Multiple card approvals with 650ish scores

[Anonymous]

All three of my scores were about 650, mostly because of five medical collections (one hospitalization incident - no insurance) and high utilzation on two cards that i've been attacking agressively for the last six months.

I had:

Apple Barclaycard

Amazon (Synchrony)

CapitalOne Platinum x2 (I hit reload after submit, got two cards)

After being 100% on top of my budget for the last six months, learning from my mistakes, and not overspending a single dime during that period I figured it was time to try to get some reward cards, i was approved for the following:

Amex Blue Cash Everyday ($5000)

Barclaycard Sallie Mae Mastercard ($3000)

Chase Freedom ($2000)

Capital One Quicksilver ($3000)

Discover - DENIED, this is the one I wanted the most and the first that I applied for.

I am going to pay for all of these in full each month, I budget with YNAB so it is impossible to overspend accidentally.

My question is about getting rid of the old cards. I already closed the Apple Barclaycard and moved the credit line to the Sallie Mae card before I started thinking about how closing these two year old accounts are going to affect my score. In hindsight I should have left that one open since there are no annual fees, the two Capital One cards have a small annual fee and offer no benefits so i'd like to get rid of them. Is it worth paying the fees for a year or two to help my score, or does having a new card with Capital One nullify closing the other Capital One accounts? I'm hoping to purchase my first home near the end of 2015.

I'm attacking the balances on the old cards (I'm already down to 30% utlization from basically 100%), and the medical collections are going to be taken care of immediately after that. I'm expecting to have all of the debt gone in about five months. 

[Anonymous]

Welcome to myFICO and congrats on the approvals!!!!!

[alvon123]

congrats on your approvals!!! Great Job!!

[coldnmn]

Congrats!  Welcome to the forum and thanks for sharing.

[uswala]

Congrats on the approvals!

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

All three of my scores were about 650, mostly because of five medical collections (one hospitalization incident - no insurance) and high utilzation on two cards that i've been attacking agressively for the last six months.

I had:

Apple Barclaycard

Amazon (Synchrony)

CapitalOne Platinum x2 (I hit reload after submit, got two cards)

After being 100% on top of my budget for the last six months, learning from my mistakes, and not overspending a single dime during that period I figured it was time to try to get some reward cards, i was approved for the following:

Amex Blue Cash Everyday ($5000)

Barclaycard Sallie Mae Mastercard ($3000)

Chase Freedom ($2000)

Capital One Quicksilver ($3000)

Discover - DENIED, this is the one I wanted the most and the first that I applied for.

I am going to pay for all of these in full each month, I budget with YNAB so it is impossible to overspend accidentally.

My question is about getting rid of the old cards. I already closed the Apple Barclaycard and moved the credit line to the Sallie Mae card before I started thinking about how closing these two year old accounts are going to affect my score. In hindsight I should have left that one open since there are no annual fees, the two Capital One cards have a small annual fee and offer no benefits so i'd like to get rid of them. Is it worth paying the fees for a year or two to help my score, or does having a new card with Capital One nullify closing the other Capital One accounts? I'm hoping to purchase my first home near the end of 2015.

I'm attacking the balances on the old cards (I'm already down to 30% utlization from basically 100%), and the medical collections are going to be taken care of immediately after that. I'm expecting to have all of the debt gone in about five months. 

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Congrats on your approvals 

[elle_t]

Congrats!

[alextercero]

Congratulations

[Anomalous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

All three of my scores were about 650, mostly because of five medical collections (one hospitalization incident - no insurance) and high utilzation on two cards that i've been attacking agressively for the last six months.

I had:

Apple Barclaycard

Amazon (Synchrony)

CapitalOne Platinum x2 (I hit reload after submit, got two cards)

After being 100% on top of my budget for the last six months, learning from my mistakes, and not overspending a single dime during that period I figured it was time to try to get some reward cards, i was approved for the following:

Amex Blue Cash Everyday ($5000)

Barclaycard Sallie Mae Mastercard ($3000)

Chase Freedom ($2000)

Capital One Quicksilver ($3000)

Discover - DENIED, this is the one I wanted the most and the first that I applied for.

I am going to pay for all of these in full each month, I budget with YNAB so it is impossible to overspend accidentally.

My question is about getting rid of the old cards. I already closed the Apple Barclaycard and moved the credit line to the Sallie Mae card before I started thinking about how closing these two year old accounts are going to affect my score. In hindsight I should have left that one open since there are no annual fees, the two Capital One cards have a small annual fee and offer no benefits so i'd like to get rid of them. Is it worth paying the fees for a year or two to help my score, or does having a new card with Capital One nullify closing the other Capital One accounts? I'm hoping to purchase my first home near the end of 2015.

I'm attacking the balances on the old cards (I'm already down to 30% utlization from basically 100%), and the medical collections are going to be taken care of immediately after that. I'm expecting to have all of the debt gone in about five months. 

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Awesome! Congratulations!

[b_diddy]

Congrats on the approvals!    Have you tried to PC the old Cap1 cards to Quicksilver?  If you get a new Cap1 card, it will have a NEW history and decrease your AAofA.  It does NOT inherit your other Cap1 age like with Amex's MSD.  All history will remain on your CR for about 10 years, even if you close accounts.  Looks like your AAofA will be reduced by 40-50% with the new cards anyway.