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Should I keep it open or close it?

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Should I keep it open or close it?

Hi everyone.  I need your opinion/advice on my credit cards. 

I've just applied and approved on NFCU CashRewards credit card.  I had nReward, but I do not like it ay more and I only useing it once a month with $1 purchase to just keep the account active & open.  NFCU does not let me convine the two cards.  So, I am thinking about to close my pre-new Chase card (it was Wa-Mu Platinum) to improve my score.  What do you think?

 

 

 

The credit records used to calculate this factor are listed here.

 

You currently owe a total of $5,701. (This does not include mortgages.)

 

On average, your open revolving accounts have a credit limit of $5,783. (This only includes accounts for which the credit limit is reported.)

 

On average, your accounts were opened 4 years and 5 months ago. (This only includes accounts for which the date opened is reported.)

 

Open Accounts 

 

Name                                    Age                   Balance      Limit

Student Loan                          4 yrs 9 mo         $4824       

Chase (Freedom)                    2 yrs 8 mo           $836         $6000

Citi (Driver's Edge)                  1 yr  4 mo              $41         $8600

Discover (More)                      1 yr  4 mo                            $2500

Chase (Starbucks Duetto)                ?                                 $8600 

NFCU (nReward)                             ?                                 $5000

Chase (Wa-Mu Platinum)               3 mo                             $6000

Citi Financial Retail                       2 mo                              $4000

NFCU (cash Rewards)                  NEW                              $3000

 

Closed Accounts

 

NFCU                                   5 yrs  2 mo

NFCU                                   8 yrs  9 mo

NFCU                                   9 yrs  7 mo

Sam's Club                           9 yrs  1 mo

Citi (Platinum Select)             3 yrs  9 mo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Message 1 of 6
1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: Should I keep it open or close it?

That AmEx Blue ought to be reporting for you, but since your util is in such excellent shape, it's not the end of the world for now. At the moment, American Express is so nutty that it would be a good idea to just let things lie. When (if) they ever settle back down, you might want to call back and find out why it's not reporting.

You can try combining the cards. That way, you will keep the total CL, but you'll have one less account reporting. If you had lots of cards with balances, it could be a problem, but I don't think that it would be for now.

I'd look on the card as a neutral, maybe not positive, but not negative either. I'd find a recurring charge to put on it, and then sock-drawer it, and wait for better times.

Banks are cutting their rewards programs across the board. It will be a lean couple of years, I think, before they start competing for our business again.
* 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
Message 6 of 6
5 REPLIES 5
score_building
Senior Contributor

Re: Should I keep it open or close it?

closing the chase acct does not improve your score, in fact, it can hurt your score by removing the CL from the util calculation.
DCU EQ 5.0, Citi EQ 08 Bankcard, PenFed EX NG2
EX 08: AFCU, Amex, Chase, PSECU EX 98(?)
TU 08: Barclays, Discover
Message 2 of 6
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: Should I keep it open or close it?

Hi, bunnyrabbit, we haven't seen you in a long while! How've you been doing? It looks like you've done an amazing job getting everything paid off.

score_building is right: closing the card now would hurt you.

These comments aren't familiar. Are they from a FICO score report? I'm especially dubious about the comment regarding your average CL on your cards. Also, FICO reports AAoA in whole years, not YY/MM. The more I look, the more I believe that they are comments from a FAKO score provider, and they need to be ignored.

Right now, you seem to be in fantastic shape. You have $43,700 in total revolving CL, and only $877 in total balances, giving you just 2% util, which is great. Your student loan stands separately, as it is an installment account. As long as you are making timely payments on it, it's helping you.

Right now, the best thing that you can do for your score is nothing, except to remain timely with any payments and keep the util down. If the average age of accounts is correct, in another 7 months you will hit 5 years AAoA, and that should help you out a lot.
* 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
Message 3 of 6
psychic
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Should I keep it open or close it?

Hi bunnyrabbit!  It's great to hear from you again!!!
EQ 814 / TU 815 / EX 842
Message 4 of 6
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Should I keep it open or close it?

Thanks guys for your response!

Yes, I've gone long time.  I've been working 7 days/wk for over 13 months now, and I am tired.

 

Anyway, I asked this question because I was not sure what is the best.  Chase removed WaMu Platinum PFICO score benefit.  That's not nice.  So, I start to thinking why should I keep this card.  I remember somebody commented say keep the account open for at least a year before close it.   I see, it is better to keep it open and active.

 

How about combine this Chase Master (Wa-Mu) to Chase Freedom?   I'm not sure Chase will let me do this or not.  Is this still the same as closing the account?

 

You are right hauling ... that report is from Citi Identity Monitor and I'm not counting on their scores. 

I still have Amex Blue but they are not reporting.  The CL is $8000 and I'm using this card for only once a month with $1 purchase ... same as NFCU nRewards and Chase Master (Wa-Mu) to just keep it in active and open.

 

I did not plan to have this many of CCs in 5 yrs, it just happened.  So far I am lucky enough to keep the all of my CCs and none of my CCs CL has decreased nor closed by the CCC/Bank.  I hope it will not happen to me.

Message Edited by bunnyrabbit on 05-05-2009 05:32 PM
Message 5 of 6
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: Should I keep it open or close it?

That AmEx Blue ought to be reporting for you, but since your util is in such excellent shape, it's not the end of the world for now. At the moment, American Express is so nutty that it would be a good idea to just let things lie. When (if) they ever settle back down, you might want to call back and find out why it's not reporting.

You can try combining the cards. That way, you will keep the total CL, but you'll have one less account reporting. If you had lots of cards with balances, it could be a problem, but I don't think that it would be for now.

I'd look on the card as a neutral, maybe not positive, but not negative either. I'd find a recurring charge to put on it, and then sock-drawer it, and wait for better times.

Banks are cutting their rewards programs across the board. It will be a lean couple of years, I think, before they start competing for our business again.
* 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
Message 6 of 6
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