@BarryNTexas wrote:
FIrst off to Wacdenney - congrats on pulling that trigger! I too am reviewing when to close my CapOne cards. Maybe next spring.
I have shared my sentiments about CapOne in the past and it certainly is a love/hate relationship. I needed them badly at one point and now, not so much. They are SDd at this time.
My dilemma is that once my scores jump last Nov due to several actions I took I was suddenly overtook by the urge to apply and get some cards from issuers like Chase and Citi. So enamored with new status I have actually set myself back probably in growing my lines of credit. Time will tell, but I do know for sure with CapOne it will take me years to get a 10K limit with them on the cards I currently have.
If I know what I know now I would have gotten one new card - maybe Chase Freedom. Let that grow while continue working on my derogs. And once they were totally cleaned off and my scores were in the 700's, do some serious apping that would have yielded much higher starting CLs in my opinion. My perfect world would be 4--5 cards all at 10K plus credit limits.
But I have put myself in the position of chasing CLIs with a few cards to achieve this. Setting aside AMEX and their 61day trick, it's not going to be easy!
Culling the herd will be part of the end game.
I followed kindof the same route as you. I went from having 2 initial cards (Cap1 & Orchard) to adding another 1 year later (BofA) to adding a dozen + one year later. I would have been MUCH better off with a much smaller more carefully planned spree.
I know all I need ATM is some garden time, but it's sooooo hard to do!
