When To Cut Loose FP and Credit1 Accounts?

[rebuildingincb]

Morning all, hope everyone had a good holiday weekend.

I got a SW alert this morning, my Cap1 secured card is reporting, which I didn't think would happen until next month (2nd statement), but I did use it, pay it off, and add to the deposit already so not sure if that helped it to report sooner.

My question pertains to closing 2 other cards, Credit One ($400 CL) and FP ($300 CL). I currently have both cards at $0 balance, and PIF before statements. If I were to close these two cards, would it hurt my utilization?

Before you answer about how these TL's are dogs, and I need to dump them, they are the only 2 companies that would give me credit last year, and I don't mind the fees to keep my utilization percentage falling.

My thoughts were, if I can close them and they still count to my utilization ($700 on $3100 total line would hurt, especially when I keep those at zero and still owe $1.3k on the Helzberg, which I am paying down), then I could focus on adding to my secured line to get it over $1k by the end of the year, and possibly $1.5k by this time next year when both my judgements and all but 2 collections will fall off.

I am trying to get into the mid 600's by the end of the year and buy a vehicle, then upper 600 to 700 by 2015 so I can refi my mortgage. I would also like to get a Barclay's or similar TL by end of year if possible.

[enharu]

If you owe a balance on any of your cards, closing those 2 will hurt your utilization.

I would recommend you close them once you pay down on other balances, and try to add another secured line. You can check out BoA, Wells Fargo or US Bank for secured cards. However, you will need to get your scores up a little more. BoA is probably the easiest to get for their secured cards. 620ish scores should do the trick. Out of those 3 I listed, Wells Fargo is the most conservative.

If you can get to upper mid 600s, you will have many more options that you can consider then.

Best of luck!

[rebuildingincb]

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@enharu wrote:

If you owe a balance on any of your cards, closing those 2 will hurt your utilization.

I would recommend you close them once you pay down on other balances, and try to add another secured line. You can check out BoA, Wells Fargo or US Bank for secured cards. However, you will need to get your scores up a little more. BoA is probably the easiest to get for their secured cards. 620ish scores should do the trick. Out of those 3 I listed, Wells Fargo is the most conservative.

If you can get to upper mid 600s, you will have many more options that you can consider then.

Best of luck!

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I was afraid of that, I will just sock drawer them until I can get the only balance I have paid down (Helzberg). I am planning on getting a secured card at my CU later this summer to replace those 2 cards. BoA denied me secured card already.