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Don't close any of them! Those are all prime cards with no AF. Leaving them open doesn't cost you anything and helps your UTL ratio and over time your AAoA. If you do close they will still count for AAoA for ten years but will eventually fall off. Losing a card with 15 years of age on it ten years down the line will hurt.
If your worried about running the balances up take the cards and freeze them in a bowl of water in the freezer. By the time you though them out the urge to buy whatever it was has faded.
I'd personally stick anything with no AF in my sock drawer.
Once every few months break them out and buy a coffee or something cheap and pay the balance off to show some activity.
As for a balance transfer, if you get approved for the Discover It with a high enough CL, that should set you up toward paying down your debt and giving you a credit card with another rewards program and some excellent CS. If you can't get the Discover, then try for the Slate.
If you find yourself unable to stop using your cards and increasing your debt, you may consider cutting them up as a last resort (but leaving them open).
I'm at the point now where I won't use a card unless I'm earning some sort of reward off of the card (except those small purchases to keep an account open), and that reward needs to be earning me 2% cashback or better, everything else sits in the sock drawer.
Be sure to keep us up to date with what you do, but paying off what you owe should be your primary concern at this point.
If it's tough to keep up with all of them, sign up for Mint and just check periodically to make sure that the SD accounts are zeroed out.
Also, sign up for email alerts to remind you when there is a balance due.
@flawlessly wrote:
Also, I got an offer from Discover 0% for 18 months BT, is that good deal? Instead of opening a new slate card? Thanks!
Btw, I just checked my score and I have 732 points.
I think it's a very good deal. I've had a Discover card for nearly 20 years and love the card and the customer service. Can't really say how it would compare with Slate for your needs. But after you've paid off the BT, you'll still be able to take advantage of the 1% regular rewards and 5% rotating rewards.
Nice score, nice cards you have.
@flawlessly wrote:
If citi card offer me 0% BT for 12m, would that be a better deal? Since citi has a larger CL. Also, if I want to close both Amex student and capital one, would they hurt me a lot?
As others have suggested the Slate looks like a good deall for you. It is offering 0s across the board for 15mos. Most the others, I believe, have at 3% transfer fee.
Closing those 2 CC would raise your overall utilization a couple points, but it would still be under 10%, so it probably would hurt you much. Since most the cards have a $0 balance, is it really that difficult to manage? You only have to make a couple payments a month. Obviously, it's your decision, but I see no need to close at this point, unless you feel like the available credit is a temptation.
Close none, open your sock drawer, insert cards there.
Ask for CLI's on all of them, maybe go through EO for Capone, as mentioned before.
Pay off as much of the student card as you can and set one card aside for monthly purchases which you will PIF.
Garden for a while.
You have enough cards for the best impact to your score, but the util on the student card is hurting your score. This is not a big issue as long as you are not applying for more cards.
Use 1 of the cards in the sock drawer once a month for something small and pay if off.
They will all then stay open and you should be ok.
I advocate keeping all cards without a fee open, just keep them in the sock drawer.