I have a recently opened CapOne Venture card with a crazy high (for me) CL - $20,000.
The thing is, I have two other cards that I use primarily for the rewards. I've hardly used the CapOne since I opened it and probably won't, except for this tiny monthly charge that goes on it to show some usage. This October, I'll be charged a $59 annual fee on it.
I also have dreams of getting a Chase Sapphire Preferred and an AMEX Blue Cash Preferred sometime in the next few months (with the AMEX coming first in the order of preference).
I generally don't carry a balance on my cards, except for two 0% balance transfers that I'm working to pay off. Right now I'm at about 9% utilization with the balance transfers. If I close the CapOne card, that would bump me up to 14%-ish utilization until I get the balance transfers paid down sufficiently - which I think I can do in the next few months. I guess there's no *real* hurry to close it... I'm just in that mode right now - wanting to streamline and get rid of things I don't need. I'm also not hugely worried about having 14% utilization, since I don't plan to apply for credit again until I pay down a good bit on the balance transfers, which should bring my score up, right? Not to mention that my AAoA should benefit from closing the CapOne.
I'd love some input from people who have been at this whole credit utilization/score tracking thing a lot longer than I have.
Starting Score: 732 (EQ)
@lolabelle wrote:I have a recently opened CapOne Venture card with a crazy high (for me) CL - $20,000.
The thing is, I have two other cards that I use primarily for the rewards. I've hardly used the CapOne since I opened it and probably won't, except for this tiny monthly charge that goes on it to show some usage. This October, I'll be charged a $59 annual fee on it.
I also have dreams of getting a Chase Sapphire Preferred and an AMEX Blue Cash Preferred sometime in the next few months (with the AMEX coming first in the order of preference).
I generally don't carry a balance on my cards, except for two 0% balance transfers that I'm working to pay off. Right now I'm at about 9% utilization with the balance transfers. If I close the CapOne card, that would bump me up to 14%-ish utilization until I get the balance transfers paid down sufficiently - which I think I can do in the next few months. I guess there's no *real* hurry to close it... I'm just in that mode right now - wanting to streamline and get rid of things I don't need. I'm also not hugely worried about having 14% utilization, since I don't plan to apply for credit again until I pay down a good bit on the balance transfers, which should bring my score up, right? Not to mention that my AAoA should benefit from closing the CapOne.
I'd love some input from people who have been at this whole credit utilization/score tracking thing a lot longer than I have.
What are your other CL's? You could always ask Cap1 to product change it to an account with no annual fee
FICO 9: 
Filed Chapter 13 on 6/1/2017 after job loss. Discharged 6/1/2022.
Goal: Gardening!
Filed Chapter 13 on 6/1/2017 after job loss. Discharged 6/1/2022.
Goal: Gardening!
@webhopper wrote:What are your other CL's? You could always ask Cap1 to product change it to an account with no annual fee
That's a good thought, about the product change. Thanks!
My others are:
AMEX - $12,700
BoA AMEX - $12,600
BoA AMEX - $5,100
Chase Visa - $4,000
Chase Visa - $4,500
I was thinking about trying for the AMEX BCP soon, but I'm a little concerned because even though I have no baddies, my FICO score is only 732 and I have 4 HPs in the past year. One will age off (or be older than a year, anyway) in the next few days, so maybe that'll help a bit. I just don't want to risk being declined.
@MarineVietVet wrote:
@lolabelle wrote:I have a recently opened CapOne Venture card with a crazy high (for me) CL - $20,000.
The thing is, I have two other cards that I use primarily for the rewards. I've hardly used the CapOne since I opened it and probably won't, except for this tiny monthly charge that goes on it to show some usage. This October, I'll be charged a $59 annual fee on it.
I also have dreams of getting a Chase Sapphire Preferred and an AMEX Blue Cash Preferred sometime in the next few months (with the AMEX coming first in the order of preference).
I generally don't carry a balance on my cards, except for two 0% balance transfers that I'm working to pay off. Right now I'm at about 9% utilization with the balance transfers. If I close the CapOne card, that would bump me up to 14%-ish utilization until I get the balance transfers paid down sufficiently - which I think I can do in the next few months. I guess there's no *real* hurry to close it... I'm just in that mode right now - wanting to streamline and get rid of things I don't need. I'm also not hugely worried about having 14% utilization, since I don't plan to apply for credit again until I pay down a good bit on the balance transfers, which should bring my score up, right? Not to mention that my AAoA should benefit from closing the CapOne.
I'd love some input from people who have been at this whole credit utilization/score tracking thing a lot longer than I have.
I'll comment on this part. Closing any card account will have no immediate affect on AAoA or credit length history. You can read more about that here: Closing Credit Cards.
Ah, okay - so it has to actually age off before it's no longer factored in?
@pizzadude wrote:
Have you tried calling them to request that they waive the AF ? Some people have reported success doing this, other haven't ~ but if the AF is the only reason you are considering closing then I'd call.
Also if you are looking to apply for other prime cards, like CSP, having another open CC with a large CL will help.
No, not yet. I haven't used it very much, so I'm not sure they're itching to keep me...
@MarineVietVet wrote:May I make a suggestion? If you will quote the person you are answering before typing your response it will make things much less confusing.
It's easy to do. After hitting "Reply" you'll see a "Quote" button just to the right of "Spell Check". Click on quote and then type your comment under the line separating the quote from your response.
Thank you! I was wondering about how to do that... it seems I'm missing all sorts of obvious things today. 
