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If you can play the game to your rules, not theirs, having a single credit card can be ok: * Pay the entire balance every month, ideally by direct debit (they

If you can play the game to your rules, not theirs, having a single credit card can be ok: * Pay the entire balance every month, ideally by direct debit (they don't like doing this) * Ignore offers to increase credit limit * Actively reverse automatic credit increases. My card company tried ridiculously hard to talk me out of reducing my credit limit. This type of credit card customer is by far the minority (10% iirc), and least welcome to the card companies. Their ideal customer has multiple cards and pays minimum balance every month. Student loans also count towards credit worthiness. For a home loan, having little or no credit, isn't necessarily a deal breaker, but does limit lender choice. At least in the UK. I dislike the game partially because the more indirection between spending and the actual money, the easier it is to overspend or lose track. This is the whole point, of course! So I just stick to the debit card for net, and actual cash from ATM when out shopping.

randlet 11y ago
Why ignore offers to increase credit limit? I keep accepting higher credit limits because I was under the impression there is no down side. (I only ever use a small fraction of my limit and never carry a balance.)
- anexprogrammer 11y ago
  Because I didn't want the temptation to use it. Especially if I found myself in a challenging position. I'd far rather have it brought down to a limit I would choose. They increase it precisely to tempt you to use it, after all. At one point I had as much available credit across two cards as balance on the mortgage, whereupon I decided it was silly and I'd like them to reduce please.
  - randlet 11y ago
    OK thanks. I was worried I was negatively impacting my credit rating somehow. My few minutes of research indicate that having a higher limit may actually be beneficial to someone like me who never utilizes my available credit.
    - dcherman 11y ago
      The ratio of available to utilized credit definitely does impact your credit score positively. That's why for a while, I would periodically ask for limit increases 1-2 times per year on all of my cards even though I will never come close to the limits. You don't want to do this too often though; I think asking for an increase may incur a credit pull. Too many of those can hurt your score.
sunsu 11y ago
Accepting higher credit limits actually improves your credit score over time, assuming you do not actually use the credit. In my opinion, you should accept the credit limit increases when offered.
- anexprogrammer 11y ago
  But what's the point? If, as the commenter asks, you're looking to cover yourself in the event of wanting a mortgage, perhaps car loan too, you only need good credit. I do know the UK doesn't use credit score as the US does, so it may operate on a different premise where gaming the score matters.
  - smhinsey 11y ago
    Both the ratio of your amount of available credit vs. used credit and the total amount of credit that you have available feed into your FICO score. From the lender's perspective, someone with a lot of unused credit is a better candidate than someone without. One of my cards recently announced a change that caused me to start looking around and its replacement had a substantially higher limit which unexpectedly gave a significant boost to my score.
deleted 11y ago
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frandroid 11y ago
> This type of credit card customer is by far the minority (10% iirc), and least welcome to the card companies. Their ideal customer has multiple cards and pays minimum balance every month. A card user who pays their balance every month is still valuable to the card company though, as it draws fees on every transaction. Someone who uses their 1.5% cashback card to pay for EVERYTHING and puts a couple thousand a month on the card brings in some cash too, and the day they lose their job they might start racking up debt.

randlet 11y ago

Why ignore offers to increase credit limit? I keep accepting higher credit limits because I was under the impression there is no down side. (I only ever use a small fraction of my limit and never carry a balance.)

anexprogrammer 11y ago
Because I didn't want the temptation to use it. Especially if I found myself in a challenging position. I'd far rather have it brought down to a limit I would choose. They increase it precisely to tempt you to use it, after all. At one point I had as much available credit across two cards as balance on the mortgage, whereupon I decided it was silly and I'd like them to reduce please.
- randlet 11y ago
  OK thanks. I was worried I was negatively impacting my credit rating somehow. My few minutes of research indicate that having a higher limit may actually be beneficial to someone like me who never utilizes my available credit.
  - dcherman 11y ago
    The ratio of available to utilized credit definitely does impact your credit score positively. That's why for a while, I would periodically ask for limit increases 1-2 times per year on all of my cards even though I will never come close to the limits. You don't want to do this too often though; I think asking for an increase may incur a credit pull. Too many of those can hurt your score.

sunsu 11y ago

Accepting higher credit limits actually improves your credit score over time, assuming you do not actually use the credit. In my opinion, you should accept the credit limit increases when offered.

anexprogrammer 11y ago
But what's the point? If, as the commenter asks, you're looking to cover yourself in the event of wanting a mortgage, perhaps car loan too, you only need good credit. I do know the UK doesn't use credit score as the US does, so it may operate on a different premise where gaming the score matters.
- smhinsey 11y ago
  Both the ratio of your amount of available credit vs. used credit and the total amount of credit that you have available feed into your FICO score. From the lender's perspective, someone with a lot of unused credit is a better candidate than someone without. One of my cards recently announced a change that caused me to start looking around and its replacement had a substantially higher limit which unexpectedly gave a significant boost to my score.

deleted 11y ago

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frandroid 11y ago

> This type of credit card customer is by far the minority (10% iirc), and least welcome to the card companies. Their ideal customer has multiple cards and pays minimum balance every month. A card user who pays their balance every month is still valuable to the card company though, as it draws fees on every transaction. Someone who uses their 1.5% cashback card to pay for EVERYTHING and puts a couple thousand a month on the card brings in some cash too, and the day they lose their job they might start racking up debt.