- Closing the gold card is a smart idea since you do not want to incur an annual fee for absolutely no reason (and I am opposed to have to pay for an annual fee for good customer service or b\c the card looks nice lol).
- Close it after you have the blue cash everyday (probably an unnecessary post but you might not qualify for BCE, so just incase).
- Your credit diversification comes from auto loans and a home mortgage, the 10% does not factor differences between charge/credit cards.
- When you use your charge card whatever POSTS is your utilization, if it is your first posted balance it is just straight debt, after you pay it, that posted balance will be use as a criteria for the credit portion of credit to debt ratio.
- The work around to #4 is charge everything to your credit card, pay off whatever goes over the debt - utilization ratio you don't like immediately, then let your closing date post on the ratio you favor.
Conclusion, do B. AFTER you get approved for your AMEX revolver. Good luck!
@Creditseeker93 wrote:
Welcome!
I think you should go with option c. Basically apply for the Blue Cash card (it'll be a soft inquiry to apply (whether you're approved or declined) since you're already a AMEX cardholder , whereas if you cancelled the Gold card and then applied for the BCE they would do a hard inquiry which would go on your credit report. )
If you really don't have any need for the AMEX gold, simply apply for the BCE card and then close the Gold card (couple of weeks later).
The gold card will remain on your credit reports for 10 years after the closure of the account. So you won't be affected until 10 years later also the good thing about AMEX is they backdate any card you get to the year you got your first AMEX so this will help your Average age of accounts and building a thicker credit file.
Also I would try maybe applying for a Chase Freedom card since its good to have a variety of cards from different prime lenders and Chase is very well established. Make sure to wait until the AMEX BCE starts to report on your credit report before applying for the Freedom since this will increase your approval odds with your credit reports now showing two AMEX accounts opened in 2011.
This is incorrect. It is a SP if you are denied but a HP is added if you are approved.
@Anonymous wrote:Hi everyone,
I'm new to this community, I'm a college student graduating in the near future, and I've always had an interest in personal finance, hence my career choice of accounting. Excuse the length of my post, the real bulk of my actual question is lower down the page, but I feel the background is relevant so here goes...
I'm starting to really get all my ducks in a row, and this includes cutting expenses. Cutting expenses may mean closing out the AMEX Gold card account that I've had for about 2 years now, because I really don't spend enough to justify the $125/year fee. But first, let me give a bit of background:
My only two sources of credit history are my current AMEX Gold card that I've had since 2011, and a past BoA card from 2009 that was a joint account with a parent. I believe I am off of this now, and the account might be in fact closed. There are actually two listed on the MyFico report, one that says its been terminated and one that says there has been no activity since 2009. I did a MyFico and CreditKarma check and both have me at 691. I'm assuming what's mostly against me here is my age, and also it looks like the BoA card was at one point late, but again, excuse my ignorance on this because I was 16 at the time so my parent was handling it, it was just an emergency card for me. But anyway, I'm never late on my charge card, so I'm assuming the only things against me are my short history and that one late payment that I got associated with.
I'm starting to babble, sorry. Back to my real question here:
Lately I've been contemplating closing my charge card. I really don't think its necessary to be paying that amount of a fee to spend as little as I do. However, I don't want to close out an account if its going to hurt my credit score, which seems to be sort of fragile at my age. Plus, as much as I dislike the fee, I do like the ability to charge large amounts with essentially no limit when necessary, for example when I had eye surgery that was covered by insurance, instead of walking around with $5000, I just put it on my AMEX. On top of that I love the customer service and non-points related benefits of AMEX.
So this is what I was thinking, opening up another account with them for the Blue Cash Rewards credit card. I figure this will help me in a couple of ways:
1. From what I understand, AMEX back dates to your earliest account? This will help my AAoA. This will also give me the ability to later close the Gold card and still have a long history.
2. It will give me a credit mix, with one Credit Card and one Charge Card.
3. From what I understand, charge cards don't go into utilization, so I can have a very low balance on my credit card, and then if I need to charge large things to my Gold card. This will give me a utilization score, which I basically don't have right now, and a good one at that.
This doesn't really solve my problem of the fee I feel like is unneccessary, but if my thinking is correct, by opening another card with AMEX now, it will give me the option to cancel the Gold card in the future with basically no real penalty.
So quick recap,
Option A: Carry on as normal
Option B: Close Gold card, open a credit card, probably AMEX Blue or one with a bank
Option C: Keep Gold card, open Blue card, with possibility of closing Gold card later.
What do you all recommend for my situation to best help my credit score?
Thanks in advance!
Welcome to the forums!!!!
I would suggest keeping the PRG because it is a NPSL card and does not affect utilization. Go ahead and app for the BCE. With 2 years of flawless history with AMEX you should be approved instantly.
Can't say what kind of CL you will get, but 2K seems to be the norm starting out with AMEX revolvers and a thin file.
Good luck to you!!
@Creditseeker93 wrote:
@LS2982
I always thought applying for AMEX is always a soft inquiry if you're an AMEX cardholder?
It is if you are denied, however if you are approved it is a HP and new account.
@Creditseeker93 wrote:
@LS2982
I always thought applying for AMEX is always a soft inquiry if you're an AMEX cardholder?
If you're pre-approved, I can confirm as an AMEX holder that when I got my revolver (upon my request only) they did a HP.