Closing a few of my 10 CC & its impact on FICO

[Anonymous]

The 10 CC I have are listed in my signature, my two oldest ones (April 2013) are Cap1 MC and Citi Foward.

My FICO hovers around 730-750

I want to close my citi diamond(August 2014) & quicksilver(November 2013) since their rewards are nothing to me pretty much.

I read that a hard pull stays on your report for 2 years but only affects your FICO for 1 year.  So I'm not going to close a CC if it's still within that 1 year window.

Like I said, my Cap1 MC is one of my two oldest ones, but it basically has NO USEFUL REWARDS, will my FICO take a hit if i close this card and leave the CITI forward open?

[NRB525]

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@Anonymous wrote:

The 10 CC I have are listed in my signature, my two oldest ones (April 2013) are Cap1 MC and Citi Foward.

My FICO hovers around 730-750

I want to close my citi diamond(August 2014) & quicksilver(November 2013) since their rewards are nothing to me pretty much.

I read that a hard pull stays on your report for 2 years but only affects your FICO for 1 year.  So I'm not going to close a CC if it's still within that 1 year window.

Like I said, my Cap1 MC is one of my two oldest ones, but it basically has NO USEFUL REWARDS, will my FICO take a hit if i close this card and leave the CITI forward open?

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Consider some options. Have you contacted Capital One about PC'ing your MasterCard to a Quicksilver no AF MC? Mine went from a Platinum since 2003 to a QS WMC a few months ago, and the WMC perks include trip cancellation insurance, which you pay extra for other places. 1.5% cash back everywhere. The MC is your oldest CapOne, so then you can move your C1 Visa limit over to the MC and close the VISA?

Alternatively, if you really don't want to or they won't upgrade, move the MC limit over to the CapOne VISA and it will close the MC for you, keep the total CL on the VISA going forward. You did see the thread about Capital One now allowing limits to be combined onto one card?

The Diamond Preferred, sometimes you get promos for that. A few months ago I got a "spend up to $500 on gas, groceries, dining, or department stores for 5% back" so up to $25 back. BT offers are also available. You can SM them or call to see if there are any offers.

[tufa4311]

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@Anonymous wrote:

The 10 CC I have are listed in my signature, my two oldest ones (April 2013) are Cap1 MC and Citi Foward.

My FICO hovers around 730-750

I want to close my citi diamond(August 2014) & quicksilver(November 2013) since their rewards are nothing to me pretty much.

I read that a hard pull stays on your report for 2 years but only affects your FICO for 1 year.  So I'm not going to close a CC if it's still within that 1 year window.

Like I said, my Cap1 MC is one of my two oldest ones, but it basically has NO USEFUL REWARDS, will my FICO take a hit if i close this card and leave the CITI forward open?

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If the cards are not charging you any fees I don't see the need to close them. Just sock drawer them and hold onto the credit that they have and the positive affect that has on your UTIL.

If you still choose to close them obv you will loose the avialable credit which, no matter what your UTIL usually is, will cause your overall UTIL to go up. Less credit = high utilization of the remaining credit. If, however, even with the less credit your overall UTIL will remian under 10% then sure, go ahead and close them. You won't loos the AAoA from them, but you also will stop accumulation additional age from them. If they were store cards or low quality cards with low credit limits I could understand, but that is not the case.

To directly answer you question - your score would take a hit if your overall UTIL goes past 9% - how much I don't know. I don't see any other reasons why your score would take a hit.

EDIT: now, if you can combine you limits onto anohter card, as NRB525 mentioned, that should nuetralize this point.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

The 10 CC I have are listed in my signature, my two oldest ones (April 2013) are Cap1 MC and Citi Foward.

My FICO hovers around 730-750

I want to close my citi diamond(August 2014) & quicksilver(November 2013) since their rewards are nothing to me pretty much.

I read that a hard pull stays on your report for 2 years but only affects your FICO for 1 year.  So I'm not going to close a CC if it's still within that 1 year window.

Like I said, my Cap1 MC is one of my two oldest ones, but it basically has NO USEFUL REWARDS, will my FICO take a hit if i close this card and leave the CITI forward open?

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I'll let someone else speak other details, but I noticed that the two cards you're talking about closing are a Cap One and a Citi. You would also have a remaining Cap One and Citi. Capital One recently rolled out the ability to combine limits, so I'd go that route with Cap One. They rolled it out a few days ago but it was buggy, so they pulled it but I'd bet it'll be back soon. Citi, I'm not sure how amenable to combining limits they are if you're also closing a card, but I'd check into it before I'd close anything. I agree the DP is pretty useless after the initial BT. I PC'd mine to a Double Cash. I plan to get use out of that one. That's another option for you if you're interested. 

[tufa4311]

Combining limits status as of 3 days ago:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Need-advice-on-combining-limits/td-p/4118793

[Anonymous]

Hi Tufa.  In your discussion of the effects of closing the two accounts, you wrote:

"You won't loos the AAoA from them, but you also will stop accumulation additional age from them."

I think you are saying that, if an account is (say) 2 years old when it is closed, you keep getting its 2 years of age, but that closed account never ages further (it will always be treated as 2 years old).

That's a common belief but it is not in fact true.  A closed account continues to age.  Let's take the OP's example of his Citi Diamond.  That card will be 1 year old next month (August).  Whether he closes it OR keeps it open, nine years from now it will be treated as an account that is ten years old.  No difference.

The one drawback is that a closed account eventually falls off your credit report, and then it stops helping you out as far as AAoA.