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Old credit card, $0 balance, negative indicators, keep open or close?

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fmedina2
Established Member

Old credit card, $0 balance, negative indicators, keep open or close?

Hey everyone, I have a Cap1 credit card that I got when I was16 years old about 7 years ago. Clearly it is the account with the longest history on my credit report. However being young and stupid I missed several payments early on. I have since then paid off the card and have not used it since. It remains at a $500 credit limit and offers absolutely no benefits or rewards. However it also does not have an annual fee. The account is showing up with negative indicators on my credit report and affecting my score. Would closing the account remove these negative indicators? Or would I be better keeping the accont open due to its long history and $0 balance? Thank you in advance.

Message 1 of 16
15 REPLIES 15
sarkell
Frequent Contributor

Re: Old credit card, $0 balance, negative indicators, keep open or close?

Keep open contact eo for a cli. And convert to rewards simply send an email to CEO google capital one CEO say you'd like to keep the card but its not growing with you etc be patient they will call you they are great. Make sure you have low util it's a soft pull but it seems to make a difference
Cards: CSP $5k, Capital One Cash Rewards VS $3100, Discover it $3k Capital One MasterCard $600, Orchard Bank $3k, Barclays Rewards MC $1250 Gapcard $900, BR $300, Neiman Marcus $1k, Macys $1200 Walmart $500
In the garden until I can get a BCP

Starting Score: 534
Current Score: 682 EQ SW 660 TU 636 EX 3/26/13
Goal Score: 720


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Message 2 of 16
a3quit4s
Regular Contributor

Re: Old credit card, $0 balance, negative indicators, keep open or close?


@sarkell wrote:
Keep open contact eo for a cli. And convert to rewards simply send an email to CEO google capital one CEO say you'd like to keep the card but its not growing with you etc be patient they will call you they are great. Make sure you have low util it's a soft pull but it seems to make a difference

+1

 

I would not close that card


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In the garden since 4/22/13 | Hating on Capital One since '09
Message 3 of 16
Leadberry
Established Contributor

Re: Old credit card, $0 balance, negative indicators, keep open or close?


@fmedina2 wrote:

Hey everyone, I have a Cap1 credit card that I got when I was16 years old about 7 years ago. Clearly it is the account with the longest history on my credit report. However being young and stupid I missed several payments early on. I have since then paid off the card and have not used it since. It remains at a $500 credit limit and offers absolutely no benefits or rewards. However it also does not have an annual fee. The account is showing up with negative indicators on my credit report and affecting my score. Would closing the account remove these negative indicators? Or would I be better keeping the accont open due to its long history and $0 balance? Thank you in advance.


Closing the account does not remove the negative status.  Keep the account open.  7 years after the occurrence of each late, they will fall off your reports.  After the last late payment has fallen off, the negative status will be removed from the account and it will report as being in good standing.

   
FICO Scores 800+
Message 4 of 16
bs6054
Valued Contributor

Re: Old credit card, $0 balance, negative indicators, keep open or close?

And more critically, closing the card will not remove the negative indicators from your report, otherwise it would be too easy!  Closed accounts will stay on for about 10 years, positive or negative.

 

Edit: Leadberry beat me!

Message 5 of 16
dodgeball
Established Contributor

Re: Old credit card, $0 balance, negative indicators, keep open or close?

Closing a account does not remove the negatives on a account, all you have is a closed account with negatives on it. Those negatives will fall off seven years of waiting,

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IN THE GARDEN UNTIL APRIL 2014

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Message 6 of 16
fmedina2
Established Member

Re: Old credit card, $0 balance, negative indicators, keep open or close?

Thanks for the help guys, ill go ahead and keep the account open. Now if only I can get Cap1 to do a credit limit increase without a hard pull or at least upgrade to a card with rewards. They have not been willing to do either one of those over the phone.

Message 7 of 16
tattooedhusker
Established Contributor

Re: Old credit card, $0 balance, negative indicators, keep open or close?


@fmedina2 wrote:

Thanks for the help guys, ill go ahead and keep the account open. Now if only I can get Cap1 to do a credit limit increase without a hard pull or at least upgrade to a card with rewards. They have not been willing to do either one of those over the phone.


Have you tried the EO?

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Message 8 of 16
sarkell
Frequent Contributor

Re: Old credit card, $0 balance, negative indicators, keep open or close?

Email CEO his email is online someone from eo will contact you. Just state that you'd like to stay with capital one but the af make it difficult and low cli. Be reasonable if you are at 500 going to 1500 might be reasonable unless your other cls are much higher.
Cards: CSP $5k, Capital One Cash Rewards VS $3100, Discover it $3k Capital One MasterCard $600, Orchard Bank $3k, Barclays Rewards MC $1250 Gapcard $900, BR $300, Neiman Marcus $1k, Macys $1200 Walmart $500
In the garden until I can get a BCP

Starting Score: 534
Current Score: 682 EQ SW 660 TU 636 EX 3/26/13
Goal Score: 720


Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge
Message 9 of 16
vish1
Valued Contributor

Re: Old credit card, $0 balance, negative indicators, keep open or close?


@sarkell wrote:
Email CEO his email is online someone from eo will contact you. Just state that you'd like to stay with capital one but the af make it difficult and low cli. Be reasonable if you are at 500 going to 1500 might be reasonable unless your other cls are much higher.

I guess you missed the point where OP says, there is NO AF

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Message 10 of 16
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