Closing/Combining Accounts with Fees? Impact to score?

[POMF]

Hi there.  Just a quick question I hope you can help me with.

I have several cards with capital one.  Venture, No Hassle Rewards (basically a quicksilver now, I'm finally getting them to send out a new card and doing away with annual fee despite the slashing of my rewards years ago), Sony Card, and two crappy low limit cards with annual fees which I don't use from when I was rebuilding credit.

I know that closing accounts can hurt your score.  However I don't use these cards at all and they have annual fees.  One is $39 and the other is $74 (Orchard Bank initially).   Furthermore, the limits are hilariously low (both under $1000) compared to my other cards.  I want to roll both of these into my Quicksilver card (my Venture card has a ridiculously high limit, especially consideriing I pay it off every month).  I know that capital one can do this, I'm just not sure what is entailed.  Do they close those cards and just up the limit on my quicksilver?

Problem is today they told me they could convert them to quicksilver but would keep the annual fee.  Obviously this is useless to me.  It's also funny because they just converted my No Hassle/Quicksilver officially to a quicksilver so I could drop the annual fee.

How should I proceed to minimize impact to my score?  I could ask for a CLI on my quicksilver (my venture is more than high enough), which I'm certain I'll get, and immediately close the two crappy cards?  Should I continue to bother them to roll them into my Quicksilver and waive the previous annual fees?  

I've had these two cards the longest with the exception of a First Premier Bank card with annual fee and monthly fee that I still pay because I'm a paranoid idiot.  I should probably close all three yeah?

Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

What other cards do you have besides cap1's, first, and sony? What is your AAOA?

I am in a similar situation for a family member.  Combining a really old HSBC/Household turned quicksilver one with non removable AF and APR that wont budge even temporarily. Problem is, they only have three cards. Two cap1 and 1 lowes. The other is a quicksilver but at nice 10.9% APR, no AF.  I am thinking it would be in their best interest to just request CLI on both, combine, the other one closes out, then apply for another card.  10 years they will have to repair this. Utilization will not drop.

Just try to carry a tiny balance on 1 card, and ideally you should have at least 3 cards total. I like your idea of requesting a CLI, then combining. Not sure you can combine the sony if you were curious.  Def gotta get rid of those AFs! I am gambling others will advise you to get rid of that first premier.  Things might dip a little but you have enough limit to not have a utilization fiasco.

Now if you didnt have the sony or the venture, and a few of these others had no AFs  I'm sure you would be told to close them slowly. But with these low limit ones.... close em.

My personal take would be wait until 1 month before the AF hits, see how much you can get them to grow, then combine, and close. Close the first premier ASAP.

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@POMF wrote:

Hi there.  Just a quick question I hope you can help me with.

I have several cards with capital one.  Venture, No Hassle Rewards (basically a quicksilver now, I'm finally getting them to send out a new card and doing away with annual fee despite the slashing of my rewards years ago), Sony Card, and two crappy low limit cards with annual fees which I don't use from when I was rebuilding credit.

I know that closing accounts can hurt your score.  However I don't use these cards at all and they have annual fees.  One is $39 and the other is $74 (Orchard Bank initially).   Furthermore, the limits are hilariously low (both under $1000) compared to my other cards.  I want to roll both of these into my Quicksilver card (my Venture card has a ridiculously high limit, especially consideriing I pay it off every month).  I know that capital one can do this, I'm just not sure what is entailed.  Do they close those cards and just up the limit on my quicksilver?

Problem is today they told me they could convert them to quicksilver but would keep the annual fee.  Obviously this is useless to me.  It's also funny because they just converted my No Hassle/Quicksilver officially to a quicksilver so I could drop the annual fee.

How should I proceed to minimize impact to my score?  I could ask for a CLI on my quicksilver (my venture is more than high enough), which I'm certain I'll get, and immediately close the two crappy cards?  Should I continue to bother them to roll them into my Quicksilver and waive the previous annual fees?  

I've had these two cards the longest with the exception of a First Premier Bank card with annual fee and monthly fee that I still pay because I'm a paranoid idiot.  I should probably close all three yeah?

Thanks in advance.

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[POMF]

Sorry I'm a bit confused by your terms.  AAOA?

I have no shortage of cards.  My daily carries are the Venture and AMEX blue cash everyday preferred.  

I've got slate and amazon rewards from chase.  Discover it.  Citi Double Cash as well as Diamond Preffered and Thank You (useless cards as best i can tell).  Plenty of store cards... Best Buy, Target, J Crew, Banana Republic, TJ Maxx, Macy's.

I do carry some debt, but rarely pay a penny in interest.  Less than 20% utilization.  

I'm going to close the first premier right away... that's just stupid to leave open.  It's worth whatever small hit to my credit.

I'll keep trying with capital one.  I've got a few months before that monthly fee comes around.    

[Anonymous]

Im not sure I understand you correctly but i had simalar situation like you before and here is want i had done  with no impact too my score.  HOWEVER you have to keep in mind that EVERYONE credit profile are different, it may not impact my score but doesn't mean it won't on your.

I have 4 Cap 1 total

1 secure platnium $1300 limit (over 1 years good standing)

1 secure quick silver one $3,300  (over 1 years good standing)

1 secure journey student  $3,300  (over 1 years good standing)

1 secure quick silver $5,000 (Recent approved new card)

Before you convert OR combined your card you have to decide which is you like best and which card will beneift you.  For me I pick quick silver one because 0% APR and no annual fee fore me.  Withat being said I combined my quick silver one ,my journey student and platnium, now I have credit line of $7,900 with quick silve one.  Once you combined it will automaticlly closed the account.  So right now my platnium and my journey student are closed

Here is why it doesn't impact my score, infact it help increase my score and lower my utilization. Becaue your limit are still the same its just shipped and switched around and also those account it got closed its over 1 years with good standing, so it will stay in your profile for 10years.    Since I recently open my quick silver ($5000) i have to wait for 6 months in order to combined with my other quick silver one.

Here are tips BEFORE you combined your cards.

1.  make sure account card are open more than 6months

2. all must be in good standing

3. all must be paid of with 0 balance

4. Before you combined make sure you redeem all your reward 

on a side note...which ever card you are KEEPING that particular card doesnt have to be paid of with 0 balance because you're not closing it you are keeping it.

Hope this answer your question or at least help you understand better.

[takeshi74]

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@POMF wrote:

How should I proceed to minimize impact to my score?

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Take a look at the Closing Credit Cards threads linked in the Helpful Threads sticky in this subforum.

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@POMF wrote:

Sorry I'm a bit confused by your terms.  AAOA?    

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Helpful Threads sticky also has a Guide to Common Abbreviations thread linked.

[POMF]

Thank you to those of you who have contributed.  I sincerely apprciate it.

If I am understanding you and the helpful threads correctly... it doesn't hurt necessarily my score to close an account as the history is still there, but can obviously hurt my score by lowering my max credit and increasing my utilization.

If that's the case I should have closed these accounts years ago.  I haven't used them in years and have been paying on them in fear of hurting my score.  The limits are hilariously low.  One of them has been $520 since 2009.  I just opened my Venture card and Capital One gave me a $15,000 limit.  

Would my best plan of action be to ask cap one for a CLI (greater than the limit of the two cards I want to close) on my Quicksilver card and wait a month or so for the increase to reflect on my report and then close the two capital one accounts that I want to be rid of?

Also here's a thought for you... I typically pay off most of my cards every month.  Often however I'm using these cards frequently, thus my credit report will always show a balance.  Is there a way to figure out what day they report to the agencies so that my card will show a zero or much lower balance?  

Say for example I've got a card with $2000 on it now and I pay the $1000 that is subject to interest this period.  My balance is now $1000, but my credit report might show $2000.  Imagine multiple credit cards used in that fashion.  That could certainly impact my utilization.  Is there a way around that to boost my score while still using my credit?

Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

Look at the date your cards' statements close--make sure that your balances are paid off to where you want them by the statement closing dates, as that's about the time they'll report to the credit bureaus.