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Closing rebuilder cards like Credit One and Merrick Bank?

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Closing rebuilder cards like Credit One and Merrick Bank?

Hey all!

 

Thank you so much for all the amazing advice and experiences on this forum! I have finally closed on my home and subsequently got approved for a Discover IT, AmEx Everyday, and Lowes Synchrony on top of what I had before. Discover has been declining me since college (1990's!!), so that was a JOY to get approved for.  Anyway, I'm ready to start considering closing cards and gardening for a long time before making any other changes (other then CLI), so I wanted to ask about Credit One and Merrick Bank. Technically, these are 2 of my oldest cards, being only 6 years old (I had a bankruptcy due to divorce about 15 yrs ago and just started rebuilding in 2010). I also have a Cap One from the same time period, but I have PC'd that and want to keep it - it's my highest CL.. I kind of  feel like closing Credit One and Merrick Bank will really ruin the age of my accounts, but I just cant see continuing to pay monthly fees on $0 balances. Especially when I have finally achieved prime cards (I have several others that I got in 2015)!  I would appreciate any and all advice!

 

Is there any hope that they would remove the monthly fees or make the cards somewhat more attractive to keep? Or, just closing is the way to go?

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5 REPLIES 5
NichelleN
Established Contributor

Re: Closing rebuilder cards like Credit One and Merrick Bank?

Close 'em! They've served their purpose and there is no reason to pay for accounts that are of no good use to you. It won't impact your AAoA as positive tradelines will stay a part of your AAoA for 10 years.

 

I closed Merrick last year after having it for one year. I had no monthly fees but there was no reason to pay an annual fee for a card that I no longer needed.

 

Congratulations on your progress!

More than enough credit.
Message 2 of 6
creditguy
Valued Contributor

Re: Closing rebuilder cards like Credit One and Merrick Bank?

You will not incur any negative consequences by closing these sub prime cards. The only negative would be a utilization hit, but these cards probably have low CL's so that's probably a non issue.

Just close them, don't bother trying to negotiate with monthly fee waivers, it only puts off the inevitable closure and causes you to call back again later, the less talking to these people the better. Congrats on your success and moving past these cards, leave the past in the past and move forward.
Message 3 of 6
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Closing rebuilder cards like Credit One and Merrick Bank?

THANK YOU!  I'm going to be doing that soon. Also closing some silly shopping cart ones that I gathered along the way. 

Message 4 of 6
RonM21
Valued Contributor

Re: Closing rebuilder cards like Credit One and Merrick Bank?

I say close them also. Move to better things.


Total CL: $321.7kUTL: 2%AAoA: 7.0yrsBaddies: 0Other: Lease, Loan, *No Mortgage, All Inq's from Jun '20 Car Shopping

BoA-55k | NFCU-45k | AMEX-42k | DISC-40.6k | PENFED-38.4k | LOWES-35k | ALLIANT-25k | CITI-15.7k | BARCLAYS-15k | CHASE-10k

Message 5 of 6
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Closing rebuilder cards like Credit One and Merrick Bank?


@creditguy wrote:
You will not incur any negative consequences by closing these sub prime cards. The only negative would be a utilization hit, but these cards probably have low CL's so that's probably a non issue.

Just close them, don't bother trying to negotiate with monthly fee waivers, it only puts off the inevitable closure and causes you to call back again later, the less talking to these people the better. Congrats on your success and moving past these cards, leave the past in the past and move forward.

I've been thinking about this, and they actually have $1900 and $1750 credit limits for these 2 .... they are 6 years old though, so that's the only reason.  The SCT cards I want to close are all also over $1000 CL,  no balances on any.  I wouldn't care about closing them all, but having recently closed on my home, I'm currently carrying around $6000 in cc balances, so I'd like to keep my utilzation low.  I guess in this case, I should wait till I pay that down before also axing about the same amount from my available credit!  Thanks so much for helping me think! 

Message 6 of 6
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