Madison MoneySports - Personal Finance Thread

[.RJ]

That good, huh?

Yes. I have my credit cards, mortgage, savings, checking, etc with them. Everything has been super easy - need something, call them. They usually call me and catch credit card fraud before I do and I have a new card in a day. I go to great lengths to remove things that cause me stress and headache from my life. They may not have the best rates/promotions/points/etc but they are good enough that its not worth the headache of going elsewhere.

[V1GiLaNtE]

That good, huh?

Yes.  I have my credit cards, mortgage, savings, checking, etc with them.  Everything has been super easy - need something, call them.  They usually call me and catch credit card fraud before I do and I have a new card in a day.  I go to great lengths to remove things that cause me stress and headache from my life.  They may not have the best rates/promotions/points/etc but they are good enough that its not worth the headache of going elsewhere.

I opened an account with them simply to get access to their mortgage rates years ago to plan for the future. I'll leave my savings in Barclays as their APY has always been fantastic and Chase does me a solid with travel rewards. Guess I'll start getting my accounts listed out and make the move to their checking.

[D_Eclipse9916]

I have really enjoyed having Pentagon Federal Credit Union. They have good interest rates on the checking accounts to make a couple bucks a month, a good free credit card with rewards; and have not been a pain to deal with at all.

I keep a BB&T account open for cash locally since the bank is across the street.

We have the PenFed Visa for 99% of purposes, a Costco Visa, and an Amex for groceries (6%! cash back). I open and close accounts quite regularly, and though I get dinged for length of time, my credit is always good enough to get the best mortgage rate. The reason I open and close accounts is for rewards. You want to pay me $500 to stick $5k of purchases or direct deposit for 2 months with you? Done. Soon as the requisite time is up I close the account. Annoying as shit that some banks send you a Misc-Income for it though.

[Apoc]

Does keeping your Wells Fargo card just because you have had it for a long time really matter? Does that affect your credit report? I would think not.

It does. Length of credit history is one of the factors to create your fico score. The more good history the better.

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I guess I should have phrased that better. I realize that opening and closing cards frequently will negatively affect your score. But if you have a card for years on end and then close it for another, will that really affect you? If you have good credit history, you have good credit history.

Average age of credit accounts is a factor in your score.

https://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-...e-1586.php

This impacted my score when I moved both individual and our joint accounts to different cards for rewards that aligned better with our habits. This is, in part, because I closed a credit card we'd had for 10+ years and my average went all the down to something like 2.5 years.

[rherold9]

Speaking of credit cards, Amex sent a nice piece of mail in saying they are cutting my credit limit in half automatically because I'm not spending as much on their card. That was the only reason????? My credit score proceeded to drop 3 points on Credit Karma. So probably double that on FICO. A+ plus job Amex!

Anyone have an explanation on why besides fraud concerns on their side? If they have the limit so high they can lose more money? At the same time it's pretty shitty thing to just pull out of nowhere on their customer because you aren't spending as much?

[D_Eclipse9916]

Speaking of credit cards, Amex sent a nice piece of mail in saying they are cutting my credit limit in half automatically because I'm not spending as much on their card. That was the only reason????? My credit score proceeded to drop 3 points. A+ plus job Amex!

Anyone have an explanation on why besides fraud concerns on their side? If they have the limit so high they can lose more money? At the same time it's pretty shitty thing to just pull out of nowhere on their customer?

Amex representative: Our Risk Department has made the determination that your life choices in racing and travel have required us to mitigate our risk.  Thank you for your cooperation in our efforts to serve you better.

[rherold9]

Keyword spending less money

[V1GiLaNtE]

Now I wonder what you were spending your money on BEFORE racecars and travel that made them think you weren't spending enough money anymore..

[rherold9]

Way too much craft beer, random shit, track entry fees, hotel, gas, etc.

I also put down payment on the Amex card along with car parts for a bit for the free money back. Still paid it off every month. Idk. That was like 2 years ago though

I have no late payments, don't carry balances, credit hasn't change otherwise. No idea how spending less money on their card is a risk. Sorry, I'm just using your 3% back by just spending it at the grocery store now... lol

I've been spending even less on Discover card. I use that card for like $20 a month to keep the account alive and they have done nothing but increase my limit year after year...

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Since it was bothering me from last night I called them and they offered to restore it back. Same reason on the phone as in the letter. Low spending on the account so they lowered the limit. 'Big' purchases were over 2 years ago. No other reasoning besides that. Very weird why they can't explain anything else, but just food for thought, call and see what they will do. I like to keep my credit utilization in check because it is like 30% of your credit score. Cutting utilization in half on one card alone will hurt your credit score a decent amount

[D_Eclipse9916]

I was kidding about risk haha.

[rherold9]

I was kidding about risk haha.

Nah, I couldn't tell. Should've included a  like I did to show you were joking/playing along with the joke

[JPolen01]

 Low spending on the account so they lowered the limit. 'Big' purchases were over 2 years ago. No other reasoning besides that. Very weird why they can't explain anything else

But that is their reason. They don't see the need to extend you that much credit because you aren't using it.

[.RJ]

I'm pretty sure banks and credit cards look at risk far differently than consumers do.

[rherold9]

Yeah, they wouldn't care about your credit. Probably not in their decision factor. It's more of just an annoyance from the consumer side. Think outside of just their box. Probably would look better on your company as whole vs just focusing on credit limit think of other impacts or how it feels to a customer... Then again most companies don't care

[.RJ]

have you tried calling them?

[Sijray21]

have you tried calling them?

Since it was bothering me from last night I called them and they offered to restore it back. Same reason on the phone as in the letter. Low spending on the account so they lowered the limit. 'Big' purchases were over 2 years ago. No other reasoning besides that. Very weird why they can't explain anything else, but just food for thought, call and see what they will do. I like to keep my credit utilization in check because it is like 30% of your credit score. Cutting utilization in half on one card alone will hurt your credit score a decent amount

[Senor_Taylor]

Lots of cards will cut your limit if you don't use them.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[Apoc]

If only there was a place to search for the answer about this - https://www.creditkarma.com/credit-cards...t-lowered/

Very low usage means they cannot predict your habits and are therefore a risk.

[.RJ]

get the fuck out of here with your links and logic

[ViPER1313]

Citi just closed one of my accounts because I never use it. Fun times.