Close Old Cards? (and other questions)

[Anonymous]

Hello all,

Long time lurker, first time poster.  I have a few questions that are quite specific, so I am unable to find answers for these in historical threads.

Thank you in advance for any help!  I greatly appreciate it!

Current Scores:

Equifax FICO 9 from NFCU - 653

Experian FICO 8 from Amex - 674

Amex Credit Secure PLUS FAKO - EQ: 718, EX: 714, TU: 726

Note:  GW letter sent last week to only creditor with 30 day late payment from back in 2011.  Hoping they will remove those.

Current Wallet:

Amex Platinum

Age: 49 months

Note: Started as Gold.  Perfect history.  PIF every month.  Upgraded to Platinum 5/24/2017.

Amex BCE

Age: 12 months

Credit Limit: 16,500

Current Balance:  11,845 (72%)

APR: 0% until 8/25/2017, then 13.74%

Note:  Started at 4k.  Did 61 day 3x CLI to 12k.  Amex automatically gifted me CLI up to 16500 in March 2017.  Amex recently offered upgrade to BCEP.

NFCU Cash Rewards

Age: 45 months

Credit Limit: 30,000

Current Balance: 26,786 (89%)

APR: 12.4%

CapitalOne Platinum

Age: 168 months

Credit Limit: 1,565

Current Balance:  0 (0%)

APR: 18.65%

Note:  Annual Fee $59

CapitalOne Platinum

Age: 128 months

Credit Limit: 1,750

Current Balance:  0 (0%)

APR: 18.65%

Note:  No Annual Fee

Yes, I recognize my utilization is currently high.  I paid off lots of things and moved balances to the BCE while it still has 0% APR.  I am in the midst of paying these all down, but I'm still needing to navigate these other questions at the same time.  

With all that out of the way, here are my questions:

1.  The two CapitalOne Platinum cards were obtained shortly after graduating college.  CLI on both was very, very slow, and neither has changed in probably 8+ years.  I considered combining the cards, but the older one is the one with the $59 annual fee.  So, I would have to choose between $0 annual fee (and closing the card that is 3 years older) or $59 annual fee (closing the card that is 3 years newer).  I'm not sure which way to go, if any.   I also explored upgrading these to a Quicksilver, and I did confirm with CapitalOne that they are offering that on both cards.  However, to my dismay, the oldest card with the $59 annual fee would still keep the annual fee after upgrade (even though new Quicksilver cards have no annual fee), and likewise the newer card with no annual fee would upgrade with no annual fee.  So, I am back to square one.  A.)  Given that these are my two oldest accounts, does it make sense to combine them, or is that just shooting myself in the foot?  B.)  If I should combine, do I keep the older one with the annual fee, or the newer one with no annual fee?  There's a 3 year difference between them.  C.)  I had also considered just closing these outright and seeking a CLI with BCE/P to make up for the difference.  But, there is 119 months difference between the oldest of those and my oldest card that would remain after closing them.  Is it foolish to consider closing these outright?

(Still with me?  Thanks!)

2.  Amex had been after me to apply for Platinum for a couple years now.  Until the recent revisions, I didn't see it as something I needed or wanted.  But, I am now at the point where I could make use of it.  They offered me a new Platinum with 60k points for spending $5k in 3 months, but that would have had to be a new card and new application with a hard pull.  I was really hoping I could just upgrade the Gold, since I don't need both.  They did offer me an upgrade, but it only rewarded 25k points for spending 2k in 3 months.  Yet, the upgrade would not require a new application, new card account, and hard pull.  On top of that, I had just paid my $160 annual fee for the Gold in mid May 2017.  So, I opted to stay on the conservative side and just do the upgrade.  Sure, I lost out on 35k points for it, but it seemed at the time to be the less risky option for my overall credit.  A.)  Do you think taking the upgrade for 25k points vs the new card for 60k points was a smart move?  I probably should have asked here before pulling the trigger, but it's done, so I just thought it might be nice to get feedback on that choice.

Thank you again for sticking in there through my rather lengthy post.  I very much appreciate your time and effort.

[minski]

If you are of the type not to be concerned about losing out on the ~10 year difference between your oldest cards and the newer set, just go ahead and close the oldest cards if you are not using them. 

For myself, I too have a ~10 year difference between my oldest card and the next oldest so I am aiming to PC to a more usable card some time in the near future rather than close it outright. If you'd prefer to save at least one of two of your oldest cards, I'd keep the one without an annual fee - it is only a 3 year difference which shouldn't make too much of a difference in the long run. 

[Anonymous]

Age on a credit card is a valuable thing, but not worth an annual fee. If you can't get rid of the annual fee on your oldest card, then I'd get rid of it and keep your second-oldest card for credit history purposes. 

Regarding your American Express decision, you got 25000 points (base value roughly $250 in travel) as opposed to 60000 points (base value roughly $600 in travel) in order to avoid a hard inquiry and new account on your credit report. If you have a major loan expected soon in which fractions of a rate percent are meaningful, then your choice to avoid the hard credit pull could be justified. If not, you "left money on the table" and could have gotten a better deal. 

[Anonymous]

I would close the oldest card with the AF, keep the no AF card, and stick it in your sock drawer forever as it is a now worthless card. Your score may drop slightly although I doubt it it bc your age of credit is pretty good. What is keeping your scores down is your balances so closing a card isn't a big deal. You left money on the table with the Platinum. That was a bad decision but you live you learn. Welcome to the forums.

[HeavenOhio]

How much effort have you put into converting the old Capital One cards? I'm kind of in the same boat with a couple of ancient cards with fees (although my fees are smaller). Capital One says to keep calling every month to see if offers pop up. They say that offers do appear but not very often. So at this point, I've decided that I'll absorb one more fee on each card (provided that I can't get the fees waived). That provides another 16 months or so for something to possibly happen. The other thing I'm doing is using each eard every month just in case that might help. That's not particularly difficult to do.

[Anonymous]

Thank you, everybody, for your help.

I called Amex regarding the upgrade to see if it wasn't too late to take the 60k offer instead.  They said the upgrade had already been processed, but the 60k offer was still available.  I would just have to apply for a new Platinum and get approved to get the 60k.   It seemed redundant to me to ask for a new Platinum (+60k) when I just upgraded my Gold to Platinum (+25k), but the representative didn't seem to think so.

I applied for the new Platinum (+60k) and was immediately approved.  She did say that I still have 30 days to cancel the old Gold->Platinum card for a full refund of my recently paid $160 annual fee.  So, it's win win, with the exception of the hard pull, but I don't have any big loans or changes coming up, so I bit the bullet.

I am still going to wait until the new Platinum shows up before cancelling the old Gold->Platinum.  The representative assured me closing that one would not be a ding to my credit with Amex.  So, at the moment, it looks like I got my cake and will soon be eating it too.  I just hope I didn't mess anything up with the wishy-washy approach as such.

As far as the CapitalOne cards go, I haven't done much of anything to look at converting them.  What I have done was all done today.

Thanks again!!