@Anonymous wrote:
Hello,
I have a 784 Experian score and a 779 Equifax score.
Oldest Credit Line: 15 years, 4 months
Newest Credit Line: 1 year, 9 months
Total Credit Limits: $40,065
Age: 49
I have a credit card I opened with TD about two years ago ($12k) but I never use it and it has a zero balance. At the time, I opened some banking accounts with TD so it seemed like a good idea to have a credit card with them. I have since closed my banking accounts with TD.
I have only one other card, an Amex Gold, and I pay the balance every month. I also have a $25k credit line with CitiGold (0 balance), a $1k checking overdraft account (0 balance), and a $6k credit line with Paypal ($ 350 balance, which I will pay off in five months to benefit 0% interest).
I don't use my credit much at all, preferring to use Amex for purchases.
To streamline my accounts, I'd like to close my TD credit card ($ 12k limit) and apply for a new credit card with Citi.
Is there an optimal way to do this to not damage my credit score and to maximize the new credit card limit with Citi?
Thanks!
To recap, you have four open revolving accounts:
TD credit card
Amex Gold charge card
Citigold LOC (line of credit)
Paypal account
You are contemplating closing the TD card and opening a new credit card with Citi. You'd like some advice about the possibility of closing the TD card. Does all that sound right?
My advice is not to do it. Just apply for the Citi card. I am basing that on the assumption that the TD card has no annual fee.
Instead I'd create a "shoebox" for any cards that you do not normally use and toss them in there. Once every six months, when you are going to the grocery store, take out any cards in your SB and use them to buy one item each.
Set up alerts on your TD card to ping you any time the balance goes over $5. (E.g. fraud.) You'll be very safe keeping it and it will be good for your profile.
When a person has several credit cards there's really no downside to closing one you don't like. But you have exactly one true credit card (the Amex is a charge card). And only three other revolving accounts.
If you end up with six revolving accounts down the road, of which three are true CCs, then it might be an OK move to close it.
There are scads of advantages to keeping accounts open if you can:
They help build your age
They help increase your profile "thickness"
They enable you to create a profile with many $0 revolving balances, which FICO loves (as long as it sees a positive CC balance somewhere)
They protect your profile from harm if one of your other cards is cancelled (that can happen for many reasons)
Exceptions are cards with fees, or crummy "junky" store cards, etc. But your TD card is a nice major CC with no annual fee. Keeping it open seems like the winning move, for at least a while.
