Having a credit card and not using it

You may be one of the millions of Americans that are cutting up their credit cards and saying bye bye to plastic. Hey now, simmer down just a minute. There may be good reasons you may want to hold on to old faithful credit card. Your credit report takes into account how long you have had credit.

So, if you still have that first credit card from the fifth grade, that will look better than a credit card you just got two weeks ago. If you need to get rid of one, get rid of the newest first. Also, if you are down to one credit card, don't get rid of it.

Remember, you need a credit card these days if you ever want to rent a hotel or a car, and many other things can't be reserved without at least one credit card. I have run into trouble before where they said my debit card would not work for a car reservation, even though it clearly could be run as a credit as well.

If you just don't want any more debt, fine, don't use the old credit card, just put it a bowl, fill the bowl with water and stick it in the freezer.

This is my old trick. If there is something you are just dying to buy, by the time the credit card thaws out you probably won't want it anymore, and if you do, it is probably something you really want. You can just stick the credit card in a drawer as well if your not into that fancy stuff, just keep it, so you will have access to credit if you need it, and your credit rating won't suffer from no credit.

Now, the biggest problem these days is that credit card companies are shunning any unprofitable business. So, if you don't use your credit card at all, the credit card company will probably cancel it. So, just use it once a month or so just to keep it active.

I like to make my neccesity payments like my phone or electricity payment with it since those come once a month. Then, you can just use your banks free bill pay to pay off the credit card. Keeps your credit card active, yet is paid off every month.

As we all know, no credit can be almost as bad as bad credit, so keep at least one or two vintage credit cards active, just pay them off each month and it will be the next best thing to cutting them up. You may not get the satisfaction of telling the credit card company where to go, but your credit actually will be better off because of it.