Which Credit Cards Should I Close?

[Anonymous]

Hi all, 

It seems like I have too many credit cards and I only use a few. My credit age is only 1 year and 8 months according to credit karma. Below is a list of all my credit cards inlduing their opening date and limit. Please let me know which ones I should close. 

 SPENDING HABITS:

• Travel occasionally. No particular airline or hotel that I book with (annual travel expenses on hotels + airfare = $3000)
• Fill up my car with gas once a week (full tank costs me $40 a week)
• Groceries from local supermarkets mainly (roughly $100 a month)
• Dine out frequently ($200-$250 per month)

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Credit Cards + Charge Cards

• CSP -> $5k limit, opened May 2017 (Used 10+ times a month)
• Chase Freedom -> $3k limit, opened April 2017 (Use 2-3 times a month)
• AMEX Gold PRG -> NPSL, opened June 2015, upgraded from AMEX Green in 2016 (Use almost everyday)

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• AMEX BCE -> $2k limit, opened April 2015 (Haven't used in 1 year)
• BofA Platinum Plus Visa -> $2k limit, opened January 2015 (Haven't used in 1 year)
• Discover Chrome -> $1500 limit, opened August 2014 (Haven't used in 6 months, also my 1st ever credit card)
• Citi Double Cash -> $2700 limit, opened December 2014 (Haven't used in 8 months)
• Capital One Platinum Mastercard -> $1750 limit, opened May 2016 (Haven't used in over 1 year)

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STORE CARDS

• Best Buy Visa Card -> $2k limit, opened in 2017 for financing on laptop purchase (Paid off, haven't used since)
• Exress Next Store Card -> $1k limit, opened in 2017 for 20% off first purchase, (Paid off, haven't used since)
• Lord & Taylor -> Same as Exress Card
• Bananda Republic -> Same as Express card
• Gap -> Same as Express Card
• Amazon Prime Store Card -> $3k Limit, opened 2016 (haven't used in 1 year)

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi all, 

It seems like I have too many credit cards and I only use a few. My credit age is only 1 year and 8 months according to credit karma. Below is a list of all my credit cards inlduing their opening date and limit. Please let me know which ones I should close. 

Credit Cards + Charge Cards

• CSP -> $5k limit, opened May 2017 (Used 10+ times a month)
• Chase Freedom -> $3k limit, opened April 2017 (Use 2-3 times a month)
• AMEX Gold PRG -> NPSL, opened June 2015, upgraded from AMEX Green in 2016 (Use almost everyday)

  ---

• AMEX BCE -> $2k limit, opened April 2015 (Haven't used in 1 year)
• BofA Platinum Plus Visa -> $2k limit, opened January 2015 (Haven't used in 1 year)
• Discover Chrome -> $1500 limit, opened August 2014 (Haven't used in 6 months, also my 1st ever credit card)
• Citi Double Cash -> $2700 limit, opened December 2014 (Haven't used in 8 months)
• Capital One Platinum Mastercard -> $1750 limit, opened May 2016 (Haven't used in over 1 year)

STORE CARDS

• Best Buy Visa Card -> $2k limit, opened in 2017 for financing on laptop purchase (Paid off, haven't used since)
• Exress Next Store Card -> $1k limit, opened in 2017 for 20% off first purchase, (Paid off, haven't used since)
• Lord & Taylor -> Same as Exress Card
• Bananda Republic -> Same as Express card
• Gap -> Same as Express Card
• Amazon Prime Store Card -> $3k Limit, opened 2016 (haven't used in 1 year)

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I would gradually close the store cards.

[Anonymous]

As the Chase CSP and the Amex PRG are the only ones with annual fees those are the only ones I would consider closing. As you say you use the PRG daily I would cancel the CSP. 

[wasCB14]

It's hard to give advice without knowing more about your spending habits and priorities.

Do you want cash back rewards, or points/miles with hotels and airlines? Any favorite hotels or airlines?

Do you spend a lot on travel? Electronics? Would you make use of extended warranties?

Do you get your food from a regular grocery store, a warehouse, or restaurants?

[Anonymous]

I do travel occasionally. Although I do not have a particular airline or hotel that I book with. I definitly spend a lot on gas, groceries from local supermarkets mainly and I also dine out frequently. And yes, I love the extended warranty features of both the PRG and CSP when it comes to purchases on laptops, phones etc. Of course, I don't buy a new phone every year or laptop etc.

To be honest, I would like to know which of the two card I use the most (PRG and CSP) can be utilized more efficiently... 

[Anonymous]

Kill the store cards!!

[Anonymous]

• Close all store cards
• Close BoA card.
• Close AMEX BCE
• Close Discover Chrome or PC it to a 5% rotating categories card. 
• Close Capital One Platinum 
• Use CSP portal + Freedom UR points for 25% bonus if you don't want to use their airline partners (100,000 MR's will get you $1,250 in airfare). 

Hyatt points also carry a signficant value so you could transfer MR points there, so limiting yourself to just airlines when you have a Chase card in your pocket isn't a requirement to get your money's worth. 

[HeavenOhio]

Close all of the store cards. They're not benefitting you.

Out of the major cards, I'd try to keep at least five revolvers open. (The PRG doesn't count as a revolver.) And I would try to keep at least one of your two 2014 cards open. The Double Cash obviously provides more benefit than the Discover card.

The Capital One card seems to be going nowhere, but consider that it doesn't have a foreign transaction fee. If you decide to hang onto it, see if it can be product-changed into a Quicksilver so you can earn some rewards when you use it.

The big decision is whether or not you're getting value out of the CSP as that's the one with a fee. Keep in mind that it works and plays well with the Freedom card as you can transfer Freedom points to it. If you decide that the CSP isn't benefiting you, consider transferring as much of its limit as you can to the Freedom before closing it. That would give you a card with a decent limit should you need to make a larger than usual charge.

On the cards that you decide to keep, try to charge something every six months or so to hopefully prevent the banks from closing them. You don't need to charge much to do that. To keep bookkeeping simple, pay off the charge as soon as it posts.

[UpperNwGuy]

Close all the store cards and the Amex BCE.  That will leave you with seven cards distributed across six major financial institutions.  After that's done and a reasonable time has elapsed, you may want to make some product changes on the cards that remain.

[wasCB14]

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@Anonymous wrote:

• Close all store cards
• Close BoA card.
• Close AMEX BCE
• Close Discover Chrome or PC it to a 5% rotating categories card. 
• Close Capital One Platinum 
• Use CSP portal + Freedom UR points for 25% bonus if you don't want to use their airline partners (100,000 MR's will get you $1,250 in airfare). 

Hyatt points also carry a signficant value so you could transfer MR points there, so limiting yourself to just airlines when you have a Chase card in your pocket isn't a requirement to get your money's worth. 

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I'm sure this was just a typo, but to clarify for anyone confused, it's Chase URs that transfer to Hyatt. Amex MRs do not transfer to Hyatt.

@Anonymous wrote:

I do travel occasionally. Although I do not have a particular airline or hotel that I book with. I definitly spend a lot on gas, groceries from local supermarkets mainly and I also dine out frequently. And yes, I love the extended warranty features of both the PRG and CSP when it comes to purchases on laptops, phones etc. Of course, I don't buy a new phone every year or laptop etc.

To be honest, I would like to know which of the two card I use the most (PRG and CSP) can be utilized more efficiently... 

 MRs from the PRG and URs from CSP (and Freedom, so long as you also have CSP) are most valuable when you're using them as airline miles (or Hyatt points, for Chase, are also a good option). But it's very hard to judge the overall efficiency of a card without having some idea of the value you'd get from the points. With PRG you'd likely earn a ton of points, but MR points can take a little creativity to redeem. Often the best value is to transfer them to foreign frequent flyer programs, even if you use the points for a domestic flight. That may be more complicated than you want things to get.

If you don't want to play the miles game, maybe focus on cash back cards?