@Crashem wrote:
Walmart, bofa (could graduate). I would be getting rid of any else with annual fee. Remember close cards will help your aaoa for 10 years. Main reason you don't really need to worry is that Amex backdating will continue to help. Get another Amex if aaoa goes down
Only if those closed cards have longer history than your current ones, and 1-1.5 year tradelines may not 5 years out. Having the 15 year backdate though is a nice offset though I'll admit.
That said, I'd close some of them, and aggieguy's plan is what I'd do personally... there's no need for that many tradelines from a FICO perspective, and I'd close those cards a month ahead of the expected date they'll charge the AF on.
@tinuviel wrote:
@namvet wrote:
@aggieguy wrote:My vote:
Keep: Amex, Bank of America Secured, CapitalOne $750, Walmart
Axe: Orchard, CapitalOne Secured, First National CC, Fingerhut
I'm in a similar situation. I have a bunch of toy cards that are getting axed in favor of Amex Zync and Discover. If I were you I'd cut those cards listed, work on cleaning up the collection, garden for 6 months to a year to give these other cards some age, then set my sights on another better card to replace the CapitalOne.
+1
I like this plan, too.
Me three!
Starting Score: 760
@Anonymous wrote:advice taken! Cancelled C1 secured, first national CC, fingerhut and orchard bank today. also called chase executive offices for recon, and the nice lady took all my info and said she would call me tomorrow. keeping fingers crossed! will keep everyone updated!
Well done! How does it feel?
If I understand it correctly the only way this will have a drastic impact on your FICO score is if you are currently carrying a balance on any of your cards. Closing these cards will remove their credit limits from your available credit, which could tank your score if you're revolving a balance by jacking your utilization percentage up. Otherwise your closed cards should report for another 10 years (I think it's 10 years from date of closure, but I could be wrong) and your score will be fine.
I am approaching this stage in my credit journey by realizing that I don't care if my fico score takes a temporary hit by closing cards, I only care that it is up when I am ready to apply for the cards I want AND that I'm not dinged in a manual review for having cards like First Premier or CreditOne or what have you open. As usual YMMV and this is all just my opinion.
And I had the same experience with ease of closing Orchard. I called them asked for a CLI, they said my account did not have any CLIs coming right now. I then asked to waive the annual fee, they said they couldn't do that. I said, in that case close the account. The CSR asked me why I wanted to close the account and I said, "I have much better cards now that don't have such high annual fees and much higher CLs." He said, "Okay," and then closed the account. They are well trained in customer retention, LOL.
