Should I cancel or close any credit cards?

[ScottL]

I started rebuilding my credit about 3 years ago.  i had gone through a divorce, multiple lates, collections, charge offs. I had a 498 credit score when I intially signed up on this MYFICO site.   I am proud to say I am near 700 on all 3 CBs.  I just recently opened a new $10,000 Amex card and got my Southwest cc limit bumped up to $7,000 and paid down my balance. So I expect this all to jump even more with better utilization % now once its all reported.

That said, here is a list of my current credit cards from my first secured card to my most recent Amex and when I opened them and their credit limit.  My question is now that i have a full wallet of credit cards. Should I cancel or close some of the smaller ones that i would never use?  And if I do not ever use these, will they cancel or close on their own or will they stay open forever even if i dont use them?

Capital One secured - 1/2013 - $750 limit / $0 balance

Capital One Quicksilver - 9/2014 - $1600 limit / $0 balance

Credit One - 5/2014 - $800 limit / $0 balance

Overstock - 7/2015 - $900 limit / $0 balance

Express - 5/2015 $900 limit / $0 balance

J Crew - 5/2015 $850 limit / $0 balance

Restoration Hardware - 12/2015 - $7,000 limit / $300 balance

Chase Southwest - 1/2016 $7,000 limit / $3000 balance

Care Credit - 4/2016 - $5,000  limit / $0 balance

American Express Blue - $10,000 limit / $0 balance

The only one I plan to actually use is the Southwest to gain miles (my monthly bills are all paid on this and i pay it each month).  Then the Amex and Care Credit for emergencies are nice to have.  Other than that, I dont plan to actually use any. I only got them at the time to help build my credit.

[Anonymous]

---

@ScottL wrote:

I started rebuilding my credit about 3 years ago.  i had gone through a divorce, multiple lates, collections, charge offs. I had a 498 credit score when I intially signed up on this MYFICO site.   I am proud to say I am near 700 on all 3 CBs.  I just recently opened a new $10,000 Amex card and got my Southwest cc limit bumped up to $7,000 and paid down my balance. So I expect this all to jump even more with better utilization % now once its all reported.

That said, here is a list of my current credit cards from my first secured card to my most recent Amex and when I opened them and their credit limit.  My question is now that i have a full wallet of credit cards. Should I cancel or close some of the smaller ones that i would never use?  And if I do not ever use these, will they cancel or close on their own or will they stay open forever even if i dont use them?

Capital One secured - 1/2013 - $750 limit / $0 balance

Capital One Quicksilver - 9/2014 - $1600 limit / $0 balance

Credit One - 5/2014 - $800 limit / $0 balance

Overstock - 7/2015 - $900 limit / $0 balance

Express - 5/2015 $900 limit / $0 balance

J Crew - 5/2015 $850 limit / $0 balance

Restoration Hardware - 12/2015 - $7,000 limit / $300 balance

Chase Southwest - 1/2016 $7,000 limit / $3000 balance

Care Credit - 4/2016 - $5,000  limit / $0 balance

American Express Blue - $10,000 limit / $0 balance

The only one I plan to actually use is the Southwest to gain miles (my monthly bills are all paid on this and i pay it each month).  Then the Amex and Care Credit for emergencies are nice to have.  Other than that, I dont plan to actually use any. I only got them at the time to help build my credit.

---

I would certainly close the credit one. Close the Secured Cap One, then app for a QS/Venture (or both) Request CLI on the current Cap One QS and combine them when the new one(s) are six months old. You could easily come out in six months with a 10k + limit card.

[Anonymous]

I personally don't believe in closing credit card accounts. Granted some of those like Credit One and secured cards are not very enticing if they are several years old I would keep them open for the sake of keeping a long AAoA. I have one secured credit card that I still use at sketchy places, even if they stole my credit card information with a $500 credit limit, they won't get far.

[luckelle]

When you close a cc you don't lose the average age for ten years you just loose the card credit limit. I had a card as authorized user added to my account for one week and then terminated. I still have the 10 year AA minus the credit limit. Remember good accounts stay good for ten years on your account from date of closure even if closed.

[sarge12]

---

@luckelle wrote:

When you close a cc you don't lose the average age for ten years you just loose the card credit limit. I had a card as authorized user added to my account for one week and then terminated. I still have the 10 year AA minus the credit limit. Remember good accounts stay good for ten years on your account from date of closure even if closed.

---

You guys are responding to a thread that is almost 5 months old. I doubt the OP is still monitoring this, but I could be wrong...my guess, you did not notice the date, I've done this myself.