Credit Card Enthusiasts - The folks that treat collecting credit cards like Pokémon

  • 🔧 At about Midnight EST I am going to completely fuck up the site trying to fix something.
Nope. Which one would you recommend?

See if your bank has one.
I talked to the woman at my bank for my first card and she said that if I didn't get approved for a big girl card then I could do the secured one for a bit to prove I'm not entirely fiscally irresponsible.
Your bank might not have the best perks, but I've found having the same people handle my credit and debit card is nice.
 
25-Best-07-xln_zpsxzkfpsam.jpg
 
Same with me but I don't give a shit until I really need one badly. In my 29+ years alive I never needed one.

Same age here. Unfortunately, my car is dead, and I need to establish some credit so I can get an auto loan to buy a new (used) one. No desire to use a credit card for anything other than building credit by paying bills and then paying off the balance immediately.
 
I hope this comes off as informative rather than a powerlevel, but some of these credit boards saved my ass a few years ago. I thought I was gonna get sued and have to file for bankruptcy when i had some medical problems and lost my job, but they all were so unbelievably knowledgeable with each creditor's collections protocols that they walked me through the process to settle directly with my creditors for a fraction of the outstanding debt. I'm in a different place in life now and I'm back in the 700s, but that wouldn't be the case without these guys.
 
@First Time users looking for a credit card:
-The Idea of getting a secured card is a great idea. You might also try looking for a guarantor on an account if someone is willing to put their money on the line for you, or co-apply with them.

@2 to 4 cards maximum:
-If we're talking about purchases that can be true, but that's only around 1/3rd of the story.
Balance Transfers between cards have some ironclad rules, such as you can never transfer a Wells Fargo Card to another Wells Fargo Card. You'll need to deal with a different company, and that's where you may well need to deal with four different companies to get better offers.
-The other limitation is cards that give deep but narrow benefits, such as store charge cards or airline mileage cards. I hate annual fees and I think that's an obvious problem, but if cards don't charge those it may make sense to have that sort of special arrangement.

@CC users break the economy:
-Nah.
-Using a credit card is one of the safer ways to make transactions in the first place; it offers protections and can often squeeze a bit of a deal for using one as opposed to not.
-I don't advocate either defaulting or screwing with card companies, but by all means DO determine if you can make a percentage you'd otherwise have lost by having a card.
 
Haven't tried this but DoctorOfCredit has a good method for getting cards even if you have bad credit called the shopping cart trick. I like DoC, he posts pretty good content and I've seen him use other people's referral links instead of his own if he uses their content as he gets a lot off the forums and reddit so they reap the benefits.
 
looking in from outside, this system seems crazy. Here practicly noone has a credit card, only a card for their checking account that you can overdraw for very little. This "building credit" system is so strange...
 
I have a lot of credit cards myself. I haven't counted but it's roughly 15 at the moment. At times I've had even more than that.

I do it so that I can get points to use on First/Business class flights and 5 star hotels when I travel. It's not free, it costs me money in card fees but it's vastly, vastly less than I would pay if I was just paying for these flights and hotel rooms outright.

Before anyone gets snarky, I don't carry a balance on any of the cards and my personal debt is $0.

I've been doing it for years and I frequent forums and blogs dedicated to this. Surprisingly I've never once heard of people who do it for the sake of it, rather than to travel at a reduced cost. It's a serious hassle so I can't imagine anyone doing it without a huge reward.
 
I had a credit card account be closed on me by the issuer because I had zero activity on it for a long time (about 3 years). For these people to keep dozens of cards active is insane (unless they are carrying over a balance:lol:).

Rewards plans/frequent flier programs have really been gutted over the past 10 years, it is almost more trouble than it's worth to fool around with them. Nowadays, I just use my debit card for 99% of my purchases (I only use a credit card for travelling outside the country).
 
Photo for attention:

XJL1cdX.jpg


Hey Kiwi Farms

I was mentioned here, so I thought I'd chime in on my side of the CC story.

Quick background, i'm 22 years old and I currently have 17 credit cards amounting to just about $75,000 in available credit.

Many people think that having multiple credit cards is a stupid thing to do, and that it just leads to a downward spiral straight towards the seven layers of debt. I've never missed a credit card payment, I currently owe only a few hundred bucks worth of charges (all from this statement period), I don't pay any interest, and the banks essentially pay me to keep their credit cards. I certainly cannot speak for everyone on every forum that talks about these types of things, but I can tell you about myself.

In 2015, my credit card sign up bonuses, and benefits, as well as awards accrued through spending amounted to about $10,000 in profit for me. While this isn't cash I can spend, it allows me to go on vacations around the world, and stay in hotels that I wouldn't otherwise be able to afford. I enjoy travelling, but like many, can't afford to do it as often as I would like. Careful watching of the credit card industry, as well as knowledge of credit card benefits and sign up bonuses allows people like myself to do things they want to do without having to worry about cost.

Tomorrow I will actually be taking a 30 minute flight on jetblue, and earning 75,000 trueblue miles for doing so (though I don't carry the jetblue credit card). These 75,000 miles will cost me around $90, and can easily be worth over $750.

Due to the credit portfolio I have amassed, I was able this year to purchase a new car, with $0 down, financed over 72 months at a great interest rate.

This is not me bragging, I don't want it to come off that way. I just want to let people know there is another side to the story.

Happy to answer any questions anyone may have (even if the question is "y u autistic bro?" :D
 
Photo for attention:

XJL1cdX.jpg


Hey Kiwi Farms

I was mentioned here, so I thought I'd chime in on my side of the CC story.

Quick background, i'm 22 years old and I currently have 17 credit cards amounting to just about $75,000 in available credit.

Many people think that having multiple credit cards is a stupid thing to do, and that it just leads to a downward spiral straight towards the seven layers of debt. I've never missed a credit card payment, I currently owe only a few hundred bucks worth of charges (all from this statement period), I don't pay any interest, and the banks essentially pay me to keep their credit cards. I certainly cannot speak for everyone on every forum that talks about these types of things, but I can tell you about myself.

In 2015, my credit card sign up bonuses, and benefits, as well as awards accrued through spending amounted to about $10,000 in profit for me. While this isn't cash I can spend, it allows me to go on vacations around the world, and stay in hotels that I wouldn't otherwise be able to afford. I enjoy travelling, but like many, can't afford to do it as often as I would like. Careful watching of the credit card industry, as well as knowledge of credit card benefits and sign up bonuses allows people like myself to do things they want to do without having to worry about cost.

Tomorrow I will actually be taking a 30 minute flight on jetblue, and earning 75,000 trueblue miles for doing so (though I don't carry the jetblue credit card). These 75,000 miles will cost me around $90, and can easily be worth over $750.

Due to the credit portfolio I have amassed, I was able this year to purchase a new car, with $0 down, financed over 72 months at a great interest rate.

This is not me bragging, I don't want it to come off that way. I just want to let people know there is another side to the story.

Happy to answer any questions anyone may have (even if the question is "y u autistic bro?" :biggrin:

A few questions.

1. How often do you try this on extremely large payments and the likes?
2. How much are monthly charges for you?
3. If you had a serious accident of some sort, would you plan on cancelling the majority of your cards?
4. What is the difference between your credit philosophy and swipe and spenders?
5. Y U autistic bro? :julay:
 
  • Agree
Reactions: Uncanny Valley
A few questions.

1. How often do you try this on extremely large payments and the likes? Not sure what you mean here? Sorry
2. How much are monthly charges for you? My monthly spend varies widely. I try to do things intelligently. I don't spend what I don't have, but I do often pay other family member's bills and have them give me cash. It means I can reap the benefits without needing to get myself into trouble. Annual card spend hovers around 50-60k a year (we'll say 55 for these purposes) so that's about 4.5k a month.
3. If you had a serious accident of some sort, would you plan on cancelling the majority of your cards? Not likely. Many banks are very willing to work with you. The only ones I would consider cancelling are my annual fee cards. I currently have an amex platinum, ritz carlton, citi prestige, marriott and marriott business, and an american airlines card that have an annual fee, however, if I were to call and explain my situation, there is a good chance that they would waive the fees for me, or simply downgrade the cards to a version with no fee, allowing me to change them back whenever I needed to.
4. What is the difference between your credit philosophy and swipe and spenders? If I understand the question correctly, (swipe and spenders being people who go batshit and buy a yacht on their credit card and then can't afford it?) as explained above, I try to spend smartly, and only on things/credit cards that will eventually benefit me. A lot of what I spend is either money I would be spending anyways, or other people's money they would be spending anyways.
5. Y U autistic bro? :julay: I was dropped on my head many times.



Also, unrelated, but to those of you who said you use your debit card now for everything, this is one of the most unsafe things you can do when purchasing anything. If a debit card number is stolen, that is money from your bank account gone. Sure, the bank may give it back to you, but it can often take some time. If someone steals my credit card number, that is the banks money, and they'll work their asses off to get it back. As soon as I report a fraudulent transaction, the money is immediately returned to me, and even if it wasn't, it doesn't effect my ability to pay other bills, as all of my money is still safely in my bank account. My debit card is never used.
 
Back