Closing older cards

[Anonymous]

I honestly feel overwhlemed by the number of cards I have, even though I have balances on only 3 of them. I have 17 open credit cards, I want to close several of them, but the one's I want to close are all cards I've had open for 7-10 years (the longest) and I'm afraid of the impact it will have on my scores if I do. I literally NEVER use the vast majority of my cards. I'd rather keep my higher limit cards and ditch my lower limit cards, but, again, those are the one's that have been open the longest. I just consolidated two of my Cap One cards and closed the oldest of the two, which made me nervous. Any feedback about how closing 4-5 cards that are pretty much my oldest cards might impact my score?

[NRB525]

Well, fundamentally it won't impact your score all that much initially.

But to help develop a longer term view, what cards do you have, which are you considering closing?

There could be benefits that you aren't aware of on some of the cards, there could be product change possibilities, or they may just be no rewards, no benefits cards that would be candidates for closing if you aren't comfortable with so many open cards.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply... the cards I want to close are most of my lower-limit ones (Best Buy MC $900 opened 2007, Cap One Quicksilver $1200 opened 2010, Citi Simplicity $2,500 opened 2011, Citi Aadvantage World $4,600 opened 2014 and maybe my Citi Thank You Perferred $5,900 opened 2012 - I never use any of those Citi Cards)  The vast majority of my higher limit cards that I want to keep were opened in the last 12-18 months. 

[Anonymous]

while you're wanting to close decent cards overall, if they serve no use and it's overwhelming then they need to go. you need to feel comfortable with your financial situation. this stress can be easily eliminated and there's enough to stress about in normal life anyway.
your closed cards will remain as a positive tradeline for up to ten years after closure and AAoA is only what 10% of score? not worth the stress.

[Anonymous]

Thank you. I think that's what I needed to hear.

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Thank you. I think that's what I needed to hear.

---

I know that is what you want to hear but if I were in your shoes, I would re-think the strategy of closing.  If all your new cards were acquired 12-18 months ago, I wouldn't close my older cards just because of high limits if I were in your shoes.

Why not move the limit from the Capital One Platinum to the Older Quickersilver card even given you a much bigger limit?  Instead of closing all the Citi cards, why not just roll all of them into the oldest card - consolidating? Wouldn't that make better sense?

But hey, it is your credit profile and you are do as you please...

[Anonymous]

citi takes a HP for consolidation do they not? i wouldn't argue with it being worth a HP for that honestly. granted it would be nice if you had some 5 year old cards that you wanted but yeah. you could just SD them until your others are a little older but, again, you need to evaluate if it's worth the stress. to me, personal health and real finance is more important than AAoA.

[Revelate]

Also from a pure scoring perspective, oldest account does matter for bucketing purposes... I'm personally trying to keep 2 of my "original" tradelines a formerly BOFA secured card and the more likely $500 DCU secured card that I can probably keep for as long as DCU is in business as anchors to my credit report from a scoring perspective.

I would suggest keeping an old $0 AF or two cards in your case as well.

[SouthJamaica]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

I honestly feel overwhlemed by the number of cards I have, even though I have balances on only 3 of them. I have 17 open credit cards, I want to close several of them, but the one's I want to close are all cards I've had open for 7-10 years (the longest) and I'm afraid of the impact it will have on my scores if I do. I literally NEVER use the vast majority of my cards. I'd rather keep my higher limit cards and ditch my lower limit cards, but, again, those are the one's that have been open the longest. I just consolidated two of my Cap One cards and closed the oldest of the two, which made me nervous. Any feedback about how closing 4-5 cards that are pretty much my oldest cards might impact my score?

---

My suggestion is:

1. Do not close your oldest card.

2. Older cards which aren't your oldest card can be closed, but if they're with good banks try to roll the credit limits over onto other cards you may have with those banks; i.e. consolidate, rather than just close.

[ddemari]

I honestly feel overwhlemed by the number of cards I have, even though I have balances on only 3 of them. I have 17 open credit cards

I understand where you are coming from, as from time-to-time I feel a little overwhelmed with all the cards I have. you are managing them well though. 3 cards out of 17 with balances, you are managing your spending right. 

I want to close several of them, but the one's I want to close are all cards I've had open for 7-10 years (the longest) and I'm afraid of the impact it will have on my scores if I do

like others said, its your credit profile and you should do what makes you most incontrol. but I wouldnt go and close "several of them". The impact on your credit wont be anything bad immediately as you are arent revolving much it seems like, so your utilization wont spike. But I think, and this is just my opinion, it speaks well to have cards open for several years with positive info reporting. it shows lenders that you are managing credit well and are in the business of maintaining relationships. 

I literally NEVER use the vast majority of my cards. I'd rather keep my higher limit cards and ditch my lower limit cards, but, again, those are the one's that have been open the longest.

If I were you, I would use the older cards a little bit and keep them active, it will only keep your credit profile stronger down the road. And, these lenders have stuck by you for several years. The new cards might not be as nice, although they probably will, you just never know. Again, if I were you I would keep the old ones open that have lower limits and run a few transactions through them a month and then PIF. For me, since i have several cards I keep a list of them, due dates, open dates, CLI timeframes etc. I know that work isnt exciting for most people, but it keeps me inline. You dont have to use all the cards and you can trim a few of them. But I would try and keep the oldest ones open. Spend what you can afford. Pay them in full and not let them go inactive for so long.