How do you guys

[nosup4u]

without getting CLD?? or just having the account closed

 

I have read some people having 20 to 30 accounts how do you manage to keep them open if there is limited use? Are you BT balances with zero % financing or what just curious?

[hdporter]

Most recommend a nominal charge every 6 mo as sufficient to keep an account active without adverse action. I tend not to worry until I approach the 1 year mark. That has hurt me only once ... a former Providian account assumed by Chase was closed exactly at 6 mo of inactivity. (Safe to say Chase was actively thinning these accounts)

[HowsThatWorkin]

without getting CLD?? or just having the account closed

 

I have read some people having 20 to 30 accounts how do you manage to keep them open if there is limited use? Are you BT balances with zero % financing or what just curious?

 

I wonder this as well. I know I can keep them active with small charges but how long can I do that without some sort of CLD? Also, I'm midpoint in my credit repair and really need some larger CLs but don't know how to justify getting them with my spending habits.

[TheBanker]

I have a checking account with Bank of America that I pile money into as a holding account before I send it off to either savings or investments. It consistently has a balance of $10k or more.

 

All of the accounts I don't use super frequently, I have set up to auto bill from that account. I use the cards for something small every 4-6 months (coffee or something), and then just let it auto bill from that account, since it always has sufficient funds.

 

I also use Mint, to keep track of what accounts have balances due. I also track it through my credit monitoring. Review every week or so what account has a balance and then make sure it's paid.

 

Not too hard. Been doing this/similar systems since I was 18, and it works well.

[HowsThatWorkin]

I don't have any problems managing the accounts, I have a great budgeting program that allows me to see at a quick glance everything charged and when the payments are due. I'd happily have more cards but my concern is that I am not a big spender and wonder if my CCs will get tired of seeing me charge $5 every 3 months and eventually CLD me.

[Gaby10]

A good way is to put a recurring charge on each card you don't use that often. Your cellphone, the newspaper delivery, the gym, a charity donation etc. Set up autopay since you know the amount will always be the same.

 

By the way, if you have any Barclays/Juniper cards, they've started specifying in their T&C that they consider inactivity as 3 months. So be extra careful with those.

[d06nu12]

What budgeting programs do you guys use? I have been looking into using one so I can stop worrying about missing a payment.

[ToddP]

What budgeting programs do you guys use? I have been looking into using one so I can stop worrying about missing a payment.

 

Good question. I'd like to find out also

 

I just looked at mint.com. I signed up but I'll wait and see what you guys say before I give them all of my bank info.... (a little hesitant about that)

Edited April 1, 2012 by ToddP

[nosup4u]

Gaby that is a good suggesstion as I am concerned as I build my profile that I will get cld on the cards

[Mortgagase]

I'm old school and still use my day planner.

[Gaby10]

I actually just use the Stickies program on my Mac. I have one sticky note that I continually update every time I make a purchase or payment. The sticky note has the name of the card, the limit, the current balance, the due date, whether or not I've paid or scheduled a payment, and what date it reports to the bureaus. Been doing it that way for at least a decade. Never had an issue.

[boomhower1820]

What budgeting programs do you guys use? I have been looking into using one so I can stop worrying about missing a payment.

 

pageonce.com

 

I love it. It has every credit account I have except a local furniture store that does in house financing.(which I have added as a manual account) mint.com is good but I don't believe they have every gotten GEMB accounts. pageonce will alert you to due dates, large trancactions, CLI's, etc. I love it! And the best part it is free. It even has free iOS apps.

Edited April 2, 2012 by boomhower1820

[road2freedom]

I have a checking account with Bank of America that I pile money into as a holding account before I send it off to either savings or investments. It consistently has a balance of $10k or more.

 

I gotta get me one of those.

 

I'll admit I haven't really planned it out with great detail yet, but then again my accounts are not that numerous yet. I have been rotating my AT&T bill each month since it's one of my only billers that allows me to pay with plastic and not charge an extra fee. So I pay with a different card and PIF. I may have to do something different once I get more than half a dozen accounts without balances.

[clutchcargo]

I'm semi-old school and use Outlook. I have 20 CC's and Outlook reminders let me know when cards cut with a reminder the day before. I can then decide if I want to pay it then or let it report the balance and pay it a few days later.

[hegemony]

I use my grey cells. I have over 30 cards but only use 6 or 7 routinely.

[cj123]

so all these cards and even when you all put small purchases no one has threatened to cld because you have too much credit your not using??

[iH8cra]

I'm bad and don't rotate cards. I've had cards I haven't used in 5+ years and no one's closed any of my accounts (I have probably 20). Maybe I'm lucky, I dunno.

[Sun Love]

I use mint but they don't work well with GE cards and a few small banks so I'll look into pageonce. I also have a spreadsheet that I obsessively update and track everything on.

[genevaz]

I created an Excel spreadsheet that I set up to show me CL, balance, utilization percentage of CL, due date, date of last CLI, and last payment amount and date. I'm anal, but its sort of nice since I can see how much of my total utilization is being used. I update it regularly and highlight in yellow any cards that do not have a balance, so I know which to make a small charge to. Not as easy as getting an email reminder, but I look at this at least a couple of times a week.

[patz2009]

Google Calendar. Got it synced up with my smartphone for each card's due date, any other bills, and income.

[foeplay]

quicken all the way

[hegemony]

I have several cards that have not been used for over a year. if they get closed oh well.

[Mortgagase]

I have several cards that have not been used for over a year. if they get closed oh well.

 

+1 Me too! If you are not using the cards you must not need them. IME never had a card closed unless i requested it.

[hegemony]

so all these cards and even when you all put small purchases no one has threatened to cld because you have too much credit your not using??

 

about a month ago SFB sent me a letter stating it would close my account if I did not use the card in the next 30 days.

 

but, no, I've never been threatened because of "too much credit your not using"

[md2005]

quicken all the way

 

+1 ... I use Quicken 2012 Deluxe for all my accounts, including Investments (stocks, 401k, etc). Only problem I have is that the Hooters, Paypal, and Amazon cards don't have the automatic syncing so I have to manually enter those transactions. This isn't a big deal to me. Most major cards will work with Quicken.

Edited May 27, 2012 by Michael D.