Building an 800+ FICO Score

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I went past 800 FICO score in May 2016, so I figured I will write about how I built up my credit score

As of August 2008, I did not have a credit score. I began the process of building it up slowly. In May 2016, I broke past 800 FICO score, so I wanted to talk about how I went about building my credit score over the past 8 years.

The first thing I did was to apply for a secure credit card at my local credit union. They gave me one with a limit of $300 and put a hold for the amount on my account. This was by far the easiest way for me to build credit.

I used this card for all purchases and paid it off in full each month. To this day, I never paid any interest changes on my any of my credit cards, but I did make the mistake of paying an annual fee for one year - more on that later.

March 2009 was when I first applied for a regular credit card, and it got denied because I used my home phone number (didn’t have a cell phone at the time), and my home phone number was international.

In April 2009, I got a credit card offer from CapitalOne in mail, and I was pre approved. I went ahead and applied for the credit card, and got approved. This is the credit card I still use. I got a starting limit of $500, but I got that increased over the years.

Making regular payments over the next year or so raised my credit score and got me closer to 700 towards the end of 2010. The only mistake I made was applying for AMEX Zync. This was a charge card that was aimed at students. This account did not have a credit limit from what I can tell, and it carried an annual fee of $25. Charge cards do not carry any interest, and failure to pay off the balance in full would result in steep files, and account suspension. The "advantage" is that charge cards prevent the account holder from going further into debt because they do not charge interest.

Looking back, this was the only thing I would change in the way I went about building credit score. I was disciplined enough to not need a credit card company to look out me - I was very much capable of controlling my spending and not getting into debt.

Between 2009 and 2014, I applied for every credit card offer I got pre-approved for. If my memory serves me correctly, I had about 14 credit cards. Looking back at the credit reports, one of the factors that was affecting my rating was the average age of accounts.

In 2015, I started canceling credit cards I was no longer using. I did keep my oldest credit card. Towards the end of 2015, I went down to 7 accounts, and I noticed that my credit score jumped around 30 points. I still haven’t broken the 800 barrier by 2016, however, I realized it was only a matter of time before I did.

Here are some strategies I used to build a good credit score -

1. Never go into debt to build credit.
Even though the account holder is technically in debt whenever they use a credit card to make a purchase, typically no interest is charged if the balance is paid off in full by the due date. So, do not believe that a balance needs to be carried over to build a credit score.

2. Always play bills on time.
Never miss a payment. It is easy enough to be current with all the bills using a calendar app, like Google Calendar. Program weekly/monthly reminders and stick to them.

3. Keep the average age of the accounts high
This would mean keeping the old credit card account open, and closing the newest.

4. Periodically request for a credit limit increase
Every 6 months or so, I request for a credit limit increase on the cards that I intend to keep. Therefore when I closed accounts, the overall balance isn’t negatively affected. As far as I can tell, these request do not seem to generate an inquiry if the requested limit is reasonable. I typically ask for a $1000 increase. The most I have ever requested was $5000 from American Express, and they approved it, and they did a soft credit check, at least that’s what they told me.

5. Never be compelled to pay annual membership fees to build a good credit score
I have gotten credit card offers with an annual fee, and at one point of time, I feel for it. I think this was a mistake. Had I stuck to using my existing cards, I would have naturally increased my credit score. Credit card companies are being very aggressive about getting new customers, so there is absolutely no reason to pay for a membership, unless its a business oriented credit card.

Link with pictures - http://minimalistgamer.blogspot.com/2016/08/building-800-fico-score.html

[forummm]

Congrats! Hopefully your great score is something you won't need to use much :)

[Syonyk]

Nice job!

Mine was 800+.  It's down around 690 right now, mostly because I kind of sort of purchased a home with credit cards and personal lines of credit, because apparently "three months off work" is more than you can get a mortgage with, and I may have expressed my opinion on the "Well, um... we can get you a cash out refinance after a few months?" offer when the lender realized he wasn't going to get this mortgage.  It's mostly hanging around on 0% CCs and other low interest rate stuff, though still higher than a mortgage rate.  Oh well.

2. Always play bills on time.
Never miss a payment. It is easy enough to be current with all the bills using a calendar app, like Google Calendar. Program weekly/monthly reminders and stick to them.

I'd recommend setting up an automatic minimum payment on your CCs, just in case you're on vacation or something falls through the cracks.  That pretty much guarantees you won't ever have a late payment.

You could set up an automatic full payment if you have enough balance in your checking account, but I don't recommend this, because I've driven my checking account negative this way before (made a large purchase for a business I was starting, forgot that the auto pay was enabled, and it put my account below zero for a day or so - no big deal, just not something I'd expected, as I was planning to float the balance for a month until we got paid).

5. Never be compelled to pay annual membership fees to build a good credit score
I have gotten credit card offers with an annual fee, and at one point of time, I feel for it. I think this was a mistake. Had I stuck to using my existing cards, I would have naturally increased my credit score. Credit card companies are being very aggressive about getting new customers, so there is absolutely no reason to pay for a membership, unless its a business oriented credit card.

It depends on what you're looking for.  I've got a card with an annual fee, but it means that I haven't paid for airline tickets in years. :)

[sisto]

Excellent advice. I've had over 800 since they first bumped it up and before that 750. Ironically my wife who hasn't worked for more than 20 years has a score of 850. She just got the new score in the mail a couple of days ago and had to rub it in to me. LOL

[xclonexclonex]

Excellent advice. I've had over 800 since they first bumped it up and before that 750. Ironically my wife who hasn't worked for more than 20 years has a score of 850. She just got the new score in the mail a couple of days ago and had to rub it in to me. LOL

Thanks a lot.

So how did your wife manage to get an 850 credit score? Did she have any bills on her name? From my experience, my credit score began to rise once I had bills to my name and I paid them on time.

[gggggg]

I have a 820. I just paid all my bills on time the whole time I've had credit (approx 25 years). I'm not in debt at all, but I put everything on my cash back card to keep my score up (paid off monthly).

[Gronnie]

Number 3 is incorrect. The closed cards will still be on your account and will effect AAoA for up to 10 years. No reason to close them if no annual fee, sock drawer them and let them age.

[SnackDog]

Nothing wrong with good credit, but as long as your score is over 740, it is all about the same.

http://twocents.lifehacker.com/your-credit-score-doesn-t-matter-unless-it-s-bad-1785050429

[Simpli-Fi]

Pay off credit cards, car loans, and pay bills... Not much easier than that.  My first card had a $500 limit, now I have 3 cards $50k, 30k (milage card), and promo 0% 18 month for large purchases...I haven't paid interest for consumer debt since 2011 when I paid off a 2010 car loan.

[Rubic]

Number 3 is incorrect. The closed cards will still be on your account and will effect AAoA for up to 10 years. No reason to close them if no annual fee, sock drawer them and let them age.

Even better: Take them out of the sock drawer once every so often (6-12 months)
and make a small purchase -- I buy myself $5 Amazon gift credits online.  The non-AF
cards will stay active.

[TomTX]

Nothing wrong with good credit, but as long as your score is over 740, it is all about the same.

http://twocents.lifehacker.com/your-credit-score-doesn-t-matter-unless-it-s-bad-1785050429

Sure it matters. It means I can churn and not worry about dropping below the magic 740.

[Spork]

Nothing wrong with good credit, but as long as your score is over 740, it is all about the same.

http://twocents.lifehacker.com/your-credit-score-doesn-t-matter-unless-it-s-bad-1785050429

This is probably me just being cynical, but... I've never thought it mattered a bit.*  I sort of thought this was a bit of Suze Orman's marketing to get you to pull your score several times a year so she'd make a few extra bucks.  I don't think I have ever known my FICO score and the handful of home loans I've gotten were always reasonable.

*By "doesn't matter" I mean: If you have bad credit, you know it and it matters.  Otherwise... Meh.

[Paul der Krake]

Apparently, the only time having a near-perfect score matters is when you apply for a jumbo mortgage.

[sisto]

Excellent advice. I've had over 800 since they first bumped it up and before that 750. Ironically my wife who hasn't worked for more than 20 years has a score of 850. She just got the new score in the mail a couple of days ago and had to rub it in to me. LOL

Thanks a lot.

So how did your wife manage to get an 850 credit score? Did she have any bills on her name? From my experience, my credit score began to rise once I had bills to my name and I paid them on time.

She is older than me so her length of credit is longer than mine. I think that's why she's always had a slightly higher score than me. We always pay on time and for quite some time don't carry a balance so that helps.

[icemodeled]

Very nice! I get my FICO score through discover each month and last time was in upper 700s. It's been at 798 but hasn't hit 800 yet. Good idea about asking for the increase on credit card limits.. Never done that and probably should. Though I don't plan to ever take out a loan so the score isn't a big deal for me.. I still like having a good one.

[Telecaster]

The wife and I are both pushing 830-40.  We aggressively use credit, and aggressively pay bills.  The credit rating companies seem to really like that combo. 

[TomTX]

Very nice! I get my FICO score through discover each month and last time was in upper 700s. It's been at 798 but hasn't hit 800 yet. Good idea about asking for the increase on credit card limits.. Never done that and probably should. Though I don't plan to ever take out a loan so the score isn't a big deal for me.. I still like having a good one.

A higher score makes churning a bit easier.

[sparkytheop]

I get my score with my Citi Double Cash card.  I wish it was stated what scale each one used; my last score was 851, so they must be using a scale of 900.

I have a mortgage and don't carry card balances (I pay off in full each month).  No late payments, no car payments, etc.  I just use my card as often as I can to earn the reward points.

My oldest card is at least 15 years old.  I had opened the account when I was still married, and I kept it in the divorce.  My mortgage history goes back 18 years (bought my first house when I was 19). 

Slow and steady has been my method, but I've been considered "gold" for over 10 years now.

[RedmondStash]

A few months back, I had a credit score of 850; not sure what it is now. Funnily, spouse had a credit score of, I think, 820, with exactly the same financial history. No rhyme or reason there. Even checking your credit score can change it.

We pretty much just ignore our credit scores. We pay bills on time, pay credit cards off in full every month, have had the same credit cards for a long time, etc. (We'll be switching to better rewards cards soon, but whatever.) We've had a couple of blips over the years where we inadvertently carried a balance. Once was when we forgot to pay the bill on time, but I paid it online a day or two later. The other time, we wrote the check wrong and ended up paying interest for the next month, but that never happened again either. Small mistakes, and clearly they didn't affect our scores long-term.

We never paid an annual fee or carried a balance; it wouldn't have occurred to me that someone would think that would matter. About 20 years ago, we did deliberately take out a car loan, just to build credit, but we could have paid it off at any time and did pay it off in 5 months.

I don't recall exactly how long we've had our cards, but maybe around 15-20 years. We share one card and each of us has another individual one. So three total. Clearly you don't need a lot of cards to build a great credit score.

The only time I anticipate needing a really good credit score is if we buy another house and want a mortgage. Other than that, we already have all the credit we need. We don't plan to do anything that would significantly damage our credit scores, so I'm not worried about a new mortgage when the time comes. Anything besides a house we'd pay cash for anyway, unless one of us buys a new car that offers a super-low interest rate, like 0 to 1%. But that's unlikely.

[DailyGrindFree]

I have Discover and Citibank Cards, both with free FICO scores. Last month, Discover's FICO score was 785 and Citibank's FICO score was 811. This month Discover's FICO score went down to 745. 40 point drop. The only things changed were me putting about 15K on 0% interest card which has 17K limit and receiving a new Chase Sapphire Reserved card. Would those two things make that much difference on my FICO score?

[Syonyk]

Yup.

[Rubic]

I have Discover and Citibank Cards, both with free FICO scores. Last month, Discover's FICO score was 785 and Citibank's FICO score was 811. This month Discover's FICO score went down to 745. 40 point drop. The only things changed were me putting about 15K on 0% interest card which has 17K limit and receiving a new Chase Sapphire Reserved card. Would those two things make that much difference on my FICO score?

[Bold emphasis mine.]

Putting $15K of spend on your card increased your credit utilization.  Your score
will climb back up once it's reduced or paid off, usually within about 30 days.

[Tris Prior]

I'm working on building mine back up. I was over 800 my entire life, then the short sale on our condo about 2 1/2 years ago knocked me down to around 630. I'm now at 707. It's stayed steady at 707 for six months and I'm not sure what to do at this point to get it higher, other than wait for the short sale to fall off my credit.

I have no debt. I have 4 credit cards - two of which have recurring monthly bills charged to them and paid off each month. The third I use more frequently, but never charge more than $500 or so in a given month (card has a $6k limit). Also paid in full each month.The fourth, I almost never use - I probably should put something on that one soon so it has some activity.

On my Discover card's FICO report, it says the main factors affecting my score are "serious delinquency" (yup, that'd be the short sale, nothing I can do about that now) and "too few accounts paid as agreed." Really - 4 credit cards is too few? Because, honestly, I'd rather not have even this many and am only keeping them open due to length of time I've had them (oldest goes back to 1992).

Is there anything I can do other than wait for the short sale to age off my report? I guess I could request credit line increases, though I don't really need them as my one card has a $30k limit which I find ridiculous, and see if that does anything?

I imagine it'd help if I had types of credit other than cards on my report, but I can't afford to buy property in my city and it's impractical to own a car here so I don't want to go get a car loan.

[Telecaster]

Two related areas that might improve your credit score are the percentage of available credit used and dollar amount of available credit.  So yes it probably is worthwhile to either open a new card and/or increase the limits on your existing cards. 

Many or most credit card companies these days have credit score simulators where you can input various options and see the effect on your credit score. 

[SingleMomDebt]

I am so happy, first time ever that my credit score just reached 805. Thanks to the MMM community, I don't think I would have done it otherwise.

[MrSal]

2 years ago I didn't even have a Social Security number... I was just a new resident in the US and no history what so ever in this continent.

Forward it 2 years and I am now sitting at 795 FICO score... almost belonging to the 800 club :D

[ChpBstrd]

I'm more curious about why a Mustachian needs an excellent credit score? Not like we're getting loans on brand new SUVs. What's the endgame / payoff for spending time on this metric?

-get a huge mortgage with a low rate?
-pay less for insurance?
-be more employable?
-investment leverage, commercial loans, margin...?
-more churning opportunities?
-use CC's in lieu of an emergency fund?

[Telecaster]

I don't know that there is an endgame per se.  Good credit it its own reward, IMO.  But credit score is becoming more and more important, for example credit score can influence insurance rates.  Or one thing I think that is particularly valuable is credit card sign up bonuses.  Credit card companies seem to be determined to pay for my travels based on my credit history.  I'm okay with letting them. 

[TomTX]

At the moment, the big advantage for me is in churning (which I am new to) - 7 new accounts this year, and I'm still well over 800 with FICO 8 or Vantage 3.0

Lower insurance rates, absolutely.

Lower interest rates - I still have a mortgage, may have a car loan again one day. I also want to set up a contingency HELOC just before I FIRE.

Shorthand for "Yes, I know how to handle my personal finances, thank you very much"

[Inaya]

I've been stuck in the ~760 range for 2 years now. It's very frustrating. I got my first card in 2011. I've carried a balance for ~6 months of that--but even then, the utilization was single-digit percentage. I had a personal loan that was paid off in 6 months, and an auto loan that was paid off in just over 1 year. I now have ~$50k in available credit, and haven't carried a balance at all since 2014. I have never made a late payment in my life (minus one that was the bank's fault and they acknowledged and refunded the fee).

My husband has higher utilization, only active 1 card (it's less than a year old), and 1 card that he got in 2012 but doesn't ever use. He's had 1 personal loan and 2 auto loans. But the real damaging part is he had an old card (opened... 2009 maybe?) go to collections for almost a year (thanks to fraud by his own father). Yet somehow his score is in the ~780 range. I do not understand how these things work sometimes.

[checkedoutat39]

I bounce around between 815 and 828 depending on whether I have one credit card or two with a balance.

I'm amused they tell me the thing that's keeping my score from being higher is not enough kinds of debt -- all that's on there is credit cards. So I'm supposed to take on debt to buy something I can pay for with cash (car, house) to please the almighty Fair, Isaac Corporation?

Can't boast, though. Mom's FICO is 848.

[PoutineLover]

I don't know my numerical score cause I'm in Canada and I haven't found anywhere that will give it to me for free. If anyone knows, let me know? But I'm pretty sure my score is good, I got my first credit card when I turned 18, I have always paid it in full on time, and I keep my utilization rate below 30%. I got an unsecured line of credit a few months ago, and I had student loans which are now fully paid off. I think to get my score any higher I'd need a mortgage or car loan but I'm not ready to buy yet and I don't want to own a car. One thing I have noticed is that every time I check my credit report with Transunion or Equifax, I get a letter from my credit card offering to increase my credit limit. I've always wondered if they notice that I'm monitoring my credit and see it as a good thing or if it's just a coincidence.

[TomTX]

I've been stuck in the ~760 range for 2 years now. It's very frustrating. I got my first card in 2011. I've carried a balance for ~6 months of that--but even then, the utilization was single-digit percentage. I had a personal loan that was paid off in 6 months, and an auto loan that was paid off in just over 1 year. I now have ~$50k in available credit, and haven't carried a balance at all since 2014. I have never made a late payment in my life (minus one that was the bank's fault and they acknowledged and refunded the fee).

My husband has higher utilization, only active 1 card (it's less than a year old), and 1 card that he got in 2012 but doesn't ever use. He's had 1 personal loan and 2 auto loans. But the real damaging part is he had an old card (opened... 2009 maybe?) go to collections for almost a year (thanks to fraud by his own father). Yet somehow his score is in the ~780 range. I do not understand how these things work sometimes.

Review your reports thoroughly to find any negatives, misreports, whatever.

[Inaya]

I've been stuck in the ~760 range for 2 years now. It's very frustrating. I got my first card in 2011. I've carried a balance for ~6 months of that--but even then, the utilization was single-digit percentage. I had a personal loan that was paid off in 6 months, and an auto loan that was paid off in just over 1 year. I now have ~$50k in available credit, and haven't carried a balance at all since 2014. I have never made a late payment in my life (minus one that was the bank's fault and they acknowledged and refunded the fee).

My husband has higher utilization, only active 1 card (it's less than a year old), and 1 card that he got in 2012 but doesn't ever use. He's had 1 personal loan and 2 auto loans. But the real damaging part is he had an old card (opened... 2009 maybe?) go to collections for almost a year (thanks to fraud by his own father). Yet somehow his score is in the ~780 range. I do not understand how these things work sometimes.

Review your reports thoroughly to find any negatives, misreports, whatever.

Yep, three times a year. Nothing untoward.

[RedmondStash]

I've been stuck in the ~760 range for 2 years now. It's very frustrating.

Isn't 760 pretty good? What does that score prevent you from doing that an 850 score would let you do?

[Inaya]

I've been stuck in the ~760 range for 2 years now. It's very frustrating.

Isn't 760 pretty good? What does that score prevent you from doing that an 850 score would let you do?

On one hand I'm a perfectionist. On another hand, my husband and I can get competitive and I'm frustrated that he has a better score with a more questionable history.

Realistically (on a third hand?), as others have mentioned, I'm more comfortable churning credit cards with a higher score. Maybe it's because I have hard pulls? But I rarely have more than 1 or 2 of those per year, and often not that many.

[RedmondStash]

I've been stuck in the ~760 range for 2 years now. It's very frustrating.

Isn't 760 pretty good? What does that score prevent you from doing that an 850 score would let you do?

On one hand I'm a perfectionist. On another hand, my husband and I can get competitive and I'm frustrated that he has a better score with a more questionable history.

Realistically (on a third hand?), as others have mentioned, I'm more comfortable churning credit cards with a higher score. Maybe it's because I have hard pulls? But I rarely have more than 1 or 2 of those per year, and often not that many.

I just figure the credit-score game is rigged and capricious. My score was higher than spouse's, for no reason. We have shared finances for more than 20 years. So many arbitrary things affect credit scores (like checking your credit score) that I just shrug and say, "As long as our scores are decent and we can do the things we want, there's no point in playing a rigged game." But we don't churn credit cards. That's something I may explore more when I'm FIREd.

We just dumped our oldest credit card because we discovered they started charging us an annual fee years ago; we have *never* signed up for a card with an annual fee (bad on us for not checking our statements more thoroughly). I wouldn't be surprised if our credit scores dropped as a result. But it just doesn't affect my life, so I don't care. We have bigger fish to fry. :)

[TomTX]

I've been stuck in the ~760 range for 2 years now. It's very frustrating.

Isn't 760 pretty good? What does that score prevent you from doing that an 850 score would let you do?

On one hand I'm a perfectionist. On another hand, my husband and I can get competitive and I'm frustrated that he has a better score with a more questionable history.

Realistically (on a third hand?), as others have mentioned, I'm more comfortable churning credit cards with a higher score. Maybe it's because I have hard pulls? But I rarely have more than 1 or 2 of those per year, and often not that many.

I just figure the credit-score game is rigged and capricious. My score was higher than spouse's, for no reason. We have shared finances for more than 20 years. So many arbitrary things affect credit scores (like checking your credit score) that I just shrug and say, "As long as our scores are decent and we can do the things we want, there's no point in playing a rigged game." But we don't churn credit cards. That's something I may explore more when I'm FIREd.

We just dumped our oldest credit card because we discovered they started charging us an annual fee years ago; we have *never* signed up for a card with an annual fee (bad on us for not checking our statements more thoroughly). I wouldn't be surprised if our credit scores dropped as a result. But it just doesn't affect my life, so I don't care. We have bigger fish to fry. :)

"Soft" pulls (checks) on your credit score do not affect your credit score. Seeing what your score is does not affect your score.

"Hard" pulls (opening a new credit card) negatively affect your score, but if you have any depth to your credit history, it isn't much. I have 7 hard pulls and 8 new accounts in the past 6 months. I'm still 800+ everywhere I check (Credit Karma, Experian, Discover, BoA, Amex, etc)

Rather than closing an old card, you can ask them to change it into a different card (product change) with no annual fee - they will usually do this. You then can retain your oldest card. Product change is common for churners - sign up for the Chase Sapphire Preferred (AF waived first year) then at the end of the free period, change it to the plain Sapphire. Or Freedom. Or Freedom Unlimited. Cobranded cards are more difficult: Citi won't let you change a Citi Costco credit card to anything else.

[RedmondStash]

Rather than closing an old card, you can ask them to change it into a different card (product change) with no annual fee - they will usually do this. You then can retain your oldest card.

Honestly, I was so pissed at the company for sneaking in that annual fee that I didn't want to do business with them anymore, in part because if they snuck an annual feel into one card, they might do it again with a different card. Plus that card didn't have nearly the benefits of some other cards. No regrets on shutting that older card down. Felt like a nice "screw you" to the company that does not deserve my business.

[boarder42]

now go do something with it.

having an 800+ credit score is only worth it if you leverage it to get good mortgage rates or car loan rates.  then you should also leverage it to get lots of high limit credit cards for sign up bonuses.  then use those cards to sell tradelines.  then you're FI 5 years before you thought !   fun stuff.  i used to have over an 800 but it serves no real value unless utilized.  i ride between 720 and 800 depending on how many credit card aps i've had in the last few months.

[TomTX]

now go do something with it.

having an 800+ credit score is only worth it if you leverage it to get good mortgage rates or car loan rates.  then you should also leverage it to get lots of high limit credit cards for sign up bonuses.  then use those cards to sell tradelines.  then you're FI 5 years before you thought !   fun stuff.  i used to have over an 800 but it serves no real value unless utilized.  i ride between 720 and 800 depending on how many credit card aps i've had in the last few months.

Yep. Still fighting my way back down from 850 :D

[Bateaux]

Wish I could hand my 836 to someone in need.  Useless to me.

[TomTX]

Wish I could hand my 836 to someone in need.  Useless to me.

No interest in the credit card signup bonus game? It's been a really good return for me.

[RedmondStash]

Wish I could hand my 836 to someone in need.  Useless to me.

No interest in the credit card signup bonus game? It's been a really good return for me.

I'd be interested in more info about this. I could use a new hobby.

[TomTX]

Wish I could hand my 836 to someone in need.  Useless to me.

No interest in the credit card signup bonus game? It's been a really good return for me.

I'd be interested in more info about this. I could use a new hobby.

If you have good credit, I generally suggest:

Start with the Chase Sapphire Preferred . Typically you will want to hit up large-value cards at Chase first. If you have a business (side gig typically counts)  that includes (at least one) Ink variants. The CSP is a premium card, but the annual fee is waived the first year. At the end of the first year, you can call Chase and have them change it (product conversion) to a no-fee card like the generic Sapphire, or the Freedom.

The 50k point signup bonus can be cashed out for $500. A tax free $500.   Or used for $700 in travel through their portal. You do need to come up with $3k in spend in 90 days. Chase usually adds a bit of time at the end for purchases to actually clear, but don't count on this. You can log onto your Chase account and send an SM (Secure Message) to find out your actual last date if you are getting close. Try to have all your spend done a week before your actual last date - for some reason, many hotels take FOREVER to process credit cards fully.

All our utilities and most other spending goes on whatever card needs spend for a signup bonus. If the spend is going to be tight, you can use a service like Plastiq  to pay a mortgage or rent. You pay them with a credit card, and for a 2-3% fee they send a check to your bank/landlord. If you have a referral ( mine is 592445) - you typically get to send some amount of money for free to start you off.

Alternately, if you want to "dip your toes in" first, there is the Chase Freedom  where you get $150 for spending $500. Get an extra $25 for setting up an authorized user.

Why start with Chase? They are probably the most restrictive of your past history. If you have signed up for 5 personal credit cards in the past 24 months (commonly referred to as 5/24) - Chase will automatically reject new applications, no matter how good your credit score.  Business cards (particularly from other issuers like BoA or Citi) may not count toward 5/24, BUT if you are already at 5/24, Chase won't issue you a business card either.

[RedmondStash]

Wish I could hand my 836 to someone in need.  Useless to me.

No interest in the credit card signup bonus game? It's been a really good return for me.

I'd be interested in more info about this. I could use a new hobby.

If you have good credit, I generally suggest:

Start with the Chase Sapphire Preferred . Typically you will want to hit up large-value cards at Chase first. If you have a business (side gig typically counts)  that includes (at least one) Ink variants. The CSP is a premium card, but the annual fee is waived the first year. At the end of the first year, you can call Chase and have them change it (product conversion) to a no-fee card like the generic Sapphire, or the Freedom.

The 50k point signup bonus can be cashed out for $500. A tax free $500.   Or used for $700 in travel through their portal. You do need to come up with $3k in spend in 90 days. Chase usually adds a bit of time at the end for purchases to actually clear, but don't count on this. You can log onto your Chase account and send an SM (Secure Message) to find out your actual last date if you are getting close. Try to have all your spend done a week before your actual last date - for some reason, many hotels take FOREVER to process credit cards fully.

All our utilities and most other spending goes on whatever card needs spend for a signup bonus. If the spend is going to be tight, you can use a service like Plastiq  to pay a mortgage or rent. You pay them with a credit card, and for a 2-3% fee they send a check to your bank/landlord. If you have a referral ( mine is 592445) - you typically get to send some amount of money for free to start you off.

Alternately, if you want to "dip your toes in" first, there is the Chase Freedom  where you get $150 for spending $500. Get an extra $25 for setting up an authorized user.

Why start with Chase? They are probably the most restrictive of your past history. If you have signed up for 5 personal credit cards in the past 24 months (commonly referred to as 5/24) - Chase will automatically reject new applications, no matter how good your credit score.  Business cards (particularly from other issuers like BoA or Citi) may not count toward 5/24, BUT if you are already at 5/24, Chase won't issue you a business card either.

Really interesting & useful information. Thanks. I may have to give this a whirl.