated?
annualcreditreport.com this is your free once a year government regulated credit report. credit agencies owe you one a year, and this is where you get it.
If one pays their debt, one will have a high FICO
& they will not have to check their score.
Too complicated?
that's what I used to think before I realized I had no clue how the algorithm works.
The REI Mastercard offers 2% back on groceries (and 5% on REI purchases). One percent for everything else. I've also got the Chase United Airlines Visa as it gives you the first bag free for yourself and a companion; it pays for itself with one roundtrip ($25 x 2 x 2) as the annual fee is $100.
I have the Citibank Double Cash to use for most purchases and the Citibank Costco Visa Card to use at Costco, to buy gas, to eat at restaurants, and pay for travel. If Costco allowed me to use a Mastercard in their stores in California, I would only have the Double Cash card.
For the Costco Card you get higher than 2% cash back for gas, restaurant, and travel purchases though so that's my reason for using it for those categories instead of using the Double Cash Card that yields 2% once you pay the balance off which I do every month.
With no annual fee for each card it's worth it for me to use these cards for all purchases to recoup at least 2% of the purchase price. It's not much but every bit recouped helps.
I use a Sam's Club mastercard for gas and get 5% back, plus it pays 3% for food, entertainment and travel. I use my 2% back Citicard for my reoccurring bills such as internet provider, electric bill, toll roads, gym fees, etc. I also use it for stuff I buy off the internet. And the 2% card stays at home to minimize being scammed/stolen by someone. Since I have all my reoccurring bills on it if it would get compromised I'd have to go through all the hassle of notifying the various companies and switching cards, etc. I have a Chase Freedom card that gives me 1.5% back on everything. I use that for stuff I buy at the grocery store or department store. Again, if the Chase card or Sam's Club card get compromised (which recently happened with the Sam's Club card) I don't have to go through the hassle of the automatic payment accounts. Oh, and the Chase card - the offer that came with it was charge $500 within the first six months and they'd give me $150. Since I was in the market for new tires, I eagerly accepted the offer, bought my tires (easily spending over $500) AND got a money back discount on set of Pirellies (another $60). Seems like a hassle but it's really a game, I typically get $40 to $50 a month off my Citicard account, another $20 off the Chase card and at the end of the year Sam's Club sends me $200 - $400. Works for me.
Capital One Quicksilver Visa is on the way...
Right now my primary card is the Citi Double Cash.
As a note, my Capital One Silver Visa and Citi Double Cash MasterCard both come with credit score monitoring which is a nice plus.
Hi folks,
I need to do a credit check and recall that some credit agencies do offer free annual reports. I'm looking for a recommendation with no gimmicks or obligations to sign up for monthly membership.
Also, the son of a friend will be applying for a first credit card to build credit. Who out there is giving the best credit card offer today, any recommendations?
For disclosure, I hate credit cards... but we live in a society where you are severely limited if you can't show solid credit.
Also, you can't rent a car with a debit card without getting your credit score dinged, as I've come to learn recently.
Thanks.