CC question

Humboldt · Post by **Humboldt** » Thu Apr 14, 2022 9:57 pm

Just received a new BOA VISA cc with a 2.6% cash back, soon to go up.

Already have a BOA cc and a MC, both paid off in full monthly.

Applied for the second VISA because of the better interest and cash back.

Question is regarding the first ancient (12+ years) VISA.

Do you think it's better for my credit score to keep it, use it lightly and pay it off monthly, if older accounts weight more heavily on your FICO score?
Thinking of NetFlix auto-pay and a tank of gas per month.

Or cancel it, and face the short term credit blow for the cancellation instead of having an under-utilized cc?

I figure the fewer cc's the better, but not if the cancellation would have bad affects on my score.

Thanks

Post by **Philip** » Fri Apr 15, 2022 9:31 am

Your FICO is affected by the total available credit you have to you, as it compares to the percentage that you use monthly. I.e. if you have 50k of combined credit card limits "available", and you use up to 5k per month, you are using up 10% of your available credit.
You don't want to use high percentage of your "available" credit as it directly impacts your credit score. It's ok to have a couple of idle cards, or ask for a higher limit on the cards you use. Generally it's best to have balances being low percentage (ideally under 5%) of your total available credit.
Another point that affects your credit score to consider is the "age" of your credit history, how old your credit is, older credit cards improve your score.

I didn't realize BofA offers 2.6% cash back across the board and not in certain categories. Is this in their Unlimited Cash Rewards card with the higher honors tiers? I may have to get that, I've been using Citi DoubleCash for 2% back, but this sounds even better.

Post by **Philip** » Fri Apr 15, 2022 9:56 am

Found it, looked over the terms and it seems great, so just applied for it actually. Had to unfreeze my credit for a minute so they could pull my score, lol.

Easto · Post by **Easto** » Fri Apr 15, 2022 10:37 am

The wife just got a Citi/Visa CC from Costco. She wanted it because of the "cash back" features. In our case the highest percentage of cash back is only on certain items. I don't remember exactly what the breakdown was but for some type of purchases you get the 4% and for other types you might only get 1%. And if I'm not mistaken you need to spend the accumulated cash at Costco. Still a good deal but you're unable to take advantage of the accumulated cash until the end of the year.

Also, if you're paying it off monthly I wouldn't worry about the % their offering on your balance. To be honest I don't even know what that % is on our cards. We always pay them off.

Post by **Philip** » Fri Apr 15, 2022 11:39 am

I almost always pay off my monthly cc balances too. Still, the balance that you currently have on your cards during the month shows up on your credit reports as current balance, it varies every month but it is there and it affects your credit score as it is compared to your total available credit.

I don't generally like to use those categorical cards, as I have to think about my purchases and shuffle cards around. The one exception being travel cards, if go abroad and want to use a cc with different currencies BofA Travel Rewards Visa has good exchange rates, no foreign transaction fees, etc.

Humboldt · Post by **Humboldt** » Fri Apr 15, 2022 1:08 pm

Philip wrote: Another point that affects your credit score to consider is the "age" of your credit history, how old your credit is, older credit cards improve your score.

Exactly, this as an old card.

Humboldt · Post by **Humboldt** » Fri Apr 15, 2022 1:18 pm

https://www.bankofamerica.com/preferred-rewards/

Post by **Philip** » Fri Apr 15, 2022 2:00 pm

On it, thanks, getting it in the mail in a week

Humboldt · Post by **Humboldt** » Fri Apr 15, 2022 11:29 pm

Philip wrote:On it, thanks, getting it in the mail in a week

Saw that, just in case anyone else is interested.

What's funny is it's like they're trying to keep this line of cards a secret...I never received an email offer or notification.

Just happen to be poking about my online financial accounts more often and noticed a little button on BOA saying I was eligible for a cc in their new line.

Already approved for Platinum, middle tier, which is what I received.

Since this takes into account my CMA and Roth as well, if they don't bump me to Platinum Honers in a month I'll find out why. Well above that minimum.

Seems like a solid card.

Humboldt · Post by **Humboldt** » Fri Apr 15, 2022 11:34 pm

Not mention, spend $1000 in the first 3 months with the new card and get $200 back, for my offer at least.

No problem without buying anything new, but I am eyeing my Garrett AT Pro metal detector again, $599).

https://garrett.com/sport/at-all-terrain/at-pro

Humboldt · Post by **Humboldt** » Sat Apr 16, 2022 1:08 am

Paid bills

Phone would charge extra, so pulled that out of my checking.

Electric/gas, no surcharge, threw it on the new card. Then the garbage.

Not going to need the Garrett AT Pro.

Post by **Philip** » Sat Apr 16, 2022 9:14 am

Yeah, spending 1k in 3 months will not be a problem at all, will just have to remember to switch over most purchases and some bills over.

Easto · Post by **Easto** » Sat Apr 16, 2022 9:41 am

Philip wrote:Yeah, spending 1k in 3 months will not be a problem at all,

We pay for virtually everything with our CC so our monthly bill can be fairly high. Don't forget to change over things Amazon, Phone, Netflix etc. You may have other subscriptions like a Costco yearly auto renewal.

Humboldt · Post by **Humboldt** » Sun Apr 17, 2022 12:20 am

Easto wrote:W Don't forget to change over things Amazon, Phone, Netflix etc. You may have other subscriptions like a Costco yearly auto renewal.

Thanks for the reminder.

I'm probably just going to keep it since it's so old (FICO) and actually a decent card.

Keep the Netflix auto-pay. That's the only auto-pay I have.
Throw on a tank of gas per month, some groceries, and pay it off in full.

Humboldt · Post by **Humboldt** » Sun Apr 17, 2022 12:21 am

Philip wrote:Yeah, spending 1k in 3 months will not be a problem at all.

I'll probably break it by Monday.

Post by **Philip** » Sun Apr 17, 2022 5:39 pm

Humboldt wrote:I'll probably break it by Monday.

I will likely get mine within a week, and get to that 1k in a month.

Humboldt · Post by **Humboldt** » Tue Apr 19, 2022 1:27 am

Philip wrote:I will likely get mine within a week, and get to that 1k in a month.

I wager on less than 1 week, unless you tweak/withhold payments.

Humboldt · Post by **Humboldt** » Wed Apr 20, 2022 1:59 am

Humboldt wrote:I'll probably break it by Monday.

Oil change and new belt helped.

Might take another day or two, but 3 months for the cash back was not a concern.

Post by **Philip** » Wed Apr 20, 2022 8:49 am

I haven't received mine yet, but I did have a slightly annoying experience with BofA over it.

[rant on]
First, I applied for it last Friday online, had to call it in because my credit report is locked and they couldn't pull it, had to unlock it temporarily and all was well. Over the weekend the new account showed up in my online banking, so I figured all looks good.
Monday I receive a text, "Someone applied for a credit card, we want to make sure it was you, reply YES or NO..", I reply YES, the system thanks me, and I figure all is still well...
A few hours later, I log in to my online banking and the new cc account is flagged, states something like: "We've noticed some unusual activity on your card, please call us immediately at such-and-such number..."

I call the online number as instructed, and I am put on a "brief" 24 minute hold with elevator music before the fraud department picks up. First thing they ask is my cc account number, I start explaining I haven't received it yet, and my online banking only shows the last 4 digits, etc. The lady says she has to transfer me somewhere else to get the alert removed, and they would call me back. I did get a callback, and they removed the alert, after which they thanked me for preferred status, 30 years of loyalty blabla, but it took me 40 minutes because their system was trying to "protect" me, and the only way to remove an alert is by a person that is hard and very slow to reach after jumping through a few hoops.

Bottom line, their AI customer protection system is stupid. Too many repetitive hoops to go through.. There was no "unusual activity" on the card (the number was just generated and card was never activated, not even mailed yet). Their system did reach out over text and alerted me of the situation, yet I still had to call and wait for half an hour to reach them to confirm I am me before they mail a card. I don't see why the system would flag it after I was logged in online, verified, then talked to them on the phone (got verified a second time), received texts to verify my identity (third verification) a couple of times, etc. I don't see why the only way to remove the alert is for me to stay on the phone for 40 minutes.
[rant off]

Anyway, it was just a small annoyance because of the looong hold and the disconnect between their automated system and associates.

Humboldt · Post by **Humboldt** » Wed Apr 20, 2022 9:38 pm

That sucks.

E for effort on their part?

I gave up on paying my mortgage over the phone years ago because their newest "upgrade" automation was so poor.

It'd take 10 minutes to listen to all of the disclosures and make the damn payment.
For 3 months no option to make a principle only payment.
And something like $7.50 "convenience fee" for the cc.

Should've switched to online even sooner.
No fee, automated, easy to tweak principle payments.

Liking the new card. Might just be me but the chip seems to work faster than my previous card (about 2 years old).

Post by **Philip** » Thu Apr 21, 2022 8:09 am

I like the newer cards tap feature, no swipe or insert needed.. It's slowly making its way to more and more POS terminals.

Easto · Post by **Easto** » Thu Apr 21, 2022 10:06 am

Philip wrote:I like the newer cards tap feature, no swipe or insert needed.. It's slowly making its way to more and more POS terminals.

It wasn't until recently that I noticed that my new CC has the tap feature. It makes a transaction a little bit easier but I'm hoping that it somehow avoids being taken advantage by a CC skimmer. Although I haven't looked into it I'm pretty sure the tap feature includes a higher level of safety against misuse .

Humboldt · Post by **Humboldt** » Thu Apr 21, 2022 10:07 pm

I love the tap feature.

Until this last card I only had one, so I'd just hold my leather wallet to the terminal.

Would read it fine and the cashiers were almost always blown away.

Humboldt · Post by **Humboldt** » Thu Apr 21, 2022 10:15 pm

Easto wrote:It wasn't until recently that I noticed that my new CC has the tap feature. It makes a transaction a little bit easier but I'm hoping that it somehow avoids being taken advantage by a CC skimmer. Although I haven't looked into it I'm pretty sure the tap feature includes a higher level of safety against misuse .

Not sure about skimmers, I assume there's a way the data can be grabbed or spoofed but chips are "supposed" to bypass many of the security issues of swipe/PIN.

Speed-wise, tap chips are MUCH faster (I work retail) than insert chip cards, which are much faster than swipe cards.
Night and day, especially depending on the cc terminal software/support.

And whatever they're using in their tap tech upgrades, this card is fast.

Post by **Philip** » Fri Apr 22, 2022 7:34 am

Many newer wallets include some RFID protection, that would prevent card skimming, and you from doing the tap without taking it out of your wallet. Also, not sure what happens with a couple of tap cards in there, luck of the draw?

Easto · Post by **Easto** » Fri Apr 22, 2022 10:09 am

I'm going to try that thing with leaving it in my wallet and see if the machine will read my "Tap". I only have 1 card with this feature so I don't think there should be any confusion. But I am a little concerned about people that might be near me being able to scan my card while it's in my wallet, in my pocket. My wife is doing some international travel soon and I was thinking about the possibility of getting an RFID protected sheath for her Passport.

Post by **Philip** » Fri Apr 22, 2022 2:20 pm

International travel is the one time when I try to be aware of card skimming, you're right. There are RFID sleeves for cards and RFID protected wallets out there.

Other than that, when using the chip, or the "tap" feature, you're kind of protected, a one-time code is used instead of your card number/name/details that are on the magnetic stripe. Both tap and the chip use the same protection.

Post by **Philip** » Fri Apr 22, 2022 2:22 pm

Just got the card btw

.. In the process of making it the default payment method in my Amazon profile, monthly internet bill, etc.

MadDoctor · Post by **MadDoctor** » Fri Apr 22, 2022 4:45 pm

Philip wrote:It's ok to have a couple of idle cards.

I just put the idle cards in a firebox (the farmer has a nice one).

Post by **Philip** » Fri Apr 22, 2022 8:36 pm

Used it to renew my auto insurance, so I guess I reached that 1k the same day I got it.

Post by **Philip** » Fri Apr 22, 2022 8:37 pm

MadDoctor wrote:I just put the idle cards in a firebox (the farmer has a nice one).

Fireboxes work... I may do that.

Easto · Post by **Easto** » Fri Apr 22, 2022 11:11 pm

Philip wrote:Used it to renew my auto insurance, so I guess I reached that 1k the same day I got it.

We usually pay our various insurances through our bank app. But now that the wife has the Costco card I may just pay a few of those bills with the CC. Between the various insurances, monthly bills, gas for the cars and food I can hit $1k on a card every month with my eyes closed. I guess I might as well try and start to get something back.

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Sat Apr 23, 2022 7:13 am

i use my amazon Visa card for almost everything i can, i just use the points to buy stuff off amazon, it's like free money LOL

Humboldt · Post by **Humboldt** » Wed May 04, 2022 12:52 am

Humboldt wrote:Not sure about skimmers, I assume there's a way the data can be grabbed or spoofed but chips are "supposed" to bypass many of the security issues of swipe/PIN.

Speed-wise, tap chips are MUCH faster (I work retail) than insert chip cards, which are much faster than swipe cards.
Night and day, especially depending on the cc terminal software/support.

And whatever they're using in their tap tech upgrades, this card is fast.

Speaking of which, we had a cc terminal brick on us last week.

One of 2 retail registers, happened right before closing thankfully.

Swapped with a spare which functioned but when it printed you couldn't read the total dollar amount, which made cash-out a bitch.

If it was $1234.56 run on the terminal you could read $123*.*6

New terminals, $750 each, are just like cell phones.

On the clerk side the display looks like a cell phone in calculator mode.
Exact same size and shape. Even has a damn flashlight.

Staff loves them, they're much quicker for swipe (slowest), chip and tap (maybe 2 seconds).

Have to say I love the tap.
Compare that tech to the old mechanical ka-chunka sliders into the early 90's, with an imprint of your card and multiple layers of carbon paper.

Post by **Philip** » Wed May 04, 2022 8:37 am

Argh, I remember those mechanical sliders with the carbon paper, I feel old now, thanks

Humboldt · Post by **Humboldt** » Sat May 07, 2022 12:38 am

Right?

What's the first gaming console you remember?

Mine was my friend's Commodore C64, about '83.

Post by **Philip** » Mon May 09, 2022 9:34 pm

The first actual computer with a monitor I played on extensively was in the mid-80s, I was in middle school.. The machine was an eastern european Apple II+ clone (Pravetz 8M), dual-processors with different speeds (6502 clone at 1.018 MHz, very similar to the C64 CPU.. and a secondary Z80A at 4MHz), 64K of DRAM, 16KB EPROM, external 5.25" floppy disk connected with ribbon cable. We used to cut off the 5.25 floppies write-protect slots so we could flip them and record more data on the bottom.

Easto · Post by **Easto** » Tue May 10, 2022 10:23 am

A roommate of mine bought an IBM with 1 floppy drive. I remember going with him to buy a 2nd floppy drive and we carried it home as if it was a newborn baby. Although it was his computer we felt as if the world was ours with 2 drives installed. I remember playing Microsoft Olympics and all the text based games like Zork etc. It was unimaginable that life could get any better.