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How many cards should I keep?

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ShiningDown
Frequent Contributor

How many cards should I keep?

 I read on another site that you should have 3 cards and maybe 4 at the most.

 They said store cards don't really matter with scores so you can have quite a few and that's fine.

 Should I get rid of the capital one platinum and Hsbc  platinum and just  keep my Chase,Citi,USBank,and Discover more.

 Chase is my oldest 8/2008

 I have only had the cap one and Hsbc cards for 51/2 months 0% until April and may 2012. After may should I get rid of them? I don't have store cards.  

Message 1 of 7
6 REPLIES 6
jamesdwi
Valued Contributor

Re: How many cards should I keep?

if you have paid the price for having too many cards you have paid the price, closing accounts won't help and will most likely hurt far more unless the card you close are very new and have very low limits. 


DO close accounts that have an AF once your credit is rebuilt, but only after you have a Prime card in your wallet
Avoid closing your older cards it will kill your AAoA if you do,  request that CCC drop or reduce your AF if you  have had the card for a while. 
Don't close accounts with high limits it will kill your UTL which is another major hit on your credit. 
DO close cards with toy limits that you opened up in the last few months. 
Cards: Chase Southwest 20k & CSR 17k & CSP 10k & FNBO 30k Oregon Duck 5k, & AMEX BCP 32.5k & Amex Magnet 15k&amg; Hilton Surpass 7.5k & Delta Gold 12k & Zync NPSL, Fidelity AMEX 17k Commerce5.9k & Cash Forward 7.5k & Sams Club MC 20k, Paypal Extras MC 10k, Paypal Credit 7.25k CapOne Venture 15k, QS 2.5k, QS 750, Amazon 10k, Walmart 10k, Citi Simplicity 18k, Discover IT 23k and a nice stack of store cards.
Landmarkcu Personal Loan 10k
Message 2 of 7
ShiningDown
Frequent Contributor

Re: How many cards should I keep?

 I will close capital one and keep the rest.  Thanks for the answer jamesdwl. 

Message 3 of 7
Creditaddict
Legendary Contributor

Re: How many cards should I keep?

This article was discussed a bit this weekend, I don't really like it and feel some of the statements are borderline rather they would have a bad impact on someone.  I have seen many members on this board have credit totally over their yearly income, some double and triple... even in these tougher credit markets with good scores and history is not that hard to obtain some serious credit and lines quickly and I don't see the downside if you are not running up debt.

Message 4 of 7
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: How many cards should I keep?

If Capital One and HSBC cards don't have an AF then don't close them

Message 5 of 7
ShiningDown
Frequent Contributor

Re: How many cards should I keep?

I just realized that I read this on here earlier this morning, silly me,LOL.

I've been on quite a few sites today and I just didn't notice.   

Message 6 of 7
boomhower
Valued Contributor

Re: How many cards should I keep?

As long as they don't have an AF there is no reason to close them.  The amount of creditors that will deny you for having to much available credit is extremely small.

Message 7 of 7
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