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How many cards should I have open? It's sort of a long story as to why I'm asking that I posted in the relationship section. My gf just doesn't like how many credit cards I have. I feel comfortable with them and don't plan on using them much. Anyway do y'all think I should close any? My information is as follows.
Open:
SSFCU 1k CL Opened 9/2009 APR 12%is
NFCU 5kCL Opened this month APR 15%ish
Capitalone Platinum(no rewards) 500CL Opened 06/2011 APR 19%ish
JCrew 930CL Opened 11/2011 APR 24.99%
CareCredit 500CL Opened 10/2011(Parvo sucks) 0 till june '13 on one purchase
Closed:
Citi Forward 500CL Opened 9/2009 and Closed about Oct 2010 by them.
Baddies on my credit:
60 days late and 90 days late from the citi. The 90 was actually from me making a payment but not realizing it wasn't the minimum.
All will be paid off tomorrow except for the NFCU. I know it will really only effect me util wise now.
I couldn't care less about carecredit. Only reason I'd need it is for an emergency and I've never heard of a 500 vet emergency.
I've gotten tired of Jcrew. Too expensive and i guess 25 back for every 500 spent is good but its per season. So I have 3 months to spend 500 for a measly 25 bucks and I don't get much for 500 there. Only thing I like about them is they did auto cli from 500 to 930 about 5 months ago. And the interest is so high so if something happens and I don't pif the 25 back is basically just paying for th interest and not anything extra.
I know it's different for everybody but what is the ideal number of cards to have open? And which one's do y'all think I should close.
I think you have a nice portfolio of cards there. With the exception of the Cap One that won't grow, I'd keep them if there is no annual fee. If you have a fee, then I'd keep it till the new AF is about to post. Me personally- I'd look to getting possibly one more card that can grow. Maybe an Amex or Chase after gardening 6 mo to a year. Should be able to acquire a nice starting limit then.
It's a personal decision. I'd recommend asking for a CLI w/your SSFCU CC. It's been open 3 yrs and you're only at $1k.
You might want to look at adding an Amex. I'm not sure if you'd qualify for a BCE, but it has really good rewards. You might want to start w/Zync for only $25/yr AF. Then in a year, app for BCE. Also, this way all future Amex will be backdated to your first Amex. The benefit of that is that usually when you get a new CC, your AAoA takes a hit. With backdating, your AAoA actually gets a boost, which helps your FICO.
Beyond that, I'd think about what you're looking for in terms of rewards. Navy is actually pretty good, IMO. Some have higher % for certain categories, but I like Navy for my all-purpose card. It's a straight forward 1% cash back and you only need to accumulate $20 in rewards before you can redeem.
You might be able to qualify for Chase Freedom, which has different 5% categories each quarter.
I don't think you have too many cards at all. You might want to close your Cap One at some point if there's an AF, since your CL probably won't ever increase.
I would close Cap One & J Crew (based on ur usage?). As many suggest go for prime cards Amex Zync or BCE and a Chase card. It will make your portfolio to look more nice.
- Syed
Get rid of the toy limits and department store cards. You can manage with:
SSFCU 1k CL
NFCU 5kCL
Hopefully you have $0 balances so it doesn't mess up your utilization. Get yourself a 3rd card, probably a Chase Freedom, Chase Sapphire Preferred, or AMEX BCE/BCP and call it a day.
Thanks for all the input guys. I feel a little better now. Haha. I will close the cap1 probably next year right before the AF comes up.
Razues I'd love to do that. The only thing stopping me is my lates. I do have a balance on NFCU, which really was a balance transfer from jcrew and ssfcu, that I'm paying over the next couple of months. All other cards will not have a balance. The lates would also be at their two year mark at about the time the card will be paid off.
You can 180 cards, doesn't matter if you're responsible. I would hold off with the AMEX everyone's recommending, your baddies are still too recent in my opinion.
@JonStur wrote:You can 180 cards, doesn't matter if you're responsible. I would hold off with the AMEX everyone's recommending, your baddies are still too recent in my opinion.
Not certain on this, we had a report a few months ago about someone with 20ish cards, who closed several, and got a non-trivial FICO boost.
While I can't say this isn't YMMV, I don't think the "have as many cards as you want" is a good plan: I think if you're more than something akin to one standard deviation outside the national averages, expect to have a more significant look taken at your credit report by any lender's underwriting. No different than showing a bureaucrat what they're expecting to see in my opinion.