Jboxman.com

I got a letter the other day from Washington Mutual informing me that because i had not used my credit card for over 12 months they had closed it on my behalf. Overall its not the worst thing that ever happened b/c the limit on the card was quite low, however it happened to be one of my oldest credit cards (dating back to when they were Providian).

While the credit card companies are completely within their rights, cutting off lines of credit can bring down people’s credit scores because it decreases their amount of available credit, a factor in your FICO.

I guess the best solution is to remember to use each credit card for a small purchase at least once a year, and pay it off right away

After a little research i ended up openning a Scottrade account, heres why:

» $7 limit trades.  The best I could find when opening an acount with only 500 dollars
» Local broker. It’s nice to be able to drive just a few minutes and talk face to face.
» No maintenance or inacivity fees.
» Real time stock quotes, and a streaming ticker.
» There’s a large selection of mutual funds, bonds, CDs, and preferred stocks.
» Good reviews both offline and from online comments.
» Just $500 to open.
» With $5,000 in account equity, you get free checkwriting, which you can then link up with other accounts.
» Depositing money into your account happens the same day

Here are the details of actually opening my account.