Every 3 months isn't working for me. They are giving me an increase every 6 months which is still nice because some creditors only give CLI's once a year.

I will note the date on my calendar and try again in Dec. I plan on socker drawing it except for a small charge every now and then.

Ask for more increases in December during the holiday season. It will help your utilization and increase your scores as long as you don't pick up anymore debt.

HJM331, You guys were right! I called Cap 1 twice as I have 2 cards and each rep gave me a $300 increase on each card. They were both very nice. It seems like you guys were right on this.

I have never called Cap1 because I always thought that the CLI would come autimatically.

So now I go from $2k to $2300 and from $1k to $1300. My utilization rate was 58%, I have to recalculate later. My goal is to get to around 48% by year end.

You can't close a credit card while having a balance.

Yes you can. I do it all the time at work. Cardmembers usually do it to prevent further activity bc theyre already way in debt... or because we wont waive ALL the lates fee when theyve been pdue the last 4 months w/ no valid excuse, just simply because they didnt want to pay the bill... and many more

Shark6, I already tried that when I had my First Premier Bank card 6 months ago. I really don't know what I was thinking. They didn't cancel it because they said they need to charge that to my account so they report activity onto my reports monthly. I told them that I'd use my card at least once a month for them to report activity if they waived the $7 fee but they still refused. I cancelled the card and felt really good about it.

Frist Premier bank ought to be indicted for the excessive fees that they charge.

yes,hjm331, when it comes time to my renewal, I will ask them to waive the fees.

Thanks.

Cards like First Premier Bank shouldn't be kept after you get better cards because you will be stuck with the monthly $7 account fee. Those are the cards you should close even if it's your oldest card. It's just money going to waste.

Shark6, if you can get Orchard to waive the annual fee, then I would keep it. Just keep it for the history and make sure you use for it to buy something to show some activity every two months or so.

I believe that you can close a card with an existing balance although I wouldn't reccommend it.

If you have had a card for more than 2-3yrs and have relatively no old credit lines, I would not close the account because it will hurt your scores. I would just use it to bill your monthly credit monitoring bill or some other small reoccuring bill and pay off monthly.

If your credit is relatively young, I guess closing it won't be a problem.

I have had Orchard for over 2yrs and they only gave me a measly $100 increase for $10. when I pay it off, I may close it as I have several old lines on my report. Target, may be the next victim as I barely shop there even though I like t he store. The $200 limit doesn't go very far.

So I paid both my Cap1 and my Orchard card in full today. Starting next month I will carry a low balance

No, I don't have a balance with the card. You can't close a credit card while having a balance. That's why a lot of people balance transfer a card they want to close to a card they want to keep.

It helps your score when you pay your balances down because it's lowering utilization. Try to pay them off as soon as possible. You will see an increase in your score.

Meya, I think I am going to close my Orchard Bank card tomorrow because I haven't used it for one or two months and I'm going to close it before they close it because it will look really bad on my report if it says "closed by creditor".

do you have a 0 balance? I haven't used my cards in months because i'm trying to get my balances down. Is it a bad thing or good thing when you trying to lower your balance. Orchard is a card I haven't used in about 4 months...but i have about a 100 dollar balance of both cards...please advise...

Meya, I think I am going to close my Orchard Bank card tomorrow because I haven't used it for one or two months and I'm going to close it before they close it because it will look really bad on my report if it says "closed by creditor".

I'm not a very patient person so waiting and I don't really get along.

Same here!