Credit Card Advice the Orman Way
Watching Suze Orman Can Definitely Help with Your Credit Card Situation
For years Suze Orman has been dishing out financial and credit card advice to attentive audiences and readers. She’s popular -- and for good reason. She’s honest, but more importantly, she focuses on what’s important in life: taking care of yourself and your family and friends. Most of my friends and acquaintances regularly tune in to her advice (though not all readily admit it). The interesting thing is -- Suze Orman’s advice about credit card issues seems to have changed recently...
What Has Changed?
One of Suze's bits of credit card wisdom is no longer true -- and she admitted this on a recent episode. She used to insist that when consumers stop using a particular credit card, they keep the account open because this would help their credit rating. Recently, though, she mentioned that the credit card companies have caught onto to the countless consumers who follow Orman’s advice.
Out with the Old and in with the New
The new trend is for credit card companies to automatically close out credit card accounts after a certain period of time has passed and consumers have not used their cards. This forces consumers to use their credit cards or have their credit rating negatively affected.
What’s a Consumer to Do?
Let’s assume you are adamant about not using your credit cards because you automatically spend more when paying with plastic. In that case you might want to simply close out the accounts and breathe easy even though your credit rating will be negatively affected. The financial stress of having credit cards is simply not worth it.
Recurring Bill Pay
Another option is to use a major credit card that you are considering canceling just once a month to pay a recurring bill such as your Internet service provider. That way you never have to pull your credit card out to make a purchase, it still stays open, and all you have to do is keep an eye on your statement once a month (and pay the bill)!
Using each and every credit card you have may not seem like the best idea -- but the world is changing and we may very well need creative ways to do so.