cashnocredit

I moved my rental complex banking biz to Chase because the local banks in TX kept getting bought out. Nice to see everything, including personal stuff on one login. I also have personal bank accounts at Chase (15y), WF(45y), and Citi(15y). Never had a significant issue with any of them.

I pay all bills that allow it with credit cards. That's the best way to increase reporting balances and should make it easier to justify CLIs. Don't worry about FICO scores or adverse reaction from occasional high balances. But try to spread them out. Optimize spend for the different rewards they offer. Putting most charges on one card will hurt your FICO score but the effect is temporary. Years ago I did a test on my Chase siggy card to see if they would let me charge over the limit and find out what impact it would have on scores. Let 28k report on the card with an 18k CL. Even though overall util was well under 30%, FICO dropped like a rock from 800's to 720. But no creditor cared. The next month when I had paid it off, FICOs recovered. Just an interesting experiment. Normally I put really large spends on AMEX which doesn't even wiggle FICO scores. As an aside, don't let all the cards report a balance at once. Even small balances. Let a couple, but not all, report zero balances for optimal scores.

It's optimal to take advantage of the grace period almost all CCs have and pay the full balance just before the payment is due. Leave enough room to fix things if something unexpected happens. And they can. Best to pay online. More reliable than mail. You do not usually want to pay in advance of when the CC statement cuts. Except when you are about to apply for new credit in which case prepaying can be an advantage by reducing utilization when the statement posts. However, do not prepay so much that the statement cuts with 0 balance. This can decrease your credit score in some FICO models. Just let a small balance report then pay it by the due date. If you let the full balance each month report, creditors and potential new creditors will see your use. And they make money from transaction fees, not just interest some pay so no need to have a running balance you pay interest on. More usage is reported as higher balances on your reports and will make you more attractive.

Yep. My FICO 8 Bankcard scores typically run about 15 points higher around 830 v 815 for FICO 8. And they max out at 900.. 100 points lower is really odd. Might be something like high card utilization and/or few cards compared to auto loans/mortgages. Need more info to tell.

Yep. FBNO and CSP are a bit high for best 800ish scores. Also, total util over 5% will start to have an effect. OTOH, if you were over 800, the one late will have a bigger effect. Basically, the higher your score normally, the more sensitive it is to things like high util on a single card, old lates, or any baddie. And, as @hdporter noted, your scores are already quite good,

I'm not surprised the old late is causing a smallish drop relative to the other CRAs that don't have a late What does surprise me is that with such a diverse file your scores on the clean files aren't > 800. To me that's what stands out as odd.

WF is my oldest bank. Opened an account there in 1977 because they had ATMs all over. But also because BofA implied I was trying to pull a fast one after they lost a deposit check. I had deposited the check and the clerk initialed the deposit entry in my check book. (Yeah, that's the way they did things way back then). They did invite me in to look through a drawer they have full of various loose checks. Found my paycheck among the clutter. WF has never done anything really squirrely. At least to me for over 4 decades and they came in handy for notary and special embossing for transferring stock certs. Only time I had any issue was depositing a very large check from a money market account across the country. It was at a branch I'd never been in before and they acted like I was trying to commit some big kind of fraud. Wouldn't even take the check with a multi week hold. Went to the branch I normally used. No problem. Didn't even raise an eyebrow. So apparently branches vary.

No, I prefer paperless.. I download pdf's and back them up. My wife, OTOH, hates paperless. She likes to get bills and statements in the mail. She's also OCD about paying the same day she gets bills/statements. I'm the opposite. Thank God for paperless and autopay or my credit would be toast.

I bought my current car over 14 years ago. The damn thing has been flawless. Just normal service and tires from time to time. Sometimes I wish it would break down and give me an excuse to get a new one. Then sanity returns.

Most CC issuers ask for income you expect to have access to. Perfectly fine then to include the spouse's income. Especially appropriate in the situation you describe.

With 4 missing accounts, it sounds like there is something on those 4 that is causing them not to be included. Go to their websites and check that your address and phone numbers are correct. Might also have the wrong SS# but that won't be on their website. Might call each of them and check that they have the right SS#.

The creditor can report the balance even though it's no longer an asset on their balance sheet. At least until the SOL for suing runs out. Then they should issue a 1099-C and clear the balance but can still report the chargeoff until the reporting period ends (7 years but shorter in some states). I think the IRS does have some rules that require them to make significant efforts to collect and if not they can be required to 1099-C earlier. Mostly that's between them and the IRS. Best way to handle it is to negotiate a settlement. Ideally a pay for delete. Then you'll get a 1099-C if the settlement is lower than the debt-$600.

Back in the early 80's, the highest paid employee in our small company of about 20 peeps was a woman. And by highest paid, I mean higher than everyone else including the CEO. Why? The reason was she was expert at writing UNIX drivers in C and was also a good writer of documentation. That's a rare, and valuable combo. Sadly (for us), she left after a few years to spend more time with her kids and start a C++ training/consulting biz with her husband. Girl math? Ridiculous.

Yep. I should have been suspicious too. At that rate it would be hard for banks to make money from CCs. Big difference between the percentage late and the percentage change. @8ball dug up more reasonable numbers.

Agree re the 1T$ CC debt. It's a click generator. I'm more concerned with the 7.2% of CC debt being >30 days late. And it's higher than in anytime in the last 10 years. There's a dynamic process where during Covid and the govt. cash payouts, CC debt declined. That's now so long ago. The accelerated rate of CC spending seems like people making up for lost time at the cost of their financial stability. And easy to do with inflation kicking in. This data is only through Q2. Concerning.

Credit card balances jumped in the second quarter and are above $1 trillion for the first time (cnbc.com) Total credit card indebtedness increased by $45 billion in the April-through-June period, a rise of more than 4% and just above $1 trillion. The Fed’s measure of credit card debt 30 or more days late rose to 7.2% in the second quarter, the highest rate since the first quarter of 2012.

I guess since I hadn't logged in for quite a while, CK decided to send me a follow up email. Sheesh. I've never app'ed for a CC from CreditKarma, CreditSeseme, MyFico, etc.

I have zero interest in Citi's Custom Cash card but I did find the approach interesting from a marketing perspective. CK's biz model is based on a kickback from banks that get CC customers from their links. Pretty standard stuff. But there is a subset of folks petrified of rejection no matter how unlikely. Seems this might appeal to these consumers. The biz model still works based on the commission exceeding the fairly rare $50 loss.

Well, this is different. I logged onto CK after probably a year wondering if my login was still active. And this shows up! It's a "guaranteed" Citi Custom Cash Card. WTF? Um, no thanks. Karma Guarantee: You'll be approved or CK will pay you $50.

Crypto generally has been a grift mill. Web3 is Going Just Great (web3isgoinggreat.com)

I expect ApplePay would only allow cards to be added that belonged to the ApplePay account. That would be a huge security hole otherwise.

Don't fear calling. Nothing bad will come of it. If you call and they know your husband is dead, they will demand the balance because death is a default event and the balance is a liability against the estate. While technically the balance is due and payable, they almost certainly will allow you to take over the account and make payments. They aren't in business to lose money. OTOH, if they don't know your husband died, then you should be able to just arrange to close the account and pay the balance over time.

Perhaps they didn't pull his credit during that time. The fact they asked for income verification only recently is an indication that may have happened. Also, death notification of the SS admin is somewhat scattershot. I gather you've been using his CC account for the last 6 years not as an AU but just using his card. Lots of couples do that for convenience but it's best to have an AU or better yet, separate accounts, so your own credit is established.

They may have recieved notification that your husband is deceased and locked the account. This is standard for CC accounts that aren't joint. Any authorized users will be closed/locked out too. This is how Experian gets notified. By the Social Security Administration (SSA): The SSA periodically sends a list of the newly deceased to the three major consumer credit reporting agencies: Experian, TransUnion and Equifax. This file isn't comprehensive, however; it only includes people who were receiving Social Security benefits and whose deaths have been reported to the SSA. Typically, the funeral home will report your death to the SSA. Your spouse or estate executor can also choose to notify the SSA themselves by calling 800-772-1213 or going to the local SSA office in person.