Quick simple question on a 0% APR card - 0% on all purchases or just initial purchase

[boomhower]

I just checked my credit report and score. Report shows all my accounts in good standing and never having missed a payment.

Score is 765. A bit lower than where I want it to be. Not sure how to get it into the 800's or at least high 700's. My credit history is only 10 years.

Total balance of just $12,233.00 ($11,591 of that is a car loan).

EDIT:

As of 02/22/2013 - What percent of your available credit are you using?

6%

Uhhhh... there's no way that also includes the car loan, right?

Current on credit is $642. So my total credit available to me is $642 / 0.06 = $10,700. And there are a few cards out there that are not being used at all - Sony card, AmEx, America Tire.

EDIT #2:

The utilization percentage is wrong. Just checked my cards:

AmEx: Limit of $11,300. Not using any of it. Haven't used any of it for... 6 years.

Chase: $5,000 limit

Sony: $4,000 limit, haven't used it in 3 years

Discount Tire: $1,500 limit, haven't used it in 2 years

Should I close out the Sony, Discount Tire, and decrease the limit on the AmEx to maybe $2,000 before applying for the Amazon card?

Never close a line of credit that doesn't have and anual fee and never get a credit line lowered. Having open credit does not hurt you in any way and only helps when your carrying balancing on other lines lowering you overall utility. Even though overall utility may be low having very high utility on one line can be a very large drag on your score. Installment loans are not counted into you utility percentage.

 

[Lonyo]

Yeah, I have all that amount in the bank right now. This is for business so any way I can stretch out the payments, especially interest free, is a no-brainer, leaving me more cash, if I needed, to make a bigger, all at once purchase of something.

I don't miss payments and have never been unable to pay, so no back interest risk.

Looks like I can get the card and put purchases on it throughout the year, interest free, huh? Even if the limit is something lower like $5k it'll still help.

Yup, all the way through the year until the end of March 2013. So 1 month and 1 week. Not even close to all the way through the year.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Yup, all the way through the year until the end of March 2013. So 1 month and 1 week. Not even close to all the way through the year.

What? No... that's the amount of time I have left to get the card and possibly qualify for one year interest free. That's not how much time I have interest-free...

 

[T9D]

Never close a line of credit that doesn't have and anual fee and never get a credit line lowered. Having open credit does not hurt you in any way and only helps when your carrying balancing on other lines lowering you overall utility. Even though overall utility may be low having very high utility on one line can be a very large drag on your score. Installment loans are not counted into you utility percentage.

That's not true. The amount of open credit available does affect your credit score and chance of getting more credit. That little for him might not really matter though. But when it starts adding up it does make a difference and companies do take that into consideration. If you're not using it or ever plan to just get rid of it. Keep your life simple. I always close any unused credit and have a very high credit score.

However you never want to close your oldest and very long standing accounts. And really all you need is one long standing bank account and even one long standing credit card for a very high credit score. (assuming good income to debt ratio and no bad marks etc).

 

[Aikouka]

That's not true. The amount of open credit available does affect your credit score and chance of getting more credit. That little for him might not really matter though. But when it starts adding up it does make a difference and companies do take that into consideration. If you're not using it or ever plan to just get rid of it. Keep your life simple. I always close any unused credit and have a very high credit score.

I think he's referring to the Available Credit Limit portion of a credit score, which is one reason why closing an account or reducing your limit would be a bad idea. Although, it appears that FBB doesn't use most of his cards, so it might not hurt him.

However you never want to close your oldest and very long standing accounts. And really all you need is one long standing bank account and even one long standing credit card for a very high credit score. (assuming good income to debt ratio and no bad marks etc).

I knew that credit age was a factor, but I didn't realize that age was also factored into bank accounts. I've had this one bank account for quite awhile, but it's a local credit union back in New York. So, I've been wanting to get something local, and I opened an account a few weeks back, but since you say that bank account age is taken into account... maybe I shouldn't close the old one.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

I need this Amazon card to have as high a credit limit as possible.

Would it be wise to call in and reduce the credit limit on my Amex and Chase Visas, wait a day or two, and then apply for the Amazon card?

And/or close the worthless Sony and America's Tire cards?

 

[Capt Caveman]

I need this Amazon card to have as high a credit limit as possible.

Would it be wise to call in and reduce the credit limit on my Amex and Chase Visas, wait a day or two, and then apply for the Amazon card?

And/or close the worthless Sony and America's Tire cards?

It'll be a minimum 30 days for the reduction in credit limits or cancellation of those credit cards to be reflected on your credit report.

 

[RossMAN]

fuzzybabybunny,

Visit https://www.creditcards.com/cardmatch/
Enter your name and mailing address, however I would NOT recommend entering your SSN, leave it blank
Click continue

Yes it's legit and confirmed, I've personally used it and vouch for it.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

fuzzybabybunny,

Visit https://www.creditcards.com/cardmatch/
Enter your name and mailing address, however I would NOT recommend entering your SSN, leave it blank
Click continue

Yes it's legit and confirmed, I've personally used it and vouch for it.

Thanks! You reminded me that I don't need to limit myself to the Amazon card.

I ended up getting:

Capital One Cash Credit Card

+ 1.5% cash back - I chose to NOT go with the 2% miles Venture card because I heard it's a pain in the ass to redeem the "No Hassle Miles." Cash is king.
+ no annual fee
+ 0% intro APR until February 2014
+ Roadside Assistance - no need for AAA
+ Car Rental Insurance
+ 1-year warranty extension for items I buy with it (and then register in their system)
+++ NO FOREIGN TRANSACTION FEE - this is my go-to travel card, something I plan on doing extensively for many years

Credit Limit: $10,000.00

This is going to decrease my credit score a bit after I load the ~$7,000 equipment purchases onto it though.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

So I have a question. The total credit available to me across all my cards is

AmEx Platinum: $11,300 - longest standing CC for about a decade, but I use it only to pay a small $15 a month recurring expense

Chase Business: $7,000 - second longest - 5 years - use constantly

Chase Personal: $5,000 - second longest - 5 years - use somewhat constantly

Sony: $4,000 - 3 years - used only once

Discount Tire: $1,500 - 3 years - used only once

Capital One: $10,000 - just got

= $38,800

That scares the hell out of me.

When they dock your credit score for high credit utilization, do they calculate that based on the OVERALL utilization or the utilization per card?

I heard that ~30% utilization or lower is good.

So if I put $7K on the Capital One card, that's:

70% of the Capital One card

But only 18% of my total credit.

Will they look and see that I'm using 70% of the Cap One card and decrease my score? Or will they instead look at the 18% and let it pass?

And I'd really like to just get rid of that Sony and Discount Tire card but not sure if it's wise. I don't even know where the cards are, honestly. And should I decrease the credit limit on the AmEx? Credit utilization on that card is all of 0.1%, lol.

 

[ponyo]

High credit limit is nothing to be scared of. I have a single card with higher credit limit than all your cards combined. And I have multiple cards with high limit. You want a high limit card because credit card companies are like lemmings. They follow the actions of one. If one offer high limit, all will follow.

I always heard the 30% rule was overall utilization and not a single card. But who cares if you have to use the card and it shoots up? It'll go back down once as you pay it.

I would be more concerned about your business credit card. Here's a tip as a fellow business owner. Avoid business credit cards. I don't have any and I never will until the protection is the same as consumer cards. Business cards don't offer the same protection and you could be on the hook on misuse. The risk is not worth the small extra perk it might offer over consumer card.