sharilibrary wrote:
I have four cc with the same company (household bank).
One has a small credit limit of 300, one is 700. Both of these have $69 annual fees. I want to close them because the company will not remove the fee. Also, they charge me 15 dollars everytime I request a credit limit. They are basically detriments to me I believe.
The other cards are a little better. one has a 1000 limit and only a 19.00 annual fee. The other is a 400 limit and no annual fee.
The company won't consolidate this for into one card. I have zero balances on all of them and have paid ontime for a year. What is my best move? My credit score now is 657 and I'd like it to be better so I can buy a house and a new car with a low interest rate.
Thanks!
Welcome to the forums!
Your best move depends on a few things, including what else is in your credit profile.
Do you have other cc's? If so, please list their CL's and current balances, if any.
Please also list any other TL's.
If you haven't already, you might want to read Closing Credit Cards and possibly Credit Scoring 101 (linked in my signature lines).
Generally speaking, closing cards can impact your scores negatively in a couple of ways: Average Age of Accounts (AAoA) and in your utilization (debt-to-available-credit ratio).
The AAoA hit won't take place for about ten years, as closed accounts continue to be factored into scores for a while.
However, the util hit (if any) would be immediate - that's why we need to know what the rest of your credit picture looks like.
and high annuals to limit exposure and if you should ask for an increase we'll slap you upside your head for that too.
You can do better, and I know you'll make the right choice.
