Closing and CLD Spree!

[ilovelisa]

Greetings!

It has been quite a while since I have posed on here. I have been lurking around for a while. 

Today, I decided it was finally time to prune some of the cards in my collection. I have been wanting to do it for a while, but haven't had the heart to do it. I guess I have to be in a certain mood to finally do it. I also did some CLD because I fear that I will be told that I have too much avaliable credit for my income.

Cards Closed:

Citi Diamond Preferred- Totally useless unless you carry a balance. (I don't) -$5,700

DCU- Will close tomorrow when they open. Basic rewards. -$4,300

Local Bank Card- 1 point per dollar crap rewards- $4,125

SallieMae- This one broke my heart. It was between SallieMae or Penfed. Penfed has been open longer.- $14,000

CLD:

Chase Freedom- $23,000 to $15,000

Chase IHG- $12,000 to $1,000 (I got this card just for the sign-up bonus. Need to keep it open until I redeem the rewards next summer.)

[Anonymous]

hmm...I would have done things a little differently. Definitely would have kept SM, did a PC with Diamond to DC and left IHG with at least $5k but if this is what gives you peace of mind I support it Congrats

[Aahz]

Binge and PURGE

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@ilovelisa wrote:

Chase IHG- $12,000 to $1,000 (I got this card just for the sign-up bonus. Need to keep it open until I redeem the rewards next summer.)

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Are you aware you can downgrade your IHG Select to a no annual fee IHG Classic once it passes the one year mark?  The fee will post, but then you will get it refunded as long as you downgrade within one month.  The Classic will continue to grant you Gold Status and keep your rewards intact.

[NRB525]

Well, congratulations for taking action to put your credit limits and available cards where you want them. Each person has to decide for themselves what they would like for credit, and closing and CLD are legitimate decisions.

Regarding the Diamond Preferred, it doesn't get much luv around here after the initial BT period, but they keep sending interesting offers my way, 5% spend bonus categories every few quarters. This quarter it's movies, live theater and dining, kind of like a mini Thank You Preferred, but in a simple statement credit. Combined with an automatic 1.9% APR on purchases for 6 months, so I'm financing a bit of theater purchase tickets for a few months.

[ilovelisa]

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@Anonymous wrote:
hmm...I would have done things a little differently. Definitely would have kept SM, did a PC with Diamond to DC and left IHG with at least $5k but if this is what gives you peace of mind I support it Congrats

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I wanted to do Diamond to DC, but I have to wait for the intro APR period to end. That ends in January of 2017. Didn't want to wait around that long.

I really did debate the SallieMae. Calling in to close it reaffirmed my decision. Barclay's customer service seems lacking. The rep in retentions was so lackadaisical and sarcastically said "we're sorry to lose another valued customer."

[ilovelisa]

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@Aahz wrote:

Binge and PURGE

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@ilovelisa wrote:

Chase IHG- $12,000 to $1,000 (I got this card just for the sign-up bonus. Need to keep it open until I redeem the rewards next summer.)

---

Are you aware you can downgrade your IHG Select to a no annual fee IHG Classic once it passes the one year mark?  The fee will post, but then you will get it refunded as long as you downgrade within one month.  The Classic will continue to grant you Gold Status and keep your rewards intact.

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Didn't realize that. My AF posts in September. The rewards will be used in entirety in July. 

[iheartwings]

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@ilovelisa wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
hmm...I would have done things a little differently. Definitely would have kept SM, did a PC with Diamond to DC and left IHG with at least $5k but if this is what gives you peace of mind I support it Congrats

---

I wanted to do Diamond to DC, but I have to wait for the intro APR period to end. That ends in January of 2017. Didn't want to wait around that long.

I really did debate the SallieMae. Calling in to close it reaffirmed my decision. Barclay's customer service seems lacking. The rep in retentions was so lackadaisical and sarcastically said "we're sorry to lose another valued customer."

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Well, hearing that, I feel less bad when I called Barclay's and they didn't really even try to keep me.

Congrats on the pruning. That's great!

[takeshi74]

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@ilovelisa wrote:

I also did some CLD because I fear that I will be told that I have too much avaliable credit for my income.

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Your call but it makes no sense IMO.  You won't know that it's a problem until you actually run into it.  Additionally, what is considered "too much" can and does vary from creditor to creditor so there's no univeral line that applies for all creditors out there.  Even if it becomes a problem you can CLD/close as needed if you want to comply with a given creditor.

If your profile and income support it, total limits can be multiples of your income.

That said, don't let MF users dissuade you from closing cards that you see no use for.