Ok, back in August, I got a car accident settlement and paid off almost all of my credit cards. We had not so great credit. I have gone on apping sprees to get decent cards now.
Before we had:
Discover card platinum (joint) - 10.9% rate 13k limit (this was the only card we didn't pay off, I just transferred most of balance to a 0% card), 12 year account
Citicard (joint) - 14.9% rate (They did have us at a 28.99% default rate - never got a reason for the default rate but paid it off and refused to use it. Requested they lower the rate after it was paid off. They refused. I responded I was sock drawering the card till I got a better rate. They then responded with 14.9%) 4k limit. They would not increase limit (but gave me a new card, go figure). 8 year acct
These two cards I want to keep from before.
Other cards paid off but no longer used:
Hooters (me)- 5k, 0 balance (would keep for the credit line) - opened a little over a year ago.
Merrick Bank (dh)- $750, 0 Balance, a couple of years old
Geico (dh) - $500, 0 balance, a couple of years old
Capital one (me) - $1200, 0 balance - They will not move up the credit line or drop rate. This card is about 10 years old.
Capital One (dh) - $750, 0 Balance - 1 year old.
New cards in the last few months -
BOA (dh)- 11,300, balance 6k (been on maternity leave and Christmas, will pay off asap) 0% interest.
Citicard (me)- 0% interest for 1 year, then 6.74% interest rate - Transferred most of balance from Discover to this one. 8300limit. 8k balance.
Chase (dh)- 7k limit, $2k balance (will be paid off in a couple of months). 0% interest. Will move rest of Discover card or pay off Discover card. 0 % interest for one year.
Chase (me)- 7k limit, 0 balance. 0% interest for 6 mos.
Then we have some gas and store cards. All at 0 balances. Will keep gas and store cards for specials.
So I am moving the discover card debt to 0%. Everything else is 0% interest. We are paying off christmas bills and usage during maternity leave. I'll be able to take over buying stuff in another 4-6 weeks when I deliver. On bedrest now.
We want to put our house up for sale but not kill our scores. Fakos are in the 700s for both of us. So I want to close the capital one cards and merrick cards (will probably keep Hooters because of credit line). Will this kill our scores? Obviously, we are paying balances off asap. I have a bonus coming, dh has a bonus coming, taxes, and we are paying max to the cards each month (like 2k a month to pay them off). So I can pay everything but the citicard off right away. It's 0% interest anyway. Would it be wise to close those cards out and lose the time? It's kind of like we were swapping out subprime cards for prime cards. I am satisfied with our limits and interest rates on the new cards now. I am one of those people not hit by the credit crunch YET. Our jobs are stable as we are federal govt employees. I am still drawing a salary and will till I go back to work. I am on paid leave right now.
