See ya store cards???

[jlfce1]

I understand the thought of keeping store cards open for the utilization, but I've just opened two new prime cards and they more than exceed the limits provided for the handful of store cards I have.

The store cards were more rebuilder cards and now that I'm in a good spot, and won't be hurt by not having the CL, I feel like I should close these to not have to manage them any longer.  I feel like just having them in the sock drawer still takes management and having open credit I don't plan on using just allows for risk as well.

The only store card I plan on keeping is my Nordstrom store card and possibly my Macys for the special event account attached.  None of these cards besides Nordstrom are my oldest CC, so it shouldn't impact anything besided total CL for Utilization.  But, before I pull the trigger, I wanted to see if anyone here had any different insight.

I previously asked about AAofA and since I found closing these doesn't affect that; I looked at my spreadsheet and could only thing 6 store cards I'm not using is too many! Plus, with my Discover IT I can get a cash back option by shopping at these same stores, which is better than the rewards they offer since I can only use their rewards at their store.

Thoughts?

Thanks.

[dddewdrop]

I would say your thought process makes sense to me. Card in your sock drawer still take management. On the point of aaoa, closing a card does affect it, but not for a while. If you close a card in good standing it will roll off your reports sometime after 7 or 10 years. if you keep it open it wont roll off your reports. That is sort of a long term thing however. I would recommend closing some of your store card. Make sure that you go about closing them in the proper fashion however. It would really be too bad to get a bill from some store card years later and find out a balance of 2 dollars had grown to 200 when you thought you had closed it. 

     I think many people when rebuilding fall into apping and getting too many store cards. The thrill of being approved becomes too much of a draw and people find themselves with a wallet full of cards to stores the will never use or shop at. You are right to pair those back. You seem to understand the isses involved. You overall Credit Limit shrinking does directly reduce your score. In fact it should have no effect on your fico score if you arent carrying balances. So I say go for it,Slowly and methodically close one at a time. Its a good idea. No need to waste your valuable time sorting through all these bills each month or online accounts. Good luck.

[gen-specific]

I closed my store cards initially when my prime cards eclipsed the limits of those store cards

I closed all my cards with 3-digit credit limits

planning on closing any remaining cards with 4-digit credit limits

only store card I have is the Macy's/AMEX card

[Creditaddict]

Macy's/Bloomingdales

Express

Target

Lowes

Unless you are a BIG shopper or it's a store that you might get the 0% (Pottery Barn, Z Gallerie type store) I can't think of many others that I would just really HAVE TO HAVE or what not... I might keep if I already had.

Macy's though you are pactically throwing money away when shopping there without the card, half the time they give you additional 10-20% just for swiping macys.  The coupons which exclude a ton of things seem to work the times I don't carry... I find the structure annoying but it can pay off and it's a worth while card, especially if you are preferred Amex which I will be when they decide to go through the "manual" process to make that happen.

Express is INSANE with coupons and you can split up transactions and use 15 coupons if you want and can make the minimums for each one... I have saved $250+ in a single trip before.... plus they have an A List program to give more rewards and cash coupons... they are a store that ranks at #1 must have if you spend any money with them!

Target is pretty high too for the 5% and free shipping

oh actually Lowes now does the 5%

[parakleet]

Wow @Creditaddict, you should get commission - I never thought about getting an Express card until now! 

[jlfce1]

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@Creditaddict wrote:

Macy's/Bloomingdales

Express

Target

Lowes

Unless you are a BIG shopper or it's a store that you might get the 0% (Pottery Barn, Z Gallerie type store) I can't think of many others that I would just really HAVE TO HAVE or what not... I might keep if I already had.

Macy's though you are pactically throwing money away when shopping there without the card, half the time they give you additional 10-20% just for swiping macys.  The coupons which exclude a ton of things seem to work the times I don't carry... I find the structure annoying but it can pay off and it's a worth while card, especially if you are preferred Amex which I will be when they decide to go through the "manual" process to make that happen.

Express is INSANE with coupons and you can split up transactions and use 15 coupons if you want and can make the minimums for each one... I have saved $250+ in a single trip before.... plus they have an A List program to give more rewards and cash coupons... they are a store that ranks at #1 must have if you spend any money with them!

Target is pretty high too for the 5% and free shipping

oh actually Lowes now does the 5%

---

You make a good point.  My Macy's card is just a Macy's card but I do have a special event account, which might come in handy when I buy a house next year. That's why I'm so curious about the clean up. I'd like to do it now so when I apply in a year for a mortgage; it's all said and done and there are not a bunch of useless accounts.  My Nordstrom is only at $1500 but it would be nice to work towards teh $5K to change to the visa siggy.  I do have a Target card but I never use it because they offer a Debit Target which give me the same 5% discount and comes out of my checking directly.  The cards I would like to get rid of are (all with zero balance):

Victoria Secret: $1,120

The Loft: $990

JCrew: $950

Nieman Marcus: $500

Target: $500

Cap 1: $750 (AF)

I have some other cards like Amazon Store Card, which I will keep because they have good financing offers, but I won't use it frequently.

I just feel like the above 5 cards aren't worth is to me.  The JCrew card doesn't offer anything special for card holders that I have yet seen and I've had the card for just about 2 years.  I'm afraid by keeping these open that my prime cards won't want to give me CLI's which therefore, I won't be able to build. 

[jlfce1]

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@dddewdrop wrote:

I would say your thought process makes sense to me. Card in your sock drawer still take management. On the point of aaoa, closing a card does affect it, but not for a while. If you close a card in good standing it will roll off your reports sometime after 7 or 10 years. if you keep it open it wont roll off your reports. That is sort of a long term thing however. I would recommend closing some of your store card. Make sure that you go about closing them in the proper fashion however. It would really be too bad to get a bill from some store card years later and find out a balance of 2 dollars had grown to 200 when you thought you had closed it. 

     I think many people when rebuilding fall into apping and getting too many store cards. The thrill of being approved becomes too much of a draw and people find themselves with a wallet full of cards to stores the will never use or shop at. You are right to pair those back. You seem to understand the isses involved. You overall Credit Limit shrinking does directly reduce your score. In fact it should have no effect on your fico score if you arent carrying balances. So I say go for it,Slowly and methodically close one at a time. Its a good idea. No need to waste your valuable time sorting through all these bills each month or online accounts. Good luck.

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I have 6 cards total I want to close.  Do you think it would be a bad idea to do 2/month? Maybe starting with the smallest CL's first?

[LS2982]

No AF, 0% deals, high CLs (GE). I have a lot of store cards and I would definitely manage them over closing them. They come in handy.

[Creditaddict]

I agree I wouldn't close but if you want to I don't think you need to spread it out. Close away if they are paid off.
Nordstrom at least use to be amazing about cli, call and ask them for $5k with upgrade to visa!
Neiman marcus I would keep since that's going through bank change, you never know in future and you could probably easily increase CL.

[jlfce1]

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@LS2982 wrote:

No AF, 0% deals, high CLs (GE). I have a lot of store cards and I would definitely manage them over closing them. They come in handy.

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If I leave these open and go to apply for a mortgage next year, it won't look bad? Also, how many open CC's is too many?   I won't be using them and I don't want to manage using them every so often to make movement. I read somewhere on this site that someone's score was lowered because they used a card that had been inactive?

My statement just closed on my pament for the last of my cards which once reported will bring my Utilization down to <10%.  It will still have a small balance and  I have a balance on my CFNA card because they offer the 0% for 6 months, so I level the payments into 5 and carry a balance to take advantage of that.  Those are my cards with a balance out of 20 cards total....the rest are at 0.