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Please help! Called for Chase recon and was transferred to Customer Service...

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haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: Please help! Called for Chase recon and was transferred to Customer Service...


wndrwmn78 wrote:

...One thing I would like to ask if you don't mind, without starting a new post, is your opinion on closing small, insignificant accounts? I know the general consensus is that you should not close accounts with a good history - just don't use them. But say in two years I want to apply for an Amex, and I have no inquiries and a 5 year history now - but they see my little $400 HSBC card that will never get bigger. Do cards like that turn the prime creditors off? Or will the fact that it's 5 years old make it not matter that I have a rebuilding card?

 

Thank you again! I really wish I had found these forums years ago! Smiley Sad



I think that there is an argument to be made for closing low-limit cards, if it won't significantly affect your util now or your history ten years from now, when they fall off your report.

I closed my $500 CL Barclays Barnes and Noble MC at six months when the CSR let slip that it was not eligible for customer-initiated CLI's, and that I would essentially have to wait for whatever scraps they might give me from the table. My util was already less than 1%, the account was a month younger than my Feb 08 app spree, and it wasn't doing anything wonderful for my life, even though I prefer B&N to Borders any day. And Juni/ Barclays can be a bit eccentric.

It doesn't matter a flip to FICO scoring what your CL's are, as long as the util behaves itself. But we do have enough feedback from members quoting lenders that low-limit cards can hurt your approvals and CL's with future apps that I think that's something that should be considered.

For rebuilding folks who are moving from the 3-digit CL's to the 4-digit CL's, the starter cards are fair targets for closure, as long as you consider the factors I mentioned above (util and eventual history impact.)

fused's "Closing Credit Cards" (linked in my siggy) has a great how-to-think-through-this approach.

And I wish I'd found the forums sooner too, but I think I was too stuck on stupid to have benefited from them at the time! Smiley Very Happy
* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007
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