Get Rid Of Some Cards?

[Anonymous]

I used to have horrible credit and through the help of companies like Capital One and HSBC I've managed to bring my scores into the 700s.  I now have a lot of cards with zero balances and yearly fees.  Do I need to keep all these cards?  I'd rather keep just a few cards with good APRs and higher limits than, say, my two HSBC cards with $300 limits and $60 yearly fees.  Here's the breakdown:

 My Scores: 3/20/09 TU 762, EX 730, EQ 734

Card                           APR       Limit    Balance    Fee/Yr Opened   Age

Capital One Visa #1    16.05%    $1500   $0           $39      11/01    8 years       
Capital One Visa #2    10.9%      $750     $0           $29      03/05    4 years
HSBC MasterCard       14.9%     $300     $0           $59      03/05    4 years
HSBC Visa                    12.9%     $300     $0           $59      08/07    >2 years
Chase Amazon Visa    18.24%   $900     $0           $0        12/06    2 years
Credit Union Visa         11.99%   $3000   $1000      $0       11/08    >1 year

All of the above is after negotiating with the banks to get the best APR and any CL increases.  HSBC offered me NOTHING, and so I'd love to get rid of those cards - I never plan to use them again, so paying $60 a year for the privilege of keeping them in my desk seems kind of pointless.  The Cap One cards are decent, although I'd have to use and pay on the Visa #1 to bring the APR down (it's been my longest card with 0 balance, so they wouldn't lower the APR without 'recent' activity).  My Chase / Amazon card I started using again instead of my debit card to get the points for Amazon purchases - my APR will drop soon as I pay it off every month and with a $0 yearly fee, it seems like a decent card to keep.  My Credit Union card is the one I use the most, as can be seen by the balance - with it's low APR and $0 yearly fee, I plan to keep it.

Anyway!  Insight into removing my card sprawl and what I should do to keep my scores high (and go higher!) would be much appreciated.  I do know that the balance on my CU visa is hurting a bit, but I pay it down $300 per month so that will be gone soon.

Thanks for any / all input!

[Anonymous]

You might want to ask CapOne to "combine" your two CL's into a single account (your oldest).

I'm not sure if you could get HSBC to transfer either your MC or Visa CL to the other (keep oldest) and close the other.

I know that most capital one accounts can be combined, with a few exceptions.  If you did this, potentially those 4 accounts would go down to 2 accounts, but the surviving accounts would have larger reported CL's (Cap1 at 2250 and HSBC at 600) and you maintain your oldest accounts among them.

[YoungEntrepeneur]

Combine the Capital One Visa #2 with 1 and combine the HSBC Visa with the HSBC Mastercard and keep the rest of the cards.

[Anonymous]

If they won't let me combine, what do you suggest?  Get rid of the HSBC Visa?  Both of them?

[YoungEntrepeneur]

If HSBC doesn't combine, then I would close the HSBC Visa and keep the Mastercard. The card with longer history is always the one to keep regardless of limit, interest rate, etc.

[Anonymous]

Cap One can be combined But HSBC cannot be combined.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, all!  Both Capital One and HSBC were able to combine the cards, and HSBC even raised the CL on the combination, so it's now $1000.  

[YoungEntrepeneur]

Congrats! Do you see the changes online yet?

[Anonymous]

Hmm i tried several times to combine HSBC cards and was always told no.

[YoungEntrepeneur]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Hmm i tried several times to combine HSBC cards and was always told no.

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Are both of them HSBC branded cards? You can't combine an HSBC card with a Best Buy Mastercard.