close cc vs leave open & pay..

[Anonymous]

I have several cc that are approximately 10-13 years old that are "sub-prime", charging me monthly service fees and high interest rates.

My new cards are no annual fee, good cl and reasonable interest rates.

Question:

If I close the old cards, will that dramatically drop my credit score? (Ex 670--don't know TU or EQ)

Please advise & thanks!

[Anonymous]

Unless it will leave the uti high on your remaiing cards I would close at the next annual fee.  Ifyou wait til they get ready to charge the AF, it will also give you time to bring down uti if that is a problem.  The cards will remain on your file for a min of 10 years

[haulingthescoreup]

Can you post your cards with the dates that they were open, and which ones have fees? One really useful thing to know is if any of them can be upgraded to decent cards, and still keep the history.

You're in an unusual position for these forums --most posters' sub-prime cards are pretty young, and closing them doesn't really have an impact.

If you do close them, they *should* hang on your reports for another 10 years, helping you out, but sometimes closed cards go poof, and it can be pretty tough getting the original creditor to agree to go ahead and keep on updating them.

edit: whoops, sorry, we crossed. I defer to Brammy--she's the veteran!

Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 11-09-2007 08:07 PM

[Anonymous]

Thanks...

Working on paying down. Most cards are anywhere between 10-60% utilization.

[Anonymous]

Applied Card Bank (previously Cross Country approx 1995-96)

Bank First approx 1997

I know have

Sams

Wells Fargo

Capitol One

gas cards

[Anonymous]

whats your limit with applied card? I think you can upgrade that card.

[Anonymous]

1850 on one and 1250 on the other

[haulingthescoreup]

This is awfully confusing to try to untangle. Could you do something like:

Card A * opened 12/1997 * CL $1000 * bal $380 * AF $49
Card B * opened 10/2001 * CL $300 * bal $0 * AF $0
and the same for all your revolving credit (CC's)

or something like that. That way, we can see which ones can be upgraded, which ones help more than hurt, and which ones need to go into the Veg-o-matic. thx

[Anonymous]

Card 1 Applied 1995 or 1996, not sure what month, CL 1850 bal: 800, AF 50, MF 6.00 23.99%

Card 2 Applied 1996 CL 1250, bal: 600, AF 50, MF 6.00 23.99%

Card 3 Bank First 1997 CL 650, Bal 350, AF 50 MF 8.95 26%

these are the cards I want to close, but don't want to hurt my history...

My other cards have anywhere between 1000-4000 CL with no AF and lower interest rates

Thanks again everyone for your help...

[fused]

Hi live-learn and welcome! For more info on closing credit cards click on the link in my sig line.