Time for Pruning? - Merrick, STAR, Cap1 with AF, NFCU Secured?

[Anonymous]

Hey all,

It's been a really good couple of month with new cards, NavCheck, CLIs, etc.  Also had a collection falloff after a couple years of disputing it (medical bill for ex-wife showing on my report), the investigation for a Verizon collection that was fraudulently opened in my name was completed which was submitted to the bureaus for deletion, and some items also aged off.  I got a PFD response on Friday they agreed to delete for 50% payment.  I still have some baddies, but things are definitelty looking up, which made me wonder if it's time to do some pruning?

First off I think it's time for Merrick to go, they served their purpose but $4-$5/month for a card with 29.7% APR that I'll never use I think is a no brainer.  Lately I've actually had to send payments through my banks bill pay feature to have the account at negative 4 or negative 5 so when their monthly fee hits it's still reporting at zero.

My STAR card through AAFES was only for the Military Uniform and Clothing side.  I was recentely medically retired so I have a notice on the account that says: "Military Clothing Plan Closed.  Your Military Clothing Plan is closed and unavailable for future use. You will continue to see the plan on your account and statement until the balance is paid in full."  I have a feeling once that $88 is paid off it's going to close itself which is kind of a bummer, it's my oldest revolving tradeline and I'll be sad when my future AAoA takes a hit when it falls off...

Cap1 I have two cards, the Plat has no AF but has a higher APR than my QS1 with an AF of $39.  I'm not sure if I should try to PC the Plat through EO to a QS1 and close the QS1 or try to get AF removed once scores improve...

Lastly with NFCU.  Currently have 3 cards plus their NavCheck/LOC.  cashRewards (joint with DW), goRewards, and the nRewards secured.  I was hoping the nRewards would automatically graduate, it hasn't yet and I'm not surprised because my scores are still yucky.  I did get a goRewards approved through recon.  After 3 statments and an AR soft pull from NFCU I'm going to see what I can get the goRewards upto CLI wise.  Should I still hang on to the nRewards and hope it graduates one day?  It doesn't have an AF atleast...

Here's what my profile looks like:

According to a Equifax 3-Bureau Credit Report and Scores:

Length of History: 14 years, 4 months (same across all three)

AAoA EQ: 6 years, 2 months TU: 5 years, 8 months EXP: 6 Years, 4 months - due to plethora of student loans, do they have a seperate AAoA just for revolving?

Inquires: EQ: 19 (Why does everyone LOVE EQ lol.  Anyway 13 of those 19 fall off by 9/14/15), TU: 9 (8 of those 9 fall off by 8/26/15), EXP 4 (3 of the 4 fall off by 7/2/15):

AAFES Star Card - Opened: 01/09

Bal: 88/500 (have 0% interest so paying the min while paying down other debt)

Best Buy/CBNA - AU - Opened: 12/12

Bal: 0/10000 (just had CLI from $1500 to $10000, still reporting as 1500 CL, next statment doesn't cut until 1/03/15)

Cap 1 (Plat) - Opened: 06/13

Bal: 0/1500

Cap 1 (QS1) - Opened: 06/13

Bal: 0/750 ($39 AF)

Merrick - Opened: 01/13

Bal: 0/1200 ($4 - $5 monthly "maintenance fee")

Navy Federal NavCheck - Opened: 11/14

Bal: 0/6000

Navy Federal cashRewards - Opened: 08/13

Bal: 1000/10000 (last reported as 4976/10000, statement cuts on the 20th, can't wait to see scores jump)

Navy Federal nRewards Secured - Opened: 07/13

Bal: 355/500 (lower APR than cashRewards, paying min)

Not Yet Reporting:

Chase Freedom $3000 - Opened 11/30/14

Chase Freedom AU - $2000 - Opened 12/1/14

Navy Federal goRewards - $500 - Opened 11/14

Overstock Store - $2700

Thanks for reading!

Oz

[Anonymous]

I'd close the Cap one QS1 and The Merrick card without a doubt. As for the AAFES account, don't sweat it. Its not going to hurt your AAoA. It will still report as a positive account for ten more years after its closed. Contrary to popular belief, closing revolving accounts does not hurt AAoA, it only hurts UTI%. Some FAKO's may remove closed revolvers from the AAoA but FICO does not.

[SunriseEarth]

Congrats on your success!    Since Merrick is costing you money, I think they've served their purposed and can be closed.   As for Cap One, since both accounts appear to be the same age, my thoughts are that you should close one and keep the one with better terms and work on it.   The Platinum has a higher CL, but the QS1 has a lower AF and better APR.   IMHO, I think it'd be more worthwhile to close keep the Platinum open and then see if you can PC it to QS1 get a CLI on the QS1.   This is assuming that you PIF.  If you tend to carry a balance, you can keep working the QS1 and get a PC or at least get the AF waived.  Most of the members here recommend PIF unless special financing is available, but we understand everyone has different credit needs.

(edited, as my earlier post didn't take into account that Plat had no AF, which changes my suggestion quite a bit!).

[Anonymous]

Sunrise, the OP said the Cap1 Platinum has NO FEE but higher interest. If managed carefully, the interest rate is irrelevant.

[SunriseEarth]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Sunrise, the OP said the Cap1 Platinum has NO FEE but higher interest. If managed carefully, the interest rate is irrelevant.

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That actually changes my input, since APR really wouldn't matter if OP does PIF.   I'll update.  

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the feedback so far, I just got off the phone with Merrick to close the account, just in time too as they were about to charge another monthly fee.  I forgot I had a credit balance of $10 with them so I should get that check in a couple days lol.

What do you think the best route with Capital One would be?  Try for adding the rewards to the Plat first?  Then see if I can get EO to permanently waive the AF on the QS1 I'd keep it open, no reason not to at that point...

Anyone have thoughts on the secured NFCU?

Oz

[Anonymous]

Getting the AF waived seems to be pretty common with the QS cards. Worth a shot.

As for the NFCU secured card - even though its a low rate, its not really helping you any. What I would do with it, if they won't graduate it, is to transfer the balance to the other NFCU cashRewards card, then close it, and apply the $500 freed up to the cashRewards card. You'll still be $145 better regarding interest and slightly decrease UTI.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Getting the AF waived seems to be pretty common with the QS cards. Worth a shot.

As for the NFCU secured card - even though its a low rate, its not really helping you any. What I would do with it, if they won't graduate it, is to transfer the balance to the other NFCU cashRewards card, then close it, and apply the $500 freed up to the cashRewards card. You'll still be $145 better regarding interest and slightly decrease UTI.

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That's not a bad idea, I did email them back in early November after we got the CLI on the cashRewards card to see if they'd graduate.  They replied back if I wanted it to unsecure I'd have to apply for a new card and then I could close that card if I wanted.  I still see people getting cards unsecured which leads me to believe that it's system generated based on certain UW criteria... that I haven't met lol.

Eventually if I get the goRewards to $5k or higher I have thought about PCing it to the Flagship card, which gets me thinking IF the nRewards did ever graduate what would I do with it?  The only thought I could come up with was to PC it to their Platinum card (for a possibly lower APR) but that's a lot of IFs and keeping a card just to keep it open.  Since it never did graduate I kinda regret opening in the nRewards secured in the first place.  I had unsecured cards at the time, I was just hoping to establish some history with NFCU to get my foot in the door sooner for an unsecured card.  

The Rep who set everything up for me was real helpful and said they do graduate after 12 months, however I'm sure for most people their scores improve drastically in those 12 months.  For me with the numerous baddies from past student loan defaulting, my scores have improved in the year and a half I've had it open but not to where NFCU wants them to self-graduate.

Oz

[Anonymous]

Called up Navy today to do the balance transfer to the cashRewards, close the card, then used the $500 deposit to pay off the cashRewards.  I thought of something while navigating through their menu.  Why not just use the $500 deposit to pay off the nRewards, then close that card?  I double checked with the rep I spoke with if that would matter (for reporting purposes) and she said it wouldn't.  Everything should be done with that tonight when their system updates...  Merrick is done and so is the nRewards Secured now.  Just have to tackle Capital One next...

Oz

[Anonymous]

+1

Good deal!