Yep. I do all of that. A few times a year I use each one, typically over Christmas. I order online, when it ships I pay the bill, and get the points for it. It keeps them active. I had 2 accounts close on me because I didn't use them and dropped my score a lot. When you pay off car loans, another drop.
I never got any warning letter either. I found it takes about 24-36 months of inactivity and they let you go.
Before I bought the house, I found a really great amortization schedule to get everything paid of in a short amount of time.
After everything was paid off, I then went house shopping knowing there would be no snags anywhere and showing a really high 800 FICO score. Utilizing that high score, I then went for the windows the same week, so it all worked out. It just annoys me when I monitor it, and the mortgage is going down beyond the reg. payment, it still so easily goes up and a beast to go back down.
My next major purchase to finance will either be a vinyl fence or a front deck. That won't be until mid-summer anyway if then depending on the rates and such. None are needs, only wants. The windows were a need. |
