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Bad AAoA, Amex Backdating, Should I Close?

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SanityKills
New Contributor

Bad AAoA, Amex Backdating, Should I Close?

 

As you can see, almost all of my cards have been opened this year and many are barely over 6 months old.  As you would expect, my AAoA is going to suffer for several years but eventually get better and better. Now that I have established the ability to obtain these cards, since I basically didn't have credit 2 years ago when I started my rebuild, I have closed cards that I applied for just to establish credit and have replaced them with cards I actually want.

 

The Amex Clear card was my foot in the door with Amex.  I recently increased the limit via the 3x rule (I kept trying and couldn't get it until I hit the 6 month mark).  A few days later I applied for the Blue Cash Everyday with a $5000 CL and my Clear CL went up $4000 for a total of $9000 of new Amex credit in just a few days. Now that I have the BCE card the Clear is useless to me since it really doesn't have any perks at all.

 

Since my AAoA is in such bad shape, would it be better for me to keep the Clear (I'd rather not) for the additional backdated 6 months or would I do just as well as to close the Clear and transfer the entire CL to my Amex BCE and call it a day? Also, In doing so I would have essentially gotten a CLI to $11,000 from the original $2k. Would that push any triggers?

CreditKarma TU: 680 | Credit.com EX: 668 | Equifax EQ: 671 | Credit Sesame Simulated FICO: 736
Citi Platinum Select: ($6900), Chase Freedom ($3500), Amex BCE ($5000), Amex CLEAR ($6000), Barclaycard Ring ($2800), Barclay Rewards MC ($2500), CareCredit ($4100), Kohls ($1000) | UTL: 3.14%
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SanityKills
New Contributor

Re: Bad AAoA, Amex Backdating, Should I Close?

Would I at least be safe to assume that since AAoA is determined by both open AND closed cards that it wouldn't make a difference anyway whether I close the Clear card or not since it'll stay on my reports for 10 years?

CreditKarma TU: 680 | Credit.com EX: 668 | Equifax EQ: 671 | Credit Sesame Simulated FICO: 736
Citi Platinum Select: ($6900), Chase Freedom ($3500), Amex BCE ($5000), Amex CLEAR ($6000), Barclaycard Ring ($2800), Barclay Rewards MC ($2500), CareCredit ($4100), Kohls ($1000) | UTL: 3.14%
Message 2 of 4
distantarray
Established Contributor

Re: Bad AAoA, Amex Backdating, Should I Close?


@SanityKills wrote:

Would I at least be safe to assume that since AAoA is determined by both open AND closed cards that it wouldn't make a difference anyway whether I close the Clear card or not since it'll stay on my reports for 10 years?


yep only difference is that you have less cards to deal with, but closed accounts factor in badly, like for instance 5 cards at 5 aaoa and if you close one next year it's going to still be 4 cards at 6 years and one at 5 still dragging your average down.


total credit limits $108,400 Credit scores Ex 728 EQ 738 TU 758
Message 3 of 4
SanityKills
New Contributor

Re: Bad AAoA, Amex Backdating, Should I Close?

So since the Clear's only 6 months old it'll probably be a drop in the bucket several years from now anyway, right?

CreditKarma TU: 680 | Credit.com EX: 668 | Equifax EQ: 671 | Credit Sesame Simulated FICO: 736
Citi Platinum Select: ($6900), Chase Freedom ($3500), Amex BCE ($5000), Amex CLEAR ($6000), Barclaycard Ring ($2800), Barclay Rewards MC ($2500), CareCredit ($4100), Kohls ($1000) | UTL: 3.14%
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