So a little about me first.
I've been working on my credit over the past 2 years, slowly acquiring cards and making all my payments on time. My first card was from Credit One(Visa). With a low 500's score, I applied for a secured card with them, and to my suprise i was rewarded with an unsecured card with a $200 limit. Fast forward 2 years, perfect payment history, and a now $1300 credit limit. The card was great for my first card to build a history, but now its terms are less than favorable. $99 annual fee, no grace period on 24.99% interest, $20 charge for secondary card. Not to mention I have to pay $25 for a cl increase!
My second card was another offer I qualified for from Credit One for a Rewards Mastercard, low limit quickly brought up to $750 within 6 months, 15% apr, yet still no grace period. No Annual fee! So the cards are getting better it seems as i build a better history. But again I have to pay $14.99 per cl increase! Atleast its cheaper than the first card.
Last week after having no hard pulls on credit in over a year, I applied for a Barclays card, and was instantly denied. Called the recon line, and instantly got approved with a $1k limit. Now its not the best apr, think its about 24% but there is no annual fee, and a 24 day grace period.
Would it hurt my score if i closed my first card? It is my largest and oldest card on my account. I got an email today about it also saying i qualify for another cl increase (for a fee go figure!) I dont mind paying the $140 a year, if its really gonna help my score and my payment history. What are my best options here? Any advice?
@needmocredit wrote:So a little about me first.
I've been working on my credit over the past 2 years, slowly acquiring cards and making all my payments on time. My first card was from Credit One(Visa). With a low 500's score, I applied for a secured card with them, and to my suprise i was rewarded with an unsecured card with a $200 limit. Fast forward 2 years, perfect payment history, and a now $1300 credit limit. The card was great for my first card to build a history, but now its terms are less than favorable. $99 annual fee, no grace period on 24.99% interest, $20 charge for secondary card. Not to mention I have to pay $25 for a cl increase!
My second card was another offer I qualified for from Credit One for a Rewards Mastercard, low limit quickly brought up to $750 within 6 months, 15% apr, yet still no grace period. No Annual fee! So the cards are getting better it seems as i build a better history. But again I have to pay $14.99 per cl increase! Atleast its cheaper than the first card.
Last week after having no hard pulls on credit in over a year, I applied for a Barclays card, and was instantly denied. Called the recon line, and instantly got approved with a $1k limit. Now its not the best apr, think its about 24% but there is no annual fee, and a 24 day grace period.
Would it hurt my score if i closed my first card? It is my largest and oldest card on my account. I got an email today about it also saying i qualify for another cl increase (for a fee go figure!) I dont mind paying the $140 a year, if its really gonna help my score and my payment history. What are my best options here? Any advice?
If you close the card it will still factor into your AAoA, and will only hurt you if you're carrying a balance on the new card because your utilization will go up (losing the credit limit on your first card).
My advice would be to ditch both Credit One cards and apply for two Capital One cards (do this first obviously to make sure you get approved), or even just one Cap 1 card. Much better company and you don't even have to pay to get your CL increased, what a concept 
I don't know what your scores are but mine were around 600 when I was approved for a Quicksilver One with a 300 limit and a Platinum with a 500 limit, both of those limits jumped up by 3k in six months with regular use on both cards.
What would be the best way to go about closing the cards?
My scores are low to mid 600's.
@needmocredit wrote:What would be the best way to go about closing the cards?
My scores are low to mid 600's.
I've never had a Credit One card, but I assume it's the same as with any other lender, just call and ask to close the account. I'd make sure you have a zero balance on both of them first. If you do close them and open up one or two Cap 1 cards you're going to take a slight hit to your credit because of the inquiry (or two) plus the hit your AAoA will take. Depending on how thick your credit profiles are opening a card or two might not ding your AAoA very much at all, if you have thin profiles it might hurt more but it won't be too long before you regain the points lost.
Cap One has been good to me with approvals (six), credit limit increases, allowing me to PC multiple cards, and even permanently waiving the AF on two cards..all mostly done through the EO.
CLI's are softpull's as well. A lot of people around here dislike Cap 1 for whatever reason, but I've had nothing but success with them.
Edit: Forgot to add, do a pre qual check on the Cap 1 site, if you have any offers they are pretty much guaranteed to be approvals. Just Google "cap one pre qual", will be one of the top links.
To close your Credit One card contact them via customer service and state that you want to cost both of your accounts. Stand firm and don't give in if they attempt to offer you anything. Be sure that both accounts have a $0 balance prior to closing.
Gardening Until Further Notice
Its not really possible for me to have a $0 balance, there is a monthly fee of $8.25 which is instantly hit with 25% apr with no grace. Is that going to effect anything?
