What to do, what to do

[Uncle_Money]

Hey Guys,

It may be time to do some credit cleanup. I'm really wondering if I should close any accounts or keep them all open for the history.

Here's the personal credit mix:

Amex Green Card - PIF each month - opened 8/2008

BOA/Amex Accelerated Rewards - opened 9/2008

BOA World Visa - opened 4/2006

Juniper - opened 2/2007

Cap One - opened 8/2005

Cap One - opened 5/2008

CIT Dell - opened 8/2007

Household  - opened 1/2005

HSBC - opened 6/2003

HSBC - opened 5/2006

Lexus Visa - opened 11/2008

The best card here is my BOA/Amex Accelerated Rewards card. It has a $10,000+ limit with an APR of 6.24% while Household is 29.40!!! Can you believe that? What crooks, legalized loansharks! The problem is, I have history dating back to 2004.

Opinions welcomed...

Thanks,

- UM

[smallfry]

11 cards. So glad I do not have that problem anymore. Keep them all open and rotate usage making sure you never let more than 3 report a balance each month. Any chance on combining the Cap One and HSBC cards?

[DI]

I thought I had too many cards, but I'm about to catch up with you.  Keep them all open.  Use one card for each month in the year.  Give your best card a bonus and use it twice per year. 

[smallfry]

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@DI wrote:
I thought I had too many cards, but I'm about to catch up with you.  Keep them all open.  Use one card for each month in the year.  Give your best card a bonus and use it twice per year. 

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Recipe for closure these days. Use it or lose it.

[Uncle_Money]

Yup, it is difficult keeping up lol. I actually didn't even count my CITI Professional card. Although it's for business use, they STILL report in on my personal.

I like your plan of rotation.

Cap One & HSBC...Is this even possible?

[Jazzzy]

Not knowing what your utilization is makes it tough to give an opinion. You may need every penny of these credit lines to show low utilization. If you don't...then I would consider cutting down. 

Do any of your cards have annual fees? If so, for me, they would be the first to go.

I would then consider gradually closing any rebuilder cards that have very low limits. People are getting denied for credit and for credit line increases based on already having "enough" open credit. You may want to eliminate rebuilder low-limit cards in order to grow the credit lines on the cards you like.

I say that I would close smaller cards gradually because we are in an era of credit difficulties that make credit tougher to get. That said, I look at my reports at the number of small-limit cards we used to have that are now closed. It comes time to move on from those, but you are the only one who will know when the time is right.