ChurnBabyChurn

Is there a best time to pay your bill, to maximize the chance of future approval from the card company?

I spend a fair amount, and I usually pay immediately, as soon as I make the "spend" (ie--get a card with a $5,000 spend for bonus...make the spend within a week, then pay the bill within a couple days of the charges "posting" to my account).

So...does it matter if I...

Pay immediately (like I do)

OR

Should I wait until I receive the bill?

OR

Should I wait until the due date?

OR

Does it not make any difference?


I intuitively think "pay as fast as possible to keep them happy"...but I have no idea of this is true...


(NOTE---I don't care about the "credit", or "free use of their money", or any of that....just looking at when to pay to make them most likely to approve my next app and keep this gravy train flowing...)


Any advice/thoughts are much appreciated...

highops

Just increase your credit limit to handle your monthly spending and set up auto pay on the due date.

FriscoHeavy

Ideally, the best customer will rack up some debt and make the monthly minimum payment on time. This allows them to rack in the interest.

jk2012

I am pretty sure they make a percent on all purchases by charging retailers a fee. I do the same as you and haven't had an issue. Just set autopay for outstanding balance and leave it.

redtop43

As long as you make your minimum payment when due, I doubt they care much. I think you are crediting the card companies with too much sophistication.

Yes, you would think they have some geek (like one of us) sitting around with spreadsheets calculating profitability indices of different types of customers. But that's really unlikely. Look at how long it took baseball to adopt sabremetrics, and some teams still haven't.

Personally I have been paying CC bills anytime I owe them money for years, and never had trouble getting approved.

PainCorp

If you can't understand why your credit score is more important than airline miles, you shouldn't be churning.

ChurnBabyChurn

I get that...

But, explain to me...based on the facts i presented...

WHY should i care so much about my credit score??

ChurnBabyChurn

So, why not just churn until my credit score goes to an "unacceptable" level, then once I start getting declined give it a break for a while?

PainCorp

What happens if your house burns down tomorrow and you have to finance a new one? What happens if your car gets stolen and you need to buy a new one? Life is full of uncertainty.

ChurnBabyChurn

If my house burns down, I have insurance.

If my car gets stolen I'll pay cash for another one.


I don't use my card to finance some lifestyle beyond my means. Quite to the contrary, I live well, well within my means.


My only use for credit cards is to use them to stick it to the banks, and maximize my gravy train...

Maz67

Why do you feel need to stick it to the banks? What do you have against the goose that lays the golden eggs and provides you with your "gravy train" ?

100countrygoal

The reason to care about your credit score, even if you never plan to borrow a dime for the rest of your life, is so that you can churn more and more credit cards. . . so that you can get 15 credit cards a year instead of 10. . . or whatever your goal is. At least that is the reason why I care about my credit score.

brasov02

^ Sounds like you have the same credit card churning style I prefer. Simple common sense. It's funny to see the reactions of some around here who clearly think such a style is heresy in this credit card churning religion. "You must believe as we believe or you're going to credit hell!" Probably because they can't understand being in a financial situation where your sacred credit score isn't really all that sacred. Of course you don't want to drop to 500 but I'm talking about beyond simply qualifying for the next card, and I've never been declined even in the early days when I was churning while hovering around 700 so I could care less if my score is 701 or 801. Really makes the game all that more fun! (But if you're financing cars and houses and education and plastic surgeries or thinking about it, then you might stick with the more orthodox credit churning religion.)

ChurnBabyChurn

Well, a couple reasons...

1) the more I 'stick" it to the banks, the more miles/rewards I get. And, I want as many miles/rewards as possible.


2) While I honestly could never imagine how people charge up a bunch of debt to live a lifestyle they can't afford, and buy things they shouldn't have...I also firmly believe that it's clearly obvious and common sense that the credit cards companies are going after these people in a predatory manner, supporting their financial recklessness in much the same way a drug dealer supports an addict. So, I have no "moral play" when it comes to the credit card companies.

Fair enough...

But, then, why isn't the play to "churn-churn-churn" until they cut me off, then take a little time off??

Indeed, if i never push it until they say "stop', I can never know how far I can really push it.

I fear I could get in a major car wreck tomorrow, and last thing to go through my mind would be "darn, should have applied for that Sapphire card when i had the chance...". In other words...I'd rather throw it all out there, then hold back and have regrets down the road.

Unless, of course, there is a patent, standard reason why "throwing it all out there" is never a "winner".

(Note: I churned about 10 cc between me and my wife in Oct-Dec 2012, then proceeded to refi my house in jan 2013 with a prime rate...So I must either have strong credit, or the effect of cc is not too big, as the 10 i got in Oct-Dec didn't do enough damage to scare off my mortgage guy...).

100countrygoal

I'd suggest the goal is to push it until you almost get a reject, or until you get an initial reject that you're able to salvage, not until they say "stop" and you waste a credit inquiry.