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astral
Apr 26, 2004

black.lion posted:

Word, I'll cool my jets until I hear back from the stuff I applied for today (called Chase but looks like my application is too new to be looked at, the automated thingy hung up on me lol)

Thanks again for all your help w this!

You're very welcome!

I should also note that balance transfers don't count towards signup spending bonus. The spend has to be directly made with whatever card has the signup bonus. You could transfer it off of such a card afterwards, but anything transferred TO that card won't count towards the spend.

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The_Franz
Aug 8, 2003

The_Franz posted:

Amex can eat a dick. They cut my credit limit in half from $16k to $8k citing a few months of light usage even though my credit is spotless and my credit scores are 800+ across the board. No other card has done that, even after longer periods of dormancy.

No wonder the internet is full of Amex horror stories over the last decade. I almost want to cancel the account, credit score be damned, because I don't want to have to play games with a company that does that.

To follow up on this, I received a form letter with the specific reason for the decrease, and it was strictly low usage. I'm not the only one either, as a perusal of those forums filled with people obsessed with credit cards and FICO scores seems to indicate that Amex has been going on a rampage recently with a lot of people getting a 50% reduction and receiving the same form letter citing "low utilization of the existing limit". Some of the people reporting cuts even state that they use the cards regularly and charge and pay quite a bit per month, so, as with everything else in the financial black box that is the credit system, :iiam:

The_Franz fucked around with this message at 09:50 on Mar 21, 2019

SiGmA_X
May 3, 2004
SiGmA_X

black.lion posted:

Nah I'm using a local mechanic that my parents have used forever, as well as my employer and friends etc, he has an extremely good reputation locally for not overcharging for stuff, for being open about whether a repair is necessary or optional, basically for being a good-guy mechanic. No idea why the belt cost is so much (he said 1600-1800 unless I misheard, hopefully I misheard!) but I've had people tell me stories about dealership telling them they needed 2k of repairs and they went to this guy and he was like "nah" and did a $150 repair and they were good. Long story short I trust him, he has more clients than he can deal with and its all through referrals.

e: I'ma post in that thread anyway tho because why not have more info/opinions right?
Is the shop a VAG shop? If not, go somewhere else...

black.lion
Apr 1, 2004




For if he like a madman lived,
At least he like a wise one died.

Yea it is, he specializes in German cars - picked it up yesterday and it drives so much better, showed me the before and after pics of the 7 intakes he cleaned.... the before looked like dark subterranean caves lol; it's running much better now :3:

To make this less of a derail, my Credit Union increased my credit limit and Amex said I have to wait 60 days to ask for that increase - but I have more credit than I did before, so yay!

Blistering Sunburn
Aug 2, 2005

Blistering Sunburn posted:

My wife applied for CSP yesterday (with me as authorized user if that matters) and didn't get auto approved (we will hear from them in 10 days or something) which is surprising since both of our FICOs are 780+, we pay all of our cards off every month, and the only hard pull on her report in the past 2 years was a year+ ago when we switched cable providers. Actually when we checked the annual credit report (after the application) it didn't even show a pull from Chase.


Just to close this loop, turns out the application was rejected because we typoed the SSN! So it didn't match her name and there was no matching credit report which explains why there was no pull on her report. Re-applied with correct info and auto-approved.

Silver lining: CSP sign up bonus bumped up to 60k in the interim from 50k when we first applied! So basically $125 extra for our trouble.

astral
Apr 26, 2004

Blistering Sunburn posted:

Just to close this loop, turns out the application was rejected because we typoed the SSN! So it didn't match her name and there was no matching credit report which explains why there was no pull on her report. Re-applied with correct info and auto-approved.

Silver lining: CSP sign up bonus bumped up to 60k in the interim from 50k when we first applied! So basically $125 extra for our trouble.

Less-silver lining: The AF isn't waived on the 60k offer. Still, at least an extra $5~$30 depending on how you redeem the points.

gregday
May 23, 2003

So I was holding off on applying for the Amex Platinum for awhile because I’ve been trying to pump up my credit score and I didn’t want a hard inquiry or a new account to lower my average age.

It’s been about a month now since I’ve had the card, and it looks like they did not do a hard pull. Maybe that’s because I already have an Amex credit card and a good relationship with them?

But the big surprise is there does not appear to be a new account on my reports either. I’ve checked all 3 bureaus, both through CreditKarma and MyFICO and it doesn’t show up. However, a soft pull CLI to my BoA card a couple weeks ago (after getting the Plat) is there.

So is it possible I got this card for “free” (credit report wise)? I don’t see how it doesn’t show up at all. Maybe since it’s a charge card there has to be a statement generated with a balance on it first?

astral
Apr 26, 2004

gregday posted:

So I was holding off on applying for the Amex Platinum for awhile because I’ve been trying to pump up my credit score and I didn’t want a hard inquiry or a new account to lower my average age.

It’s been about a month now since I’ve had the card, and it looks like they did not do a hard pull. Maybe that’s because I already have an Amex credit card and a good relationship with them?

But the big surprise is there does not appear to be a new account on my reports either. I’ve checked all 3 bureaus, both through CreditKarma and MyFICO and it doesn’t show up. However, a soft pull CLI to my BoA card a couple weeks ago (after getting the Plat) is there.

So is it possible I got this card for “free” (credit report wise)? I don’t see how it doesn’t show up at all. Maybe since it’s a charge card there has to be a statement generated with a balance on it first?

Amex frequently doesn't do an additional hard pull for additional credit card accounts with them.

Amex typically (but not always) reports the new account to the credit bureaus when the second statement is generated.

Something Offal
Jan 12, 2018

by FactsAreUseless

Thanks for the backstory! Do you trust this mechanic? Have you shopped around for prices on some of the work? Of course it's too late now for a good portion of it as the engine is apart currently.

For example I see timing belt replacement as being under $1k for the GTI, shouldn't get you near the $1800 mark if I'm seeing correct numbers. You may want to get it done now while the engine is apart, if the rate they're charging is normal. You said you're at 95k miles, not sure what the GTI change interval is for that part but it's probably 100k miles.

fake edit: I see you got the car back now... I'd recommend making sure you're not getting reamed by that shop.

Flat Daddy
Dec 3, 2014

by Nyc_Tattoo
My wife and I are planning a Japan trip from Austin next year, probably March. It's been a while since we opened any cards so we figured we'd look into what bonuses are around.

The last card we opened was my Chase Sapphire Reserve in 2016. Between the two of us we have 322,000 UR points from the Reserve and two Sapphire Preferreds that we converted to Freedom & Freedom Unlimited. We're looking into signing up for pairs of these card, one for each of us just to pay for as much travel as possible:

- Barclaycard Arrival Plus (70,000 bonus points)
- The United Explorer Card (40,000)
- Venture from Capital One (50,000)

But then I remembered we can just get more Chase travel cards again. CSP is at 60,000 bonus now so would it be smart for us to both get those? Or is the Reserve (50,000 now) worth it for her to get for some reason even though I already have one? Or any other ideas on what we should get & the sequence and timing on getting them? Thanks.

e: My TransUnion score is 777, and hers is 737

Flat Daddy fucked around with this message at 21:49 on Mar 24, 2019

astral
Apr 26, 2004

Flat Daddy posted:

My wife and I are planning a Japan trip from Austin next year, probably March. It's been a while since we opened any cards so we figured we'd look into what bonuses are around.

The last card we opened was my Chase Sapphire Reserve in 2016. Between the two of us we have 322,000 UR points from the Reserve and two Sapphire Preferreds that we converted to Freedom & Freedom Unlimited. We're looking into signing up for pairs of these card, one for each of us just to pay for as much travel as possible:

- Barclaycard Arrival Plus (70,000 bonus points)
- The United Explorer Card (40,000)
- Venture from Capital One (50,000)

But then I remembered we can just get more Chase travel cards again. CSP is at 60,000 bonus now so would it be smart for us to both get those? Or is the Reserve (50,000 now) worth it for her to get for some reason even though I already have one? Or any other ideas on what we should get & the sequence and timing on getting them? Thanks.

e: My TransUnion score is 777, and hers is 737

48 month Sapphire rule means you'll have to wait til 2020 (or later, since it's based on when you received the bonus) to open any Sapphire cards for the bonus.

For Japan, figure out first which airline you'd like to use. Not every card/card family transfers to every airline, so if you have a plan going in it will help tremendously. Arrival and venture are 'fine' for transaction-erasing and are best-used for things you can't get otherwise from card bonuses, but as far as flights go you'll find the best mileage with, well, miles. For example, from LAX ANA runs nonstop business class round trips to Tokyo during the regular season for only 85K miles, which are transferable from Amex's Membership Rewards.

I haven't looked into it too deeply but I'm sure there are a lot of good resources out there for the best credit card bonuses to get you to Japan etc. that might give you more ideas.

astral fucked around with this message at 22:21 on Mar 24, 2019

Flat Daddy
Dec 3, 2014

by Nyc_Tattoo

astral posted:

48 month Sapphire rule means you'll have to wait til 2020 (or later, since it's based on when you received the bonus) to open any Sapphire cards for the bonus.

For Japan, figure out first which airline you'd like to use. Not every card/card family transfers to every airline, so if you have a plan going in it will help tremendously. Arrival and venture are 'fine' for transaction-erasing and are best-used for things you can't get otherwise from card bonuses, but as far as flights go you'll find the best mileage with, well, miles. For example, from LAX ANA runs nonstop business class round trips to Tokyo during the regular season for only 85K miles, which are transferable from Amex's Membership Rewards.

I haven't looked into it too deeply but I'm sure there are a lot of good resources out there for the best credit card bonuses to get you to Japan etc. that might give you more ideas.

Thanks! This was helpful. We'll look more into cards that do airline transfers instead and I'll mark my calendar for the 48 month rule (I didn't know about this one, and I blame r/churning for its existence).

SiGmA_X
May 3, 2004
SiGmA_X
Reporting in: AmEx cut my credit limit in half. To be fair I've only put a few bucks on the card over the last year, and my limit was $32k.

Chimp_On_Stilts
Aug 31, 2004
Holy Hell.
I want to further build my credit. My current FICO is over 760, but I've only ever had one credit card. Loan officer wants me to have three lines of credit, so I'm going to open three new cards.

(Yes, that's 4 total. I'm going to deprioritize usage of, but not close, the oldest because it has a poor rewards structure.)

I'm mulling the following two "secondary" cards:
- Amazon Prime Visa because 5% back on Amazon is nice, and it's a Visa so it'll be widely accepted outside the USA when I travel. A good backup?
- AMEX Delta Platinum because I want the bonus sign up miles and I will use the companion ticket each year without much trouble (this makes the $195 annual fee worthwhile). I already have all my frequent flyer stuff on Delta, so it seems like a no-brainer. (Let me know if you disagree.)

I still need a primary and am debating these:
- Schwab AMEX Platinum, I'm reasonably sure I will get my money's worth to cover the annual fee. Downside: Not widely accepted internationally, but I only need that about a few weeks per year.
- Chase Sapphire Reserve or Preferred. I haven't read up on these as closely, but I get the impression that the extra features are a bit worse than AMEX (e.g., less airport lounge access). But it's a Visa, so it's accepted everywhere and the rewards are still pretty good.

Any thoughts between the AMEX and Sapphires? How about maybe swapping the Amazon for something that offers better rewards when abroad?

And for the record, I ain't got time for the r/churning bullshit to maximize rewards across like 20 cards so that's out of the question.

hostile apostle
Aug 29, 2006
:stadia::stadia::stadia::stadia::stadia:
Stadia didn't outlive SA but it did outlive Lowtax - Happy Birthday Stadia! #ad
:stadia::stadia::stadia::stadia::stadia:
Plat vs Sapphire:

* Do you fly out of an airport with Centurion Lounge? Do you fly Delta a lot? If so, Amex provides a much better travel benefit than Chase, if not they're basically the same.
* Plat is 5X on airfare vs 3X on CSR, but CSR is 3X on all other travel like hotels or Uber, and 3X on dining. Amex is 5x on hotels but only if you book through them.
* CSR has a nice travel delay benefit that Amex doesn't have
* If you spend a lot on dining the CSR is probably better
* How do you plan to use the points? Travel? Generally, Chase is a little easier. Amex has very good transfer partners, though slightly different than Chase.

CSP is generally only worth using over the Prime Visa if you spend alot of dining/travel, and you're going to transfer out the points and get better value than 1c.

Amex AF is 550 vs CSR at 450, but effectively their fees are lower through regular spend in many cases.
* For Amex, you get $200 Uber credit (15/month, 35 in December), and $200 Airline credit (which you can just buy some Delta gift cards with), and $100 Saks credit (buy a gc every 6 mo), so effective AF is ~$50
* For Chase, $300 travel credit is easier to use than Amex and works on anything in travel category, so effective AF is $150

Diva Cupcake
Aug 15, 2005

Apple announced their new credit card and it's kinda trash.

2% back when you use Apple Pay.
3% back from Apple / Apple services.
1% back when using the physical card.
No points or signup bonus.
No AF or late fees and a low APR

But I guess it looks cool and it's titanium. Likely aimed at people who want to finance their Apple products.

gregday
May 23, 2003

Diva Cupcake posted:

Apple announced their new credit card and it's kinda trash.

2% back when you use Apple Pay.
3% back from Apple / Apple services.
1% back when using the physical card.
No points or signup bonus.
No AF or late fees and a low APR

But I guess it looks cool and it's titanium. Likely aimed at people who want to finance their Apple products.

“Low APR” is marketing bullshit. The footnote on the site says 13-24% range which is absolutely standard across the credit card industry.

Something Offal
Jan 12, 2018

by FactsAreUseless

Chimp_On_Stilts posted:

I want to further build my credit. My current FICO is over 760, but I've only ever had one credit card. Loan officer wants me to have three lines of credit, so I'm going to open three new cards.

Ugh is that true? I was content with a 760+ FICO and I was lazy so my other cards were closed due to nonusage, so I only have 1 card now. I guess I need to open a couple up so I'm ready when first-mortgage time comes.

Anybody know if banks will re-open a closed line without another hard pull? Highly doubt it but thought I'd ask.

Chimp_On_Stilts
Aug 31, 2004
Holy Hell.

Something Offal posted:

Ugh is that true? I was content with a 760+ FICO and I was lazy so my other cards were closed due to nonusage, so I only have 1 card now. I guess I need to open a couple up so I'm ready when first-mortgage time comes.

Anybody know if banks will re-open a closed line without another hard pull? Highly doubt it but thought I'd ask.

Your situation may be different. My one card is the only card I have *ever* had.


Has anyone ever tried using the AMEX $15/month Uber benefit to purchase Uber credits, thus allowing them to be pooled? Unsurprisingly, the benefit is more useful if I can use it a few times per year on ~$50 rides.

Chimp_On_Stilts fucked around with this message at 18:46 on Mar 26, 2019

FunOne
Aug 20, 2000
I am a slimey vat of concentrated stupidity

Fun Shoe

Chimp_On_Stilts posted:

Has anyone ever tried using the AMEX $15/month Uber benefit to purchase Uber credits, thus allowing them to be pooled? Unsurprisingly, the benefit is more useful if I can use it a few times per year on ~$50 rides.

They now show up AS credits, so you can't really use them to buy credits. You can now use them on UberEATS tho.

SiGmA_X
May 3, 2004
SiGmA_X

Diva Cupcake posted:

Apple announced their new credit card and it's kinda trash.

2% back when you use Apple Pay.
3% back from Apple / Apple services.
1% back when using the physical card.
No points or signup bonus.
No AF or late fees and a low APR

But I guess it looks cool and it's titanium. Likely aimed at people who want to finance their Apple products.
2% with Apple Pay isn't bad, and it is a cool card... If it was 2% via card I'd be interested.

The_Franz
Aug 8, 2003

SiGmA_X posted:

2% with Apple Pay isn't bad, and it is a cool card... If it was 2% via card I'd be interested.

no forex fees either

Animal
Apr 8, 2003

SiGmA_X posted:

2% with Apple Pay isn't bad, and it is a cool card... If it was 2% via card I'd be interested.

Same, but I think the whole point is putting pressure on businesses to implement Apple Pay.

Diva Cupcake
Aug 15, 2005

I guess I don't see any benefit for the Apple over something like the Uber Visa.

That also has 2% cashback on Apple Pay, no AF or FTFs, but with a boatload of other better categories.

Super-NintendoUser
Jan 16, 2004

COWABUNGERDER COMPADRES
Soiled Meat

Diva Cupcake posted:

I guess I don't see any benefit for the Apple over something like the Uber Visa.

That also has 2% cashback on Apple Pay, no AF or FTFs, but with a boatload of other better categories.

The Uber Visa is a fantastic card. The phone insurance is terriffic. I've used it a couple times and it's been really useful.

dpkg chopra
Jun 9, 2007

Fast Food Fight

Grimey Drawer
My Amazon Chase has a 5% back on utilities up to $10000 until April 15.

My internet provider lets me prepay as much as I want.

Assuming I’m not eating into my emergency budget, would it be real dumb to just prepay the next 10 months?

No, I’m not planning moving.

Chimp_On_Stilts
Aug 31, 2004
Holy Hell.

Ur Getting Fatter posted:

My Amazon Chase has a 5% back on utilities up to $10000 until April 15.

My internet provider lets me prepay as much as I want.

Assuming I’m not eating into my emergency budget, would it be real dumb to just prepay the next 10 months?

No, I’m not planning moving.

Read the terms and conditions carefully to ensure your internet bill counts as a utility. Maybe they only count electric, gas, and water.

SiGmA_X
May 3, 2004
SiGmA_X

Chimp_On_Stilts posted:

Read the terms and conditions carefully to ensure your internet bill counts as a utility. Maybe they only count electric, gas, and water.
I wish I had seen that the offer was on, I could have ran a few hundred in utilities through it. I kind of want to prepay my auto insurance though, 5wks early. Seems worth it if the coding is right...

Link on Doc of Credit worked for my account FWIW.

TOS:

quote:

* 5% Back: To be eligible for this offer, you must log on to the website referenced in this offer and enroll by 03/31/19, 11:59 p.m. EST. You'll earn 5% Back for each $1 spent, on up to $10,000 in total spend on combined purchases in the reward categories listed below during the promotional period (4% additional Back on top of the 1% Back earned on each purchase). This equates to 5 points for each $1 spent, until you reach the $10,000 limit. After $10,000 on combined purchases in the reward categories listed below, you go back to earning 1% Back rewards for every dollar spent, with no maximum. For a purchase to qualify for this offer, the merchant must submit charges to your credit card by the last day of the promotional period 04/15/19. All of your eligible purchases during the promotional period will be automatically counted, as long as you have enrolled by 03/31/2019. Please allow up to 8 weeks after qualifying purchases post to your account for 5% Back to post to your account. To be eligible for this offer, your account must be open and not in default at the time of fulfillment. Rewards Categories: Internet, Cable, and Phone Service category merchants provide internet, cable, satellite television, radio, cellular, wireless data, and landline services. In addition, if you purchase or pay for your internet, cable and satellite television, phone or related services in a merchant's store that is not registered by the merchant in the applicable services category, the purchase or payment will not qualify; for example, phone bill payments in a merchant's store that register to Chase as a telephone equipment store. Utility category merchants provide electric, household fuel, water, and sanitation. Please note that purchases of equipment and some merchants that sell utility-related goods and services are not included; for example, electronics or other retail stores and merchants offering maintenance and cleaning services. Insurance category merchants provide health, automobile, homeowners, medical, and life insurance. What determines whether a merchant falls into a category? Merchants who accept Visa/MasterCard credit cards are assigned a merchant code, which is determined by the merchant or its processor in accordance with Visa/MasterCard procedures based on the kinds of products and services they primarily sell. We group similar merchant codes into categories for purposes of making offers to you. Please note: We make every effort to include all relevant merchant codes in our categories. However, even though a merchant or some of the items that it sells may appear to fit within a category, the merchant may not have a merchant code in that category. When this occurs, purchases with that merchant won't qualify for offers on purchases in that category. Purchases submitted by you, an authorized user, or the merchant through third-party payment accounts, mobile or wireless card readers, online or mobile digital wallets, or similar technology will not qualify in a category if the technology is not set up to process the purchase in that category. This promotional offer is non-transferable. For more information about your rewards program, see your Rewards Program Agreement.

SiGmA_X fucked around with this message at 07:09 on Mar 28, 2019

Chimp_On_Stilts
Aug 31, 2004
Holy Hell.
It occurs to me that the AMEX Delta Platinum card is inferior to the generic AMEX Platinum if your goal is to maximize Delta Skymiles.

ADP gives 2x on Delta spend, Plat gives 5x. And the ADP points are *only* usable as Skymiles, whereas the Plat points are usable 1:1 as Skymiles and other things too - thus, they're strictly superior. And the Plat gives 5x on *all* airline spend, not just Delta.

I recently got the Delta card (arrived in the mail yesterday), but now I am thinking I might use it for the 75,000 mile sign up bonus then just not use it much.

The Chase Sapphire also gives more miles per dollar than the Delta card.

What's up with that? Is the Delta card simply a bit crap after the sign up bonus?




My goal in signing up for a few cards is to improve my credit. Now I am worried than AMEX might cut my credit ceiling on this Delta card if I don't use it enough, and that could possibly harm my credit.

FunOne
Aug 20, 2000
I am a slimey vat of concentrated stupidity

Fun Shoe

Chimp_On_Stilts posted:

It occurs to me that the AMEX Delta Platinum card is inferior to the generic AMEX Platinum if your goal is to maximize Delta Skymiles.

What's up with that? Is the Delta card simply a bit crap after the sign up bonus?


I think it's about the lounge membership, fee waivers, and qualifying dollars. If it's just about mile earn for you then yeah there are better options.

Chimp_On_Stilts
Aug 31, 2004
Holy Hell.

FunOne posted:

I think it's about the lounge membership, fee waivers, and qualifying dollars. If it's just about mile earn for you then yeah there are better options.

The $500/yr Delta card and vanilla Platinum card get equivalent Delta club access, while the vanilla also includes other lounges. So, Delta card still strictly worse.

It'd be hard for the fee waivers to amount to much value, but I guess for a limited set of people the MQDs might be valuable.



I remain concerned that AMEX will reduce my credit limit on my new Delta card if I use it rarely. I want my usage/max ratio to be as favorable as possible to help keep a likely future mortgage rate low.

Any suggestions there? Should I put some inexpensive subscriptions on the AMEX? (E.g., Netflix.) Or, is that not enough?

I'd rather direct my spending primarily to a card with better rewards.

Small White Dragon
Nov 23, 2007

No relation.

Chimp_On_Stilts posted:

The $500/yr Delta card and vanilla Platinum card get equivalent Delta club access, while the vanilla also includes other lounges. So, Delta card still strictly worse.

It'd be hard for the fee waivers to amount to much value, but I guess for a limited set of people the MQDs might be valuable.
Or the economy companion pass, potentially.

Harry
Jun 13, 2003

I do solemnly swear that in the year 2015 I will theorycraft my wallet as well as my WoW

Flat Daddy posted:

My wife and I are planning a Japan trip from Austin next year, probably March. It's been a while since we opened any cards so we figured we'd look into what bonuses are around.

The last card we opened was my Chase Sapphire Reserve in 2016. Between the two of us we have 322,000 UR points from the Reserve and two Sapphire Preferreds that we converted to Freedom & Freedom Unlimited. We're looking into signing up for pairs of these card, one for each of us just to pay for as much travel as possible:

- Barclaycard Arrival Plus (70,000 bonus points)
- The United Explorer Card (40,000)
- Venture from Capital One (50,000)

But then I remembered we can just get more Chase travel cards again. CSP is at 60,000 bonus now so would it be smart for us to both get those? Or is the Reserve (50,000 now) worth it for her to get for some reason even though I already have one? Or any other ideas on what we should get & the sequence and timing on getting them? Thanks.

e: My TransUnion score is 777, and hers is 737

You can do:

Barclay arrival card- 60k points, get this one first
Citi aadvantage- 50k
Citi business- 50k, you just sign up under your name

That will cover any non-first class tickets. Citi aadvantage cards also have the bonus of sending you mailers for the card you already have with codes. So you can sign up for the 50k bonus multiple times.

Harry fucked around with this message at 03:36 on Mar 30, 2019

Yorkshire Pudding
Nov 24, 2006



Hey, quick credit card question.

I have a recurring charge (small, $9 a month for internet service I had when I was there) from a Japanese company from when I lived there, and I absolutely cannot cancel it without procuring a number that I basically need to be in Japan or speak Japanese to get.

I've asked my company to stop payments, but it keeps coming every month.

If I just report my card missing and get a new card number will that stop it? I'm just fed up with ir.

astral
Apr 26, 2004

Yorkshire Pudding posted:

Hey, quick credit card question.

I have a recurring charge (small, $9 a month for internet service I had when I was there) from a Japanese company from when I lived there, and I absolutely cannot cancel it without procuring a number that I basically need to be in Japan or speak Japanese to get.

I've asked my company to stop payments, but it keeps coming every month.

If I just report my card missing and get a new card number will that stop it? I'm just fed up with ir.

Nope. Odds are, they'll get the new number for recurring charges. Dispute it with the card's bank if you can't contact the company to cancel it yourself.

Yorkshire Pudding
Nov 24, 2006



astral posted:

Nope. Odds are, they'll get the new number for recurring charges. Dispute it with the card's bank if you can't contact the company to cancel it yourself.

I've called Capital One multiple times over the past year, and they'll just refund me the charge for 1 month and then it occurs again the next.

Next question. I'm thinking about just getting a new card in general. I've had this one for like 10 years, got it when I was 19 just for utilities and some charges and just got whichever one my mom signed me up for. My credit rating is okay (a little over 700), and most of the dings on it are because every once in a while I use my credit card for big purchases, though I have no credit card debt. Will it affect my credit score negatively if I get a new card (preferably with a higher limit, because I almost always spend the same amount on mine and am generally good about not spending it on needless stuff) and close down my current one?

astral
Apr 26, 2004

Yorkshire Pudding posted:

I've called Capital One multiple times over the past year, and they'll just refund me the charge for 1 month and then it occurs again the next.

Next question. I'm thinking about just getting a new card in general. I've had this one for like 10 years, got it when I was 19 just for utilities and some charges and just got whichever one my mom signed me up for. My credit rating is okay (a little over 700), and most of the dings on it are because every once in a while I use my credit card for big purchases, though I have no credit card debt. Will it affect my credit score negatively if I get a new card (preferably with a higher limit, because I almost always spend the same amount on mine and am generally good about not spending it on needless stuff) and close down my current one?

I'd recommend against closing your current one; it'll negatively affect your score in a few ways: average age of accounts (in several scoring models this part will take 10 years to hit your score, but it will still happen), utilization%, total available credit.

You may see a minor immediate score drop when you open the new card, but that will go away after a few months and your score should eventually end up higher than before assuming you keep up the same good practices mentioned in your post. You'll have more available credit and lower overall utilization. It helps in other ways, too - lenders like to see that you can be responsible with multiple credit cards.

As for any card recommendations:

Chase cards come up a lot in this thread for a few reasons - they're a relatively friendly lender as long as you've got at least a year of credit history and they have a pretty solid rewards program. They also won't approve people who've opened more than 5 cards in the last 24-month period, which makes them harder to open cards with later on if you decide to get invested in diversifying your credit card/rewards or if you find yourself interested in the large chunk of change you can get from credit card signup spending bonuses.

There are two basic no-annual-fee Chase cards, the Chase Freedom with 1% everywhere and 5% rotating categories every 3 months (The current period, April through June, is Grocery Stores and Home Improvement Stores). You can see the calendar here: https://creditcards.chase.com/freedom-credit-cards/calendar

Their other card is the 'Chase Freedom Unlimited' and that gives 1.5% back everywhere.

Although it's presented as cash back on those cards, on the back end these are actually points that can be worth more if you eventually decide you want to add one of their travel cards to your portfolio, where you get travel portal values of 1.25c or 1.5c per point (or more with Airline/hotel transfer partners) with one of their annual-fee-having cards. You'd have to decide if the signup bonus and/or benefits outweigh the annual fees on those.

Another popular card is the Citibank Double Cash. You get 2% cashback everywhere with that card: 1% back when you make a purchase and the other 1% when you pay it off. Citibank cards give top-of-the-line benefits, including a 2-year extended warranty (not 'doubles up to', just adds two years) and 60-day price protection (how many times have you bought something and the price goes down within a couple of months? well, now you're protected!).

astral fucked around with this message at 19:43 on Apr 2, 2019

Super-NintendoUser
Jan 16, 2004

COWABUNGERDER COMPADRES
Soiled Meat

astral posted:


As for any card recommendations:



most of these are represented here:


Hey use the referral page to get some extrabucks back

Jerk McJerkface posted:


Goon Credit Card random referral page:
:siren:https://goo.gl/aA5mzH:siren:

Yorkshire Pudding
Nov 24, 2006



astral posted:

I'd recommend against closing your current one; it'll negatively affect your score in a few ways: average age of accounts (in several scoring models this part will take 10 years to hit your score, but it will still happen), utilization%, total available credit.

You may see a minor immediate score drop when you open the new card, but that will go away after a few months and your score should eventually end up higher than before assuming you keep up the same good practices mentioned in your post. You'll have more available credit and lower overall utilization. It helps in other ways, too - lenders like to see that you can be responsible with multiple credit cards.

So you would recommended getting a new card, but leaving my current one open and just not utilizing it?

I'm pretty uninitiated about this, but with things like FICO score, isn't there a sweet spot to utilize somewhere between 10-20% of your total credit each month, with anything higher starting to affect it negatively? My goal is just to put a few basic bills on my credit card, but not really use it otherwise.

And even if I'm doing that, should I always be paying it off before the billing date? or if I'm keeping within that "sweet spot" do I want to let my account be billed?

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StormDrain
May 22, 2003

Thirteen Letter
If you pay it off in full after the closing of each statement you won't have any interest which is ideal. I set all of mine up for auto payment of the last statement balance each month.

Are you trying to get a mortgage or loan sometime soon? If not, don't worry about your score. Just open a card, keep it in good standing, and milk it for rewards, and keep it open as long as possible. When you're looking to use your credit for a loan where the rate you'll get is dependent on having a good score then start to worry about it. It doesn't make sense to stress over a number every month for years if you're not using it.

If you have good self control and follow a budget, use the card for everything, you've got the cash to back it up and pay it off. That'll net you the most benefit from any rewards. Open more cards and get higher limits, that helps too.

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