I don’t care about credit card points. I cancelled my previous card because I wanted to disaffiliate from my old bank. But I didn’t want my credit score to tank for my mortgage application, so I opened a new credit card with my new credit union. My mortgage went through just fine, so now I’m wondering if I need to keep using my credit card. I have a debt to pay off with the mortgage, so is that sufficient to keep my credit score from going down? I don’t care if it goes down a little. I might try to bring it up if I decide to buy a new car but that won’t be for many years hopefully. Would there be any other unforeseen consequences if I simply stopped using my credit card? Thanks
Is there any consequence to not using my credit card?
byu/captKatCat inCreditCards
Posted by captKatCat
6 Comments
Nope, but if you want it to stay open it’s probably good to put a tiny charge on it every few months. Not all lenders give warning that they will close your card for non-use. Then again, if you really have no use for it, I don’t see why you have to keep it open since you already have a mortgage. Credit mix is great for your score, but as said numerous times on these forums…finances over FICO.
Over debit? Fraud protection.
Over another credit card – not really.
There are no direct credit scorable consequences to simply not using your credit card. But creditors will typically close unused credit card accounts, and there *are* credit scorable consequences to having no revolving credit at all. Largely negative ones.
Ideally you should just get a 2% flat rate card, run all your spending through it, pay it off in full each month. No need to care about optimizing for rewards at all. Even if you choose a card with minimal or no rewards whatsoever, it’s still typically a better choice to run spending through it than a debit card due to how credit cards shield your checking account from being drained by theft, fraud, billing errors, etc. and build credit passively.
If you feel you can’t trust yourself with a credit card but still need to build credit, put a single subscription service on the card on autopay.
No – just watch it for unauthorized transactions. And it would be better to earn rewards on your everyday purchases. Even 1% or 2% back can add up to a lot.
I’d maybe suggest closing it instead. That way you don’t have to monitor it for fake charges: https://www.reddit.com/r/CreditCards/wiki/what_happens_if_you_close_a_card
Since you have a mortgage you’re likely good on credit history in my opinion.
The two things where a credit card can come in handy are checking into hotels and renting cars. There are ways around that though (a deposit held on your debit card)
Get a credit card through your credit union