Credit card question

[dmclone]

I've had the same credit card since college(16 years) but I'm thinking of switching over to American Express. For anyone that has an AMEX credit card, do you find that most places take it? Before anyone says "why not just keep both?", I have a self imposed rule to only ever have one CC at a time.

The AMEX card would be a Costco card with no annual fee and 3% back on gas, 2% back on dining, etc.

 

[Cyclonepride]

I know that there are a few who do not due to the higher fees that AMEX imposes on retailers. One that I can think of at the moment is Murphy USA, the gas station associated with Walmart. I do not believe that Menards does either.

 

[brianhos]

Amex is great, but hardly anywhere takes it. I have a discover I use for everything, and an Amex specifically for Costco because of the $200 limit on debit cards. I also have to have a visa/mastercard just for the few places that do not take either.

 

[Bubbahotep]

Don't get rid of your current one, it affects your credit rating when you cancel a card.

 

[erikbj]

My dad loves his Amex card b/c of the rewards he gets. I don't have one because I love to keep a large balance rolling on my Capital One card, because it is the American way :smile:.

I kid about the large balance - but it nice to know that if an emergency came up I can keep a balance on the card with 5% fixed rate. Hate taking money out of the market - need to win it back!!!

Actually I have been very happy with Capital One (Mastercard), pretty decent rewards program and they actually lowered my interest rates without even asking - never seen a card company do that.

 

[dmclone]

You can run a balance on most American Express cards.

 

[cdekovic]

It is really in your best credit interest to have at least 2-3 different cards. The amount of available credit limit on each helps increase your credit score as long as you keep them current. I have had an AMEX Gold card for 8 years and I also have a Visa Card. I flash the gold card when appropriate , and pay it off monthly and use the Visa as my "points building" card for car rental, hotel stays, etc. Make sure you get a card that gives you back something. If the AMEX is free that's pretty good. However, there are quite a few places that won't take AMEX. Mostly retail places. I've never had it turned down at a restaraunt but just in case, I carry the Visa.

 

[puckwarrior]

Don't close the one you've had for a long time. It will keep your credit score higher to have a card with a longer history active on your credit report. So if you get another one, don't close out the one you currently have as it will hurt you in the long run.

 

[19Cy78]

Working in the credit industry; dmclone please don't close it, call up the card company and ask to please lower your limit, even as low as $100/$500. If you never plan to use that card again with all of the identity theft going around better to lower the limit and have limited risk exposure than potentially have someone steal your identity and potentially be liable for the balance.

 

[brianhos]

Do people really care about credit score? I will probably close one card I have that I hate, but I have had it for 19 years. As long as my score stays over 700 so I get accepted for an auto loan, I cannot think of any valid reason to work to maintain a super high credit score.

 

[CyinCo]

It is really in your best credit interest to have at least 2-3 different cards. The amount of available credit limit on each helps increase your credit score as long as you keep them current. I have had an AMEX Gold card for 8 years and I also have a Visa Card. I flash the gold card when appropriate , and pay it off monthly and use the Visa as my "points building" card for car rental, hotel stays, etc. Make sure you get a card that gives you back something. If the AMEX is free that's pretty good. However, there are quite a few places that won't take AMEX. Mostly retail places. I've never had it turned down at a restaraunt but just in case, I carry the Visa.

I only have 1 credit card and my credit score is typically about 800. I think more importantly, you need several different sources of credit, not necessarily credit cards. I have mortgage, car loan, and student loan as well. I once heard having 4 different sources is best.

 

[AIT]

All this talk about keeping the card just to help your credit rating seems silly to me. As long as you have a good history with one open card and other loans (student, house, car), isn't that good enough?

 

[Ms3r4ISU]

Working in the credit industry; dmclone please don't close it, call up the card company and ask to please lower your limit, even as low as $100/$500. If you never plan to use that card again with all of the identity theft going around better to lower the limit and have limited risk exposure than potentially have someone steal your identity and potentially be liable for the balance.

We have a card that I've not used in at least 3 years because they messed up badly once (long story). I haven't even done the validation for the newest cards we got in Aug. Last week we got a letter saying because we hadn't used it in a long time, they were lowering the credit limit (from maybe $5000--not sure) to $300. We have plenty of good credit (and other charge accounts) so it is really better to keep such a low limit card that we'll never use than to close that account?

 

[CYdTracked]

Best card I have found: Chase Freedom Credit Card

3% back on your top 3 category purchases (utilities, groceries, gas, or whatever it is) and 1% on everything else. $50 for just signing up plus if you wait until you accumulate $200 in cash back rewards Chase adds another $50 to it. I try to use this whenever I can and pay the balance off every month.

 

[CarolinaCy]

We have a card that I've not used in at least 3 years because they messed up badly once (long story). I haven't even done the validation for the newest cards we got in Aug. Last week we got a letter saying because we hadn't used it in a long time, they were lowering the credit limit (from maybe $5000--not sure) to $300. We have plenty of good credit (and other charge accounts) so it is really better to keep such a low limit card that we'll never use than to close that account?

The reason why you wouldn't close accounts is because keeping them open (and with a zero balance) increases your ratio of available debt to actual debt. A limit of $300 won't have much positive effect on this ratio, and closing it shouldn't really hurt anything.

 

[Cyclonepride]

When I got married, I paid off all the balances on the cards I had, closed them and switched to my wife's card accounts. It sounds like that might have been a bad idea, but my credit score is in the high 700's, so evidently it didn't hurt too much.

 

[Gink]

I have an AMEX but I quit using it because it seemed like a lot of smaller places would not take it. I also have a Discover and I quit using it for the same reason.

I tried to use the Discover whenever I could because of the cashback reward. However, it seems to me that you can get a Visa with just as good rewards these days. In fact, the Visa I use now has better cash back rewards then my Discover card.

I've had the same credit card since college(16 years) but I'm thinking of switching over to American Express. For anyone that has an AMEX credit card, do you find that most places take it? Before anyone says "why not just keep both?", I have a self imposed rule to only ever have one CC at a time.

The AMEX card would be a Costco card with no annual fee and 3% back on gas, 2% back on dining, etc.