Closing any account will not lower your average age of accounts (AAoA - ~10% of your score) for 10 years. Closed accounts in good standing typically remain on your credit reports (CR) for 10 years after they have been closed.
Assuming since you said rebuild that the C1 Platinum and QS1 are your oldest revolving accounts. I would attempt to keep them open if you can without it costing you nothing. I suggest calling or getting online and chatting with Capital One and asking for each card to be upgraded to the QuickSilver card. I was recently successful (6 months or so, if have to check) of upgrading my then 5.2 year old C1 QS1 over to the QS. I've had the AF removed each year prior except maybe the first year when it was a Prchard Bank card and I was just establishing credit on my own newb style (no great MyFICO forums). I also have a 1y1m old QS card. I thought about combining the accounts but then decided not to rush as k can continue to get CLI on both every 181 days. My C1 QS MC older card has a $4.4k limit and the newer C1 QS Visa Sig card has a $5.5k limit. If they deny your request then ask them to waive the annual fee. I've been successful with this even once or twice after the $29/$39 annual fee (AF) had posted. I just called and got a credit. If your denied by phone then try chat. Try weekly for 4 weeks. You could also contact the social media team on Facebook whom seem more helpful, friendly and have more ability to get things done that frontline CSR can't do. Even if you close them you will still at this point get hit with "too many new accounts recently opened" even if some are closed as "new accounts" are considered any account open or closed if opened in the past 2 years. I would just keep them all open if you can at least get the AFs removed. If you have an Amazon account use each card your not using monthly to order yourself a Amazon EGiftcard of $0.99 each month. This will show activity on your cards each month and C1 will write off the small balance of $0.99 or less and also take back the $0.01 in rewards you earned. If you don't have an Amazon account then PM me and you can send them to me monthly -
. Between my finance and I we have 4 QS cards and that's what we do to keep them active. I would suggest the month prior to your CLI request eligibility that you find a $100+ purchase you can put on the card and PIF and that statement and payment occur before your CLI so you can get at least $500 every 6 months. There has to be something that you buy that won't be much of a net loss if you had used another card earning points, miles or cash back wise. Keeping these 2 accounts open with ontime payments will help build your credit more than anything as payment history is ~35% of your score. You'll be able to create more ontime payments with 3 cards than 1 or two extra cards. When cards are not used the non-usage can be seen as some will report a "ND" no data which has no effect on your score and some might report "OK" paid as agreed. C1 at least for a while will report OKs even if not used for a while - not sure how long though. Doing this will also increase your total revolving credit limit which will help lower your utilization which is about 30% of your score. Utilization is scored by card and overall. "Too many accounts with a balance" can't hurt your score so having at least 2 always $0 balance cards will or could help. Since your rebuilding I would keep them open for as long as you can to build everything I touched on. Eventually maybe you can get your oldest C1 converted to a Venture or if desired a Venture One card and have your miles transferred over then combine the others cards after cashing out or transferring any Cashback or miles. 10 years later after closure you'll see less of AAoA decrease for this.
Assuming since you said rebuild that the C1 Platinum and QS1 are your oldest revolving accounts. I would attempt to keep them open if you can without it costing you nothing. I suggest calling or getting online and chatting with Capital One and asking for each card to be upgraded to the QuickSilver card. I was recently successful (6 months or so, if have to check) of upgrading my then 5.2 year old C1 QS1 over to the QS. I've had the AF removed each year prior except maybe the first year when it was a Prchard Bank card and I was just establishing credit on my own newb style (no great MyFICO forums). I also have a 1y1m old QS card. I thought about combining the accounts but then decided not to rush as k can continue to get CLI on both every 181 days. My C1 QS MC older card has a $4.4k limit and the newer C1 QS Visa Sig card has a $5.5k limit. If they deny your request then ask them to waive the annual fee. I've been successful with this even once or twice after the $29/$39 annual fee (AF) had posted. I just called and got a credit. If your denied by phone then try chat. Try weekly for 4 weeks. You could also contact the social media team on Facebook whom seem more helpful, friendly and have more ability to get things done that frontline CSR can't do. Even if you close them you will still at this point get hit with "too many new accounts recently opened" even if some are closed as "new accounts" are considered any account open or closed if opened in the past 2 years. I would just keep them all open if you can at least get the AFs removed. If you have an Amazon account use each card your not using monthly to order yourself a Amazon EGiftcard of $0.99 each month. This will show activity on your cards each month and C1 will write off the small balance of $0.99 or less and also take back the $0.01 in rewards you earned. If you don't have an Amazon account then PM me and you can send them to me monthly -
. Between my finance and I we have 4 QS cards and that's what we do to keep them active. I would suggest the month prior to your CLI request eligibility that you find a $100+ purchase you can put on the card and PIF and that statement and payment occur before your CLI so you can get at least $500 every 6 months. There has to be something that you buy that won't be much of a net loss if you had used another card earning points, miles or cash back wise. Keeping these 2 accounts open with ontime payments will help build your credit more than anything as payment history is ~35% of your score. You'll be able to create more ontime payments with 3 cards than 1 or two extra cards. When cards are not used the non-usage can be seen as some will report a "ND" no data which has no effect on your score and some might report "OK" paid as agreed. C1 at least for a while will report OKs even if not used for a while - not sure how long though. Doing this will also increase your total revolving credit limit which will help lower your utilization which is about 30% of your score. Utilization is scored by card and overall. "Too many accounts with a balance" can't hurt your score so having at least 2 always $0 balance cards will or could help. Since your rebuilding I would keep them open for as long as you can to build everything I touched on. Eventually maybe you can get your oldest C1 converted to a Venture or if desired a Venture One card and have your miles transferred over then combine the others cards after cashing out or transferring any Cashback or miles. 10 years later after closure you'll see less of AAoA decrease for this.