Does anyone here have any experience with Lexington Law or Sky Blew, or any other reputable credit repair establishments? I am thinking of joining one of those programs and was wondering if anyone has had any positive and successful experience with one.

4/28/2011 9:10:58 PM

i'm curious as to what they do, so post back when you find out

4/29/2011 8:19:16 AM

I got curious about the BA deal (again) and did some research last night. I tried searching for flights to Japan, Brazil, Australia, South Africa. None of them came back with even a single hit. Not sure if it's because I'm flying out of CLT, or what. But that deal is definitely a no-go for me.

In other news, Southwest and AirTran are merging, which is great news for me as it will give them a presence in CLT. My fav airline.

[Edited on April 29, 2011 at 8:50 AM. Reason : d]

4/29/2011 8:49:47 AM

Per Amex, between May 1st and 22nd I spent $178.84 on Groceries -- $35 a week definitely won't be a problem.

In other good news, The Meat House counts as a grocery store which is incredibly awesome.

[Edited on May 24, 2011 at 12:51 AM. Reason : The moral of this story is, I love the Blue Cash Preferred card.]

5/24/2011 12:50:37 AM

edit: The Meat House, while counting as a grocery store, doesn't seem to count towards the 6% rewards.

fffffffffffffffffffff

5/24/2011 8:54:49 PM

Just to be clear, the Visa Black Card is an absolute piece of shit with nothing but gimmick value, right?

5/25/2011 5:10:55 PM

Seems like a shitty, more expensive version of the Amex Platinum.

5/25/2011 11:23:22 PM

I get an invitation for it once every few months and it's ridiculous how exclusive they try to make it sound.

5/25/2011 11:40:42 PM

I saw an ad for it on Facebook.

Soooooooo, yeah. It's super exclusive!

5/26/2011 1:12:49 AM

Anyone know of a rule of thumb for a good total line of credit? I've read that too high of a total credit limit may hurt your credit score. And im pretty sure I was once told bymy bank that a reasonable total limit was 30% of your annual income. Any other suggestions?

5/26/2011 10:38:48 AM

Don't think a higher limit would negatively impact your score and if anything should help it assuming you have low usage. Lenders may see it as a risk if you have too much available credit though.

5/26/2011 10:51:23 AM

Yeh that's what im talking about. My total credit limit is about 35-40% of my income but I typically only use up to 10-20% of that total limit and often less than that

5/26/2011 10:56:50 AM

The higher the limit, the better.

There are financial institutions that may frown on too much available credit, but that is rare. And there are enough that won't to make it not a big deal.

5/26/2011 11:00:36 AM

I have heard the "lenders may see it as a risk if you have too much available credit" idea before, although if that is the case it would almost certainly be more than 30% of your annual income wdprice3. That is a pretty normal to low amount I would think. I only have 4 cards, a pretty good income, and my allowable credit is over 40% of my income. I know my father-in-law has tons of credit cards from over the years and along with that has a single card that is over 50% of his annual income and he has a fantastic credit score.

So while there may be a "too much credit" limit out there that hurts your score I really wouldn't know how to quantify it and feel like it is a pretty small factor to worry about. If anything I think it would take you a long time to reach that ceiling...and until then it is just helping your debt:credit ratio.

[Edited on May 26, 2011 at 11:03 AM. Reason : just saw you posted your % as well and it's right about where I was saying felt normal.]

5/26/2011 11:01:55 AM

Quote :

"I typically only use up to 10-20% of that total limit and often less than that"

It looks like most places think 10-30% are good numbers so you should be fine there. http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Banking/YourCreditRating/no-such-thing-as-too-much-credit.aspx?page=1 seems to hit all the main points that's already been said

[Edited on May 26, 2011 at 11:34 AM. Reason : ]

5/26/2011 11:34:09 AM

Good info. Thanks all

5/26/2011 5:06:02 PM

I don't think the amount of credit you have available can be a negative factor for your credit score, period.

It can, however, come into play when applying for a larger loan like a mortgage or HELOC where they might look at your financial situation in a little more detail.

5/27/2011 11:05:06 AM

I never understood that mentality. Wouldn't it be better if that person had a ton of credit? That way, if they got into a jam they could charge all their expenses to their cc and still be able to make their monthly loan payments.

5/27/2011 11:19:33 AM

The problem is that that isn't exactly sustainable given how terrible CC interest rates are.

5/27/2011 11:22:33 AM

I think the worry is that the person would max everything out on unnecessary things and not be able to pay any of it.

5/27/2011 11:24:46 AM

Exactly. If you have too much, it is sometimes seen as a liability. Loaning $100,000 to someone who can potentially put themselves in $200,000 of debt at a moment's notice creates some concern.

In my case, my mortgage lender tried to talk me into closing some of my accounts. I showed them that I have never been late for a single payment, and haven't even used some of those cards in ages. Never heard anything else about it.

5/27/2011 2:11:32 PM

Just found out that my costco amex card decreased cashback on restaurants from 3% to 2%

6/14/2011 11:12:20 AM

my score, equifax at least, dropped 80 points recently... only thing that has changed was picking up an auto loan... I guess the high debt to limit ratio (only had the loan for a few months, thus few payments and a lot owed) is what's killing it?

credit report mentioned that a few things affected my score:

debt to limit ratio
total credit limit (doesn't say high or low; mine is currently ~60% of my income, due to the auto loan, didn't previously realize that counted towards total credit limit)
ratio of consumer cards to credit cars (wtf??)

any insights?>

[Edited on June 14, 2011 at 11:41 AM. Reason : .]

6/14/2011 11:41:07 AM

^your car loan should not be factoring into your revolving credit accounts. Do you carry balances on any other cards? What are you listed balances on your revolving accounts when you pulled the report?

re: total credit limit, what is yours? Again, not counting non-revolving accounts such as car loans, student loans, etc.

ratio of consumer to credit cards is a brand new one to me... I guess the concern there is that consumer cards typically have astronomical interest rates, and therefore present a higher risk?

6/15/2011 8:15:56 AM

well my report included the auto loan in the total available credit section (i'll double check though).

i never carry balances, on anything; the report had 1 card with a balance (guess it was right in between statement time & payment time), which was ~$1.5k.

revolving credit limit ~$20k I think.

6/15/2011 8:45:38 AM

credit scores

lololololol

6/15/2011 8:56:25 AM

^^CC issuers will actually report your statement balance on the report, regardless of whether it's been paid or not. The only way to get around this (and give your score a temporary boost) is to pay off the statement BEFORE it closes (it will then report as $0 balance).

The way they calculate scores changed recently, but as of last year they kept revolving accounts and installment accounts separate. Your credit limit, avg age of accounts, and total balance used to only include revolving accounts.

[Edited on June 15, 2011 at 8:59 AM. Reason : d]

6/15/2011 8:58:03 AM

Quote :

"Just found out that my costco amex card decreased cashback on restaurants from 3% to 2% "

Just realized this myself

Is there a better card for just restaurant rewards? Amex has been awesome, but it seems I can probably find something that's going to give more than 2% back.

6/30/2011 12:17:40 AM

I'm confused, my Costco Amex is still giving me 3% back on restaurants...

6/30/2011 12:55:35 AM

check your statement. It becomes 3% to 2% in August 2011

http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/1103351/

[Edited on June 30, 2011 at 9:32 AM. Reason : i guess i should have said it will decrease from august...its still 3% right now....mea culpa]

6/30/2011 9:31:25 AM

Quote :

"Is there a better card for just restaurant rewards? Amex has been awesome, but it seems I can probably find something that's going to give more than 2% back."

https://creditcards.citi.com/credit-cards/citi-forward/

5x points on restaurants.

I should mention that Citi doesn't exactly work as 1% cash back. You can get gift cards for $100 for 14,000 points though. That means $2,800 spent at restaurants, book stores, movie theaters, etc. nets you $100, which is something like a 3.5% return.

Of course, if you use your points for travel, that's a flat 1%

[Edited on June 30, 2011 at 11:14 AM. Reason : .]

6/30/2011 11:07:46 AM

^Thanks!

I was eying the Forward, but hadn't figured out what the points converted to in actual cash value. It definitely seems like my best option.

I was able to call and request a product change on a Citi Platinum Select -> Citi Forward. The CSR said account history and everything would transfer to the Forward. Hopefully they weren't lying...I'm pretty sure that is my oldest open card.

6/30/2011 6:34:02 PM

^^I use Citi forward for my purchases at restaurants mainly (especially picking up the bill for work that will be reimbursed anyway), even though they also go 5x points on movie theaters and groceries too. Anything else is 1 point other than random internet deals they come up with. The first year I signed up I was able to make a $250 rebate check towards my Citibank student loans, most of the points coming from the sign up and intro points bonus. As mentioned before, you get the most "cash back" equivalent when buying gift cards or applying it to student loans. Straight cash or prepaid visa gift card is usually the worst "cash back" equivalent.

I use an Amex gold skymiles and suntrust world card for basically anything else since I fly a few times a year and basically use them to rack up miles on anything business related.

My old suntrust rewards cards are essentially useless to me now.

6/30/2011 9:00:22 PM

I have something like 109k Thank You points after 16 months.

This is what happens when you buy everything possible off Amazon.com

6/30/2011 9:52:46 PM

Dang...I don't get paper statements. You'd think they have to send you something in the mail when these changes happen.

6/30/2011 11:11:42 PM

since i always pay off my credit cards, i sometimes end up with a negative balance (i return something and get credit to a card with a $0 balance)...i wonder how that affects my credit...

7/1/2011 9:27:47 AM

About to get two free tickets to Tortola from my AMEX points, and I've only had it since March

7/1/2011 12:38:04 PM

Anybody if there's a way to become a Penfed member without working for the govt sector? I'm trying to apply for their gas card.

7/14/2011 10:34:24 AM

^yes, there is. I believe I joined some military engineering association to qualify. The list of qualifying groups should appear somewhere on their website.

Quote :

"The CSR said account history and everything would transfer to the Forward. Hopefully they weren't lying...I'm pretty sure that is my oldest open card."

this'll work. I've done it many times.

[Edited on July 14, 2011 at 11:02 AM. Reason : k]

7/14/2011 11:01:04 AM

Citi just changed their redemption values for student loan credits for some people, making 100 points = 1 dollar. This means if you use the Forward or Mtvu card at restaurants and other 5x point locations, you end up getting an even 5% back without having to redeem for some shitty gift card. I guess this only applies if you have student loans, though I've heard there's a way to game the system and have the check made out to someone else.

7/14/2011 11:16:47 AM

I have been toying wit the idea of signing up for the Capital One Venture card. 2 miles for every $1 spent on anything. But there's a $60 annual fee.

Throw all my monthly bills on there. Wish I could put my mortgage on there.

7/14/2011 11:23:24 AM

^if your bank allows credit card payment for mortgage, let me know. I'm refinancing there.

7/14/2011 11:34:47 AM

It doesn't.

7/14/2011 11:35:17 AM

^^^Don't get a card with an annual fee. There are too many other FREE options out there.

And certainly don't get a Capital One card. They're awful and will hurt your credit score.

[Edited on July 14, 2011 at 4:03 PM. Reason : d]

7/14/2011 4:02:34 PM

That can be good advice, but when it comes to AMEX, not really. With the Gold Premier, it is $175 a year (first year waived). As long as you spend 30k a year, they give you an additional 15k in points, which pretty much makes the card cost you $25 a year. IF you travel with Delta, on top of 2x points for grocery and gas and triple on travel, you will often get 50% bonuses when transferring to delta. So, I am transferring 100k points to Delta, and I am going to net 150k.

So you have to look at your use cases.

7/14/2011 4:52:00 PM

Yeah, Capital One fucking blows. The limit on that card is still $1500 where as my others are all around 10K.

7/14/2011 5:02:56 PM

My oldest card, a Fidelity MasterCard, just sent me a replacement card. I never use that one anymore and have had a zero balance for ages. Apparently I received a refund a while back for something like $150 so my current balance is ~-$150. Will that look baller as fuck on my credit score or am I better off getting $150 worth of drunk this weekend?

7/28/2011 10:35:19 PM

Drunk

7/29/2011 10:13:24 AM