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Short the vix?
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SCARED MONEY DONT MAKE MONEY. BUY NOK 🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀
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Chief
I try to at least run a few transactions per month. An easy way to do it is to setup a utility on each card.
How do you pay for your daily expenses like food and groceries? Do you just pay for them in cash? Debit card?
I usually generate $1k to $3k worth of benefits each year by paying for everything in my every day life on credit cards that generate points, so it’s hard for me to understand why others don’t use credit cards for anything.
I also recommend this Chase card. I use the points for travel, which has saved me a few times with unexpected trips (ie funerals).
Cautionary tale: I fucked up with credit cards a tiny bit in my early 20s. I was able to pay them off because I didn’t do a lot of damage, but it scared me. So I closed all of them. Years later, looking for an apartment was a huge hassle because I had no credit score. Not a bad one, literally none.
Credit sucks and managing these fake scores is annoying, but you may need it and not be able to access it down the road if you close everything.
My advice - assuming these cards are no-fee - is to put a recurring bill on each one to keep them active and just pay them off each month. It’s no different functionally from paying with your debit card and then you have a long, successfully credit history should you ever need it.
Actually credit cards have better consumer protection compare to debit cards. For example, you can dispute charges on a credit card but not on a debit card.
Why wouldn’t you use your credit cards? Just pay them off right away
Yeah. Pay off the full cycle balance each month and you’ll be ok. If you aren’t getting rewards you’re literally paying for the cost to the retailer without the benefit. Not like you get a 2% discount just bc you’re not getting 2% in rewards.
Chief
I assume you have some other cards that you do use? Generally you don’t want to cancel your oldest card as that can impact your credit score. Additionally, you want to use a small amount of your available credit so cancelling cards you don’t use will reduce your available credit and can also lower your credit score.
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This is the only reason I have kept them for years!
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I don’t see a need and I am still able to maintain my credit score above 800.
Most of your credit score is based on how much (%) of your available credit you use. (Under 10% is ideal) If you close cards, ratio changes and your score would drop from 800. (I made this mistake years ago -closing accts - and it tanked my score, would never do again). Now I pay them off and have subscriptions and regular expenses billed to various cards so they stay active but in small amounts. You can test different scenarios on Mint and others to see how moves would affect your score. You may need credit in future and you're missing out on benefits of cards - extra warranty, discounts, cash back. And using a debit card for purchases is not as secure - with ccs you have some protection.
I wouldn't close them, just literally buy a small purchase every 6 months
I would keep at least the oldest one. Part of your credit score is dependent on how long your oldest account has been open.
I think it's the average account age that matters, not the oldest. Obviously having one really old account helps with the average, but having only one old account and three newish ones will definitely drop your score HARD.
I’m on the same boat and super confused about what to do. I have a 20 years old visa from college that I never ever use and wonder if closing it will affect me. I use my Chase Sapphire and an Amex both daily for points and paid in full before EOM. Thoughts?
According to this: https://www.creditcards.com/credit-management/length-credit-history-fico-score/, I’d say if your Amex/Sapphire are over 5 years old, you could probably close the college card with no big hit. But, I’m no expert.