I'm amazed at the info I can get here when it comes to making the most of my credit cards! Thanks everyone and hope to learn a lot from the forums. Good day to you all!

Joeyman, glad to hear you have a favorite credit card. Has AMEX done you wrong on the account such as cut the limit or FR (financial review)?

Actually don't have the card, only dreaming.

Hi everyone! I'm trying to zero out all my credit card bills so good luck to me in this endeavour. I'm hoping to find advice on how to effectively carry this out.

Where do we find our credit score and how do we know if it's healthy?

You can get a free annual report as HJ said. This is a credit report what will tell wyu what bills you have paid, paid on time, paid late and so on.If you want a REAL FICO score go to myfico.com. You can buy your EQ and TU report, EX is no longer available to consumers (since 2-13) Any other site will offer a FAKO score, which means nothing.

There are a lot of offers from companies offering free scores but the only TRUE score you will get is from MYFICO.COM. Good luck to you.

Where do we find our credit score and how do we know if it's healthy?

Best place to get all 3 of your CR's for free are from annualcreditreport.com. It's required by law that every consumer is eligible to receive a copy of their credit reports from all 3 credit bureaus for free once a year. Take advantage of it and find out what's on your credit reports.

my 3 credit scores ranging from 471-504. I have managed to raise my score to 529-563 in 1 year.

Where do we find our credit score and how do we know if it's healthy?

Eugene, I appreciate the encouraging the words and definitely feel optimistic about the future as we will all be in a good position credit wise.

Hjm331 do not let a bad experience lead to a sour approach to all banks because in life you will discover that for every negative there is a positive.when i closed all of my gemb cards because i was very angry at what they did but i read a post you made afterwards that made me think and i moved forward and realized the environment we were in at the time.that is why i love reading these forums because a person experience can prepare us and make us aware of what we are dealing with when doing business with a company for the first time.so hang in there buddy, things will get better and you will be better for it.

hjm333 - WOW! I really am surprised. A long story short is I wrote the CEO of Citi Bank when they refused me a credit card acount. Wrote the CEO & Board Chair (in case they tried to hide the letter). Received a letter informing me the matter had been forwarded to the credit manager. The credit manager wrote me a letter explaining a further review of my worldly status was inorder. Shortly thereafter a letter came from the credit department apologizing for the oversight on what a great background I had and they issued a gold visa bank credit card with a $5,000 limit (mind you this was many moons ago). Since your family is with BofA and you have branches in the area it just blows me a way. BofA is busy trying to keep top management away from charges of fraud. But, maybe a brief letter to the chair of the board with copies of any correspondence you sent to the CEO and mention you never even had the honor of a reply would be inorder. Ooh... marketing pressure. You deserve better than this and it makes me **** mad! A bunch of Wall Street "two step". hjm333 I spent 35 years in the political world and stepping on people became a way of life due to the fact there were so many games it took agressive action to get many things done! You have displayed the extra mile in working this matter through! D*** proud to read your postings! : hjm333 - I hesitated to say it but, I am a share holder of Bank of America and I just voted against the BofA Board's recommendations to further feather the nest of top management.. and whether there are enough like me remains to be seen.

Joeyman, glad to hear you have a favorite credit card. Has AMEX done you wrong on the account such as cut the limit or FR (financial review)?

Wanderer, I sent a letter to the CEO about three months ago by CMRR and never heard back from them. I know they received the letter because I received the green signature card about two weeks after I mailed the letter.
I wouldn't be so upset if it wasn't my second oldest credit card.

hjm331 - what happened to you by one of the big boy banks makes me sick! That is totally unacceptable!!! Now, why don't you draft a letter to the CEO and Chairman of the board at Bank of America (if they aren't in jail for fraud - oops!) explaining all this ...! Probably need someone to review it to ensure it is free of how you really feel and stick closer to a business and marketing perspective. Ask them why their organization would treat any customer the way you have been treated and why there is so much inconsistency in the information they are distributing. Then offer a solution for your situation. See if you can keep it to one and at the most two pages. You deserve better than this! I believe you will get a result of: "... we will look into it and then a solution you can live with will be the outcome...". Note, actually you may help all of us. Generally, they are shy on accepting responsibility on the surface but internally some **** will be raised. Use names and employee numbers if you have them so the trickle down effect will be the outcome (you know what rolls down hill). Remember... you have nothing to loose and everything to gain. Bank of America has reputation (or do they?). Please share with us the outcome! You deserve better than this!

Hjm, sorry man - about your Bank of America experience.

My favorite card that I have, is my new Unitus Community Credit Union Classic Visa. But, my favorite card is the Costco American Express.

I don't really have a favorite card. Banks are not my friend and therefore, I will not cherish my relationships with them. However, I will give them the privilege of having their cards in my wallet as long as they don't reduce my limit or raise my interest rate. It's not much too ask for but I would look crazy if I expected to not come across AA in this credit climate.

Joeyman - my favorite credit cards are my Chase Freedom Business Visa Credit Card (includes Blueprint) because it gives me rewards of 3 for 1 points on my highest three categories every month (may change categories - depending on my usage) out of fifteen categories every month! Gotta love it with 12.24% APR on purchases and 19.24% APR on cash with no AF. My other favorite card is my HSBC America Express that gives me 1.25 points on every purchase with 9.9% APR on purchases and 20.9% APR on cash with no AF. If I went to a third credit card it would be my Citi Platinum Select Mastercard because Citi has been good to me!