The Great Card Consolidation and Purging thread

Blackbeauty212 · ‎03-31-2015

Anyone else like me - Had fun in the begin racking up a bunch of Cards offering various Rewards/CB. Constantly rotating cards based on times of year, in order to maximize Category Reward Point/Cashback/Miles. Now you've just grown TIRED of it all, and want to live a simple easy life with set of static cards that have very specific purposes.

Well towards the end of last year / beginning of this year I challenged myself to see how much Card Consolidating I could achieve without losing too much in Available Credit for my UTL.

I was able to close completely (None of these are my oldest card):

Citi Forward - 15k Limit - Rolled 10K to Double Cash, 4.5K to AA

Walmart MC - 6K Limit - CLI on AMEX ED 8K to 17K help offset

Chase Amtrak - 10k Limit - Rolled 10K to Amazon Rewards

OCCU - 20K limit - CLI on AMEX ED from 8K to 17K, CLI on Discover to 15K, CLI on PNC to 18.5K...

With these 4 Cards I lost 5k of Avilable Credit. UTL went up 1%, I'm ok with that.

Looking to Close or Consolidate Soon:

Paypal Extra's MC - I can probably get a CLI on my QS MC to offset this loss.

Chase Slate - Can be consolidated into the Amazon

Citi AA - Citi will consolidate w/ Double Cash -500$ (Citi Rules)

AMEX BCE - Will look to see if AMEX will consolidate into ED, if not will see about a CLI on the Apple/Barclays

I want my arsenal to consist soley of:

Quicksilver VS Sig - Everyday Driver

Quicksilver WMC - Auto Bill Paying Card

Amazon Visa - Simply for Amazon

Discover - Big Ticket Card / Balance Carrier

PNC Visa - OD Protection Card, linked to Virtual Wallet account, may look at converting this to a LOC instead of having a card.

Barclays / Apple - Apple financing ONLY, Was going to cancel this after I paid off our iPads, but rep told me I can get continueous Financing on Apple buys, just need to call before purchasing each time. So this is my go to for Apple purchases, we're an Apple fanboy househould.

AMEX ED - My DD's Everyday Driver while in school.

Citi DC - Just to keep a relationship with Citi and act as a UTL suppressor.

I like this, every card has its reason/place, didn't lose too much Avail Credit, and still has a significant number of Revolvers open. My Oldest Card is still Alive, my Discover, so my AAOA wouldn't be affected significantly.

Anyone else have simlar stories about trying to get your stash of cards to more managable level?

P.S. I know I need to update my Sig...I'll do that later, I've been too lazy.

Anonymous · ‎03-31-2015

Interesting; thanks for the write-up.

Always nice to clean out and organize.

I'm surprised to see Discover as your balance carrier. Your CU card didn't have the lowest APR?

Anonymous · ‎03-31-2015

@Blackbeauty212 wrote:
Anyone else like me - Had fun in the begin racking up a bunch of Cards offering various Rewards/CB. Constantly rotating cards based on times of year, in order to maximize Category Reward Point/Cashback/Miles. Now you've just grown TIRED of it all, and want to live a simple easy life with set of static cards that have very specific purposes.

Well towards the end of last year / beginning of this year I challenged myself to see how much Card Consolidating I could achieve without losing too much in Available Credit for my UTL.

I was able to close completely (None of these are my oldest card):

Citi Forward - 15k Limit - Rolled 10K to Double Cash, 4.5K to AA
Walmart MC - 6K Limit - CLI on AMEX ED 8K to 17K help offset
Chase Amtrak - 10k Limit - Rolled 10K to Amazon Rewards
OCCU - 20K limit - CLI on AMEX ED from 8K to 17K, CLI on Discover to 15K, CLI on PNC to 18.5K...

With these 4 Cards I lost 5k of Avilable Credit. UTL went up 1%, I'm ok with that.

Looking to Close or Consolidate Soon:

Paypal Extra's MC - I can probably get a CLI on my QS MC to offset this loss.
Chase Slate - Can be consolidated into the Amazon
Citi AA - Citi will consolidate w/ Double Cash -500$ (Citi Rules)
AMEX BCE - Will look to see if AMEX will consolidate into ED, if not will see about a CLI on the Apple/Barclays

I want my arsenal to consist soley of:

Quicksilver VS Sig - Everyday Driver
Quicksilver WMC - Auto Bill Paying Card
Amazon Visa - Simply for Amazon
Discover - Big Ticket Card / Balance Carrier
PNC Visa - OD Protection Card, linked to Virtual Wallet account, may look at converting this to a LOC instead of having a card.
Barclays / Apple - Apple financing ONLY, Was going to cancel this after I paid off our iPads, but rep told me I can get continueous Financing on Apple buys, just need to call before purchasing each time. So this is my go to for Apple purchases, we're an Apple fanboy househould.
AMEX ED - My DD's Everyday Driver while in school.
Citi DC - Just to keep a relationship with Citi and act as a UTL suppressor.

I like this, every card has its reason/place, didn't lose too much Avail Credit, and still has a significant number of Revolvers open. My Oldest Card is still Alive, my Discover, so my AAOA wouldn't be affected significantly.

Anyone else have simlar stories about trying to get your stash of cards to more managable level?

P.S. I know I need to update my Sig...I'll do that later, I've been too lazy.

Why wouldn't you use the DC as daily driver? 2% > 1.5%

longtime_lurker · ‎03-31-2015

@Blackbeauty212 wrote:
Anyone else like me - Had fun in the begin racking up a bunch of Cards offering various Rewards/CB. Constantly rotating cards based on times of year, in order to maximize Category Reward Point/Cashback/Miles. Now you've just grown TIRED of it all, and want to live a simple easy life with set of static cards that have very specific purposes.

Well towards the end of last year / beginning of this year I challenged myself to see how much Card Consolidating I could achieve without losing too much in Available Credit for my UTL.

I was able to close completely (None of these are my oldest card):

Citi Forward - 15k Limit - Rolled 10K to Double Cash, 4.5K to AA
Walmart MC - 6K Limit - CLI on AMEX ED 8K to 17K help offset
Chase Amtrak - 10k Limit - Rolled 10K to Amazon Rewards
OCCU - 20K limit - CLI on AMEX ED from 8K to 17K, CLI on Discover to 15K, CLI on PNC to 18.5K...

With these 4 Cards I lost 5k of Avilable Credit. UTL went up 1%, I'm ok with that.

Looking to Close or Consolidate Soon:

Paypal Extra's MC - I can probably get a CLI on my QS MC to offset this loss.
Chase Slate - Can be consolidated into the Amazon
Citi AA - Citi will consolidate w/ Double Cash -500$ (Citi Rules)
AMEX BCE - Will look to see if AMEX will consolidate into ED, if not will see about a CLI on the Apple/Barclays

I want my arsenal to consist soley of:

Quicksilver VS Sig - Everyday Driver
Quicksilver WMC - Auto Bill Paying Card
Amazon Visa - Simply for Amazon
Discover - Big Ticket Card / Balance Carrier
PNC Visa - OD Protection Card, linked to Virtual Wallet account, may look at converting this to a LOC instead of having a card.
Barclays / Apple - Apple financing ONLY, Was going to cancel this after I paid off our iPads, but rep told me I can get continueous Financing on Apple buys, just need to call before purchasing each time. So this is my go to for Apple purchases, we're an Apple fanboy househould.
AMEX ED - My DD's Everyday Driver while in school.
Citi DC - Just to keep a relationship with Citi and act as a UTL suppressor.

I like this, every card has its reason/place, didn't lose too much Avail Credit, and still has a significant number of Revolvers open. My Oldest Card is still Alive, my Discover, so my AAOA wouldn't be affected significantly.

Anyone else have simlar stories about trying to get your stash of cards to more managable level?

P.S. I know I need to update my Sig...I'll do that later, I've been too lazy.

Congrats on your journey so far.

Why the QS over Double Cash? And why ED over DC? Normally when I read these threads, people slim down to a few and pick highest rewards. Why give up .5% when you a) already have the card b) clearly has the limit to cover these bills? My auto pay bills are ~6,500/year. IF I only had QS and DC, I would lose 33.50 because I chose a .5% cut (Reality for me is my Voice and Cash + take most of these bills to 3%/5%).

Just curious on your thought process.

Current cards: MSUFCU Platinum, Amex PRG, Amex Surpass, Amex BCE, Citi Prestige, Citi Double Cash, Citi Premier, US Bank Cash +, Huntington Voice, AAviator, Sallie Mae, Discover IT, Chase Freedom TU:753 EQ Enhanced: 758

longtime_lurker · ‎03-31-2015

Congrats on your journey so far.
Why the QS over Double Cash? And why ED over DC? Normally when I read these threads, people slim down to a few and pick highest rewards. Why give up .5% when you a) already have the card b) clearly has the limit to cover these bills? My auto pay bills are ~6,500/year. IF I only had QS and DC, I would lose 33.50 because I chose a .5% cut (Reality for me is my Voice and Cash + take most of these bills to 3%/5%).
Just curious on your thought process.

To clarify, my proposal would be: Keep discover/apple/PNC for your specific reasons/comfort, SD QS/ED, Keep Amazon Visa on Amazon profile and SD otherwise, and run literally everything else through DC (unless you could utilize 5% on Discover).

Current cards: MSUFCU Platinum, Amex PRG, Amex Surpass, Amex BCE, Citi Prestige, Citi Double Cash, Citi Premier, US Bank Cash +, Huntington Voice, AAviator, Sallie Mae, Discover IT, Chase Freedom TU:753 EQ Enhanced: 758

RaiseMyScoreASAP · ‎03-31-2015

When did you open your first AMEX? For me the backdating to help lower AAOA is proving to be invaluable and eliminating the #2 reason my FICO is not higher.

I have the Apple Barclaycard too, but unless you have a high limit, the utilitzation is likely to hurt your score. I know it's 0% financing, but if you intend to carry a balance that is pretty high to your CL, then I would be wary. A 96% utilization on one of my cards lowered my score 20 points across the board.

Blackbeauty212 · ‎03-31-2015

@longtime_lurker wrote:

Congrats on your journey so far.
Why the QS over Double Cash? And why ED over DC? Normally when I read these threads, people slim down to a few and pick highest rewards. Why give up .5% when you a) already have the card b) clearly has the limit to cover these bills? My auto pay bills are ~6,500/year. IF I only had QS and DC, I would lose 33.50 because I chose a .5% cut (Reality for me is my Voice and Cash + take most of these bills to 3%/5%).
Just curious on your thought process.
To clarify, my proposal would be: Keep discover/apple/PNC for your specific reasons/comfort, SD QS/ED, Keep Amazon Visa on Amazon profile and SD otherwise, and run literally everything else through DC (unless you could utilize 5% on Discover).

@Anonymous wrote:

@Blackbeauty212 wrote:
Anyone else like me - Had fun in the begin racking up a bunch of Cards offering various Rewards/CB. Constantly rotating cards based on times of year, in order to maximize Category Reward Point/Cashback/Miles. Now you've just grown TIRED of it all, and want to live a simple easy life with set of static cards that have very specific purposes.

Well towards the end of last year / beginning of this year I challenged myself to see how much Card Consolidating I could achieve without losing too much in Available Credit for my UTL.

I was able to close completely (None of these are my oldest card):

Citi Forward - 15k Limit - Rolled 10K to Double Cash, 4.5K to AA
Walmart MC - 6K Limit - CLI on AMEX ED 8K to 17K help offset
Chase Amtrak - 10k Limit - Rolled 10K to Amazon Rewards
OCCU - 20K limit - CLI on AMEX ED from 8K to 17K, CLI on Discover to 15K, CLI on PNC to 18.5K...

With these 4 Cards I lost 5k of Avilable Credit. UTL went up 1%, I'm ok with that.

Looking to Close or Consolidate Soon:

Paypal Extra's MC - I can probably get a CLI on my QS MC to offset this loss.
Chase Slate - Can be consolidated into the Amazon
Citi AA - Citi will consolidate w/ Double Cash -500$ (Citi Rules)
AMEX BCE - Will look to see if AMEX will consolidate into ED, if not will see about a CLI on the Apple/Barclays

I want my arsenal to consist soley of:

Quicksilver VS Sig - Everyday Driver
Quicksilver WMC - Auto Bill Paying Card
Amazon Visa - Simply for Amazon
Discover - Big Ticket Card / Balance Carrier
PNC Visa - OD Protection Card, linked to Virtual Wallet account, may look at converting this to a LOC instead of having a card.
Barclays / Apple - Apple financing ONLY, Was going to cancel this after I paid off our iPads, but rep told me I can get continueous Financing on Apple buys, just need to call before purchasing each time. So this is my go to for Apple purchases, we're an Apple fanboy househould.
AMEX ED - My DD's Everyday Driver while in school.
Citi DC - Just to keep a relationship with Citi and act as a UTL suppressor.

I like this, every card has its reason/place, didn't lose too much Avail Credit, and still has a significant number of Revolvers open. My Oldest Card is still Alive, my Discover, so my AAOA wouldn't be affected significantly.

Anyone else have simlar stories about trying to get your stash of cards to more managable level?

P.S. I know I need to update my Sig...I'll do that later, I've been too lazy.

Why wouldn't you use the DC as daily driver? 2% > 1.5%

I had my set up with my 2 QS well before the DC came into play..... Plus I just don't want to be bothered with switching all my Auto Bill Pays over to another card.... I like have a card just for my Auto Bill Paying and one as my Everyday card but both earn me Unlimited Cash back... and I can consoldidate the CB pots into one payout if I wish.

Had the DC come out before I had my set up in place, I probably would have chosen it over the QS... But again I like having 2 seprate accounts for Auto Bill Pay and Everday Driving, with DC I would need to open up another TL (Not sure if CIti even allow 2 of the same card)... Its just not worth the Hard Pull and New TL dings in my book. I'm not Greedy 1.5% on both cards works Great for me.

I earn more much Cashback with these 2 Quicksilvers than I ever did with 5% Cat Cards I just grew tired of always rotating cards and it was hard to really see how much rewards I was racking up every year, when they're scattered about several different cards..

@Anonymous wrote:
Interesting; thanks for the write-up.

Always nice to clean out and organize.

I'm surprised to see Discover as your balance carrier. Your CU card didn't have the lowest APR?

Discover I have a static 8% Rate, and they will throw me a 6 month 0% from time to time.... OCCU (Duck Card) was 15%, and I hated the CS. Discover is perfect as a Legacy balance carrying card

Anonymous · ‎03-31-2015

@Blackbeauty212 wrote:
@longtime_lurker wrote:

Congrats on your journey so far.
Why the QS over Double Cash? And why ED over DC? Normally when I read these threads, people slim down to a few and pick highest rewards. Why give up .5% when you a) already have the card b) clearly has the limit to cover these bills? My auto pay bills are ~6,500/year. IF I only had QS and DC, I would lose 33.50 because I chose a .5% cut (Reality for me is my Voice and Cash + take most of these bills to 3%/5%).
Just curious on your thought process.
To clarify, my proposal would be: Keep discover/apple/PNC for your specific reasons/comfort, SD QS/ED, Keep Amazon Visa on Amazon profile and SD otherwise, and run literally everything else through DC (unless you could utilize 5% on Discover).

@Anonymous wrote:
@Blackbeauty212 wrote:
Anyone else like me - Had fun in the begin racking up a bunch of Cards offering various Rewards/CB. Constantly rotating cards based on times of year, in order to maximize Category Reward Point/Cashback/Miles. Now you've just grown TIRED of it all, and want to live a simple easy life with set of static cards that have very specific purposes.

Well towards the end of last year / beginning of this year I challenged myself to see how much Card Consolidating I could achieve without losing too much in Available Credit for my UTL.

I was able to close completely (None of these are my oldest card):

Citi Forward - 15k Limit - Rolled 10K to Double Cash, 4.5K to AA
Walmart MC - 6K Limit - CLI on AMEX ED 8K to 17K help offset
Chase Amtrak - 10k Limit - Rolled 10K to Amazon Rewards
OCCU - 20K limit - CLI on AMEX ED from 8K to 17K, CLI on Discover to 15K, CLI on PNC to 18.5K...

With these 4 Cards I lost 5k of Avilable Credit. UTL went up 1%, I'm ok with that.

Looking to Close or Consolidate Soon:

Paypal Extra's MC - I can probably get a CLI on my QS MC to offset this loss.
Chase Slate - Can be consolidated into the Amazon
Citi AA - Citi will consolidate w/ Double Cash -500$ (Citi Rules)
AMEX BCE - Will look to see if AMEX will consolidate into ED, if not will see about a CLI on the Apple/Barclays

I want my arsenal to consist soley of:

Quicksilver VS Sig - Everyday Driver
Quicksilver WMC - Auto Bill Paying Card
Amazon Visa - Simply for Amazon
Discover - Big Ticket Card / Balance Carrier
PNC Visa - OD Protection Card, linked to Virtual Wallet account, may look at converting this to a LOC instead of having a card.
Barclays / Apple - Apple financing ONLY, Was going to cancel this after I paid off our iPads, but rep told me I can get continueous Financing on Apple buys, just need to call before purchasing each time. So this is my go to for Apple purchases, we're an Apple fanboy househould.
AMEX ED - My DD's Everyday Driver while in school.
Citi DC - Just to keep a relationship with Citi and act as a UTL suppressor.

I like this, every card has its reason/place, didn't lose too much Avail Credit, and still has a significant number of Revolvers open. My Oldest Card is still Alive, my Discover, so my AAOA wouldn't be affected significantly.

Anyone else have simlar stories about trying to get your stash of cards to more managable level?

P.S. I know I need to update my Sig...I'll do that later, I've been too lazy.
Why wouldn't you use the DC as daily driver? 2% > 1.5%

I had my set up with my 2 QS well before the DC came into play..... Plus I just don't want to be bothered with switching all my Auto Bill Pays over to another card.... I like have a card just for my Auto Bill Paying and one as my Everyday card but both earn me Unlimited Cash back... and I can consoldidate the CB pots into one payout if I wish.

Had the DC come out before I had my set up in place, I probably would have chosen it over the QS... But again I like having 2 seprate accounts for Auto Bill Pay and Everday Driving, with DC I would need to open up another TL (Not sure if CIti even allow 2 of the same card)... Its just not worth the Hard Pull and New TL dings in my book. I'm not Greedy 1.5% on both cards works Great for me.

I earn more much Cashback with these 2 Quicksilvers than I ever did with 5% Cat Cards I just grew tired of always rotating cards and it was hard to really see how much rewards I was racking up every year, when they're scattered about several different cards..

@Anonymous wrote:
Interesting; thanks for the write-up.

Always nice to clean out and organize.

I'm surprised to see Discover as your balance carrier. Your CU card didn't have the lowest APR?

Discover I have a static 8% Rate, and they will throw me a 6 month 0% from time to time.... OCCU (Duck Card) was 15%, and I hated the CS. Discover is perfect as a Legacy balance carrying card

I....see.

More rewards for the rest of us I guess. Good luck in your endeavour.

Blackbeauty212 · ‎03-31-2015

@RaiseMyScoreASAP wrote:
When did you open your first AMEX? For me the backdating to help lower AAOA is proving to be invaluable and eliminating the #2 reason my FICO is not higher.

I have the Apple Barclaycard too, but unless you have a high limit, the utilitzation is likely to hurt your score. I know it's 0% financing, but if you intend to carry a balance that is pretty high to your CL, then I would be wary. A 96% utilization on one of my cards lowered my score 20 points across the board.

I've been an AMEX member since 2010, and its listed on my card as such.... However my Discover is my oldest Revolver had it since 1998 and she's still kickin.

My Apple Financing is 12.5K that's pretty significant limit..... 2 64gb iPad Air 2's ran me 1.5k got it down to 700$ balance now.... Not too bad on the UTL, I could pay it off at anytime, but I want to get full advantage of the 0% while I have it. ... I will be upgrading our Macbooks to 8GB RAM MacBook Airs this Fall that'll put me near $2.5K,, I should be able to get an 18 month deal with that amount.... Will see about a CLI by that time.

thom02099 · ‎04-01-2015

I am thinking of closing all of the cards listed in my signature...with the exception of the Diners Club Premier MC and the JP Morgan Select Signature Visa...both hidden TL. Giving up over $130K in credit availability, but my util will show as zero...all the time. Hmmmm....on 2nd thought, maybe I'll also leave my Unicorn and Discover IT remain open...for old times sake and util.

ETA: note today's date.