topic Re: Cancel Amazon store card or not ? in Credit Cards

Cancel Amazon store card or not ?

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Jan 2015 02:40:22 GMT

i have had it for over a year , I used it once to buy a $20 book ! I really don't see my self purchasing anything else from Amazon ., and now that I have 7 other credit cards I really don't see much uses to it besides aaoa my oldest account is 2.8 and its a citi card ., that amazon card Ive had since sept 2013 I have chase freedom and discover that offer cash back bonus on Amazon every year ... What do I do !? Does having a store card ding my score or help it !???

Re: Cancel Amazon store card or not ?

gdale6 — Sat, 24 Jan 2015 02:46:46 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
i have had it for over a year , I used it once to buy a $20 book ! I really don't see my self purchasing anything else from Amazon ., and now that I have 7 other credit cards I really don't see much uses to it besides aaoa my oldest account is 2.8 and its a citi card ., that amazon card Ive had since sept 2013 I have chase freedom and discover that offer cash back bonus on Amazon every year ... What do I do !? Does having a store card ding my score or help it !???

You should maintain 1 store card for mix of credit it gives you a little boost for having one. I would not close it till it passes 24 months of reporting its considered mature by Fico at that point.

Re: Cancel Amazon store card or not ?

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Jan 2015 02:51:09 GMT

my favorite part is that they have been the only one to never give me a cli , I've never requested one either but still $500 is more than enough for Amazon

Re: Cancel Amazon store card or not ?

Imperfectfuture — Sat, 24 Jan 2015 06:09:30 GMT

Sigh, store cards do not offer mix of credit. Mix involves installment, mortgage loans with revolvers. Store cards are charge accounts (not charge cards), and are counted as revolvers. I have very old charge account, not active, they never bothered to close. I didn't meet fico's definition of mix of credit until I opened a secured installment loan.

Store cards are not needed if you have credit cards. Point blank. Even in manual review, it's not considered a mix of credit (call some underwriters to get the full scoop, even though had payment history from store card, no prime lender would consider till year of history with regular card, used my CU secured card till it graduated, and added a rebuilder card. Both reported as credit card, though CU tends to be called something else. Bam, got Amex.)

YMMV, but store cards are not a mix of credit. Ever.

Re: Cancel Amazon store card or not ?

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Jan 2015 06:27:21 GMT

I always say "If you have no use for it than why do you keep it?" Thats my motto in life.

Re: Cancel Amazon store card or not ?

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Jan 2015 16:04:27 GMT

Maybe get a Sallie Mae card (5% cash back on Amazon at $750 monthly) and get something for the purchases you do make. Then close it. Sallie Mae is on my list, once I have it the Amazon card will probably go away. If it's at a higher limit (I've seen 10,000 on Amazon store cards before) It might be useful for me since I'm eyeballing a Macbook Pro and $600 isn't enough.

Re: Cancel Amazon store card or not ?

chalupaman — Sat, 24 Jan 2015 16:13:01 GMT

Despite having Amazon Chase Visa now, I keep my Amazon Store card for the financing deals and as one of my utilization buffers. It's also one of my older cards so that's another reason.

Re: Cancel Amazon store card or not ?

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Jan 2015 16:19:11 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
i have had it for over a year , I used it once to buy a $20 book ! I really don't see my self purchasing anything else from Amazon ., and now that I have 7 other credit cards I really don't see much uses to it besides aaoa my oldest account is 2.8 and its a citi card ., that amazon card Ive had since sept 2013 I have chase freedom and discover that offer cash back bonus on Amazon every year ... What do I do !? Does having a store card ding my score or help it !???

Keep the card... it does not hurt your credit.

You only have 7 cards; it's not like you have 17. It's one of your older cards and will just keep getting older which is a great thing for cards.

People say "closed accounts will report 10 years". I say, why not let it ride 5 years and let Amazon close it themselves. So instead of getting just 10 years worth of reporting, you've gotten an additional 15 years of positive tradeline, AAoA

Does it make your socks itch when you leave it in the drawer?

Also, login to your Amazon card account and press the request CLI button. It is a soft pull and gives nice increases. If you had been pressing that button every four months since 2013, you'd probably have a $4000 limit on that card by now.

Re: Cancel Amazon store card or not ?

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Jan 2015 16:30:36 GMT

With that kind of history you could call the Synchrony bank underwriter (800-379-8173) and ask for $10000 and likely get very close.

Re: Cancel Amazon store card or not ?

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Jan 2015 16:31:23 GMT

Just leave it there chilling

Re: Cancel Amazon store card or not ?

One7 — Sat, 24 Jan 2015 16:42:06 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
i have had it for over a year , I used it once to buy a $20 book ! I really don't see my self purchasing anything else from Amazon ., and now that I have 7 other credit cards I really don't see much uses to it besides aaoa my oldest account is 2.8 and its a citi card ., that amazon card Ive had since sept 2013 I have chase freedom and discover that offer cash back bonus on Amazon every year ... What do I do !? Does having a store card ding my score or help it !???
Keep the card... it does not hurt your credit.

You only have 7 cards; it's not like you have 17. It's one of your older cards and will just keep getting older which is a great thing for cards.

People say "closed accounts will report 10 years". I say, why not let it ride 5 years and let Amazon close it themselves. So instead of getting just 10 years worth of reporting, you've gotten an additional 15 years of positive tradeline, AAoA

Does it make your socks itch when you leave it in the drawer?

Also, login to your Amazon card account and press the request CLI button. It is a soft pull and gives nice increases. If you had been pressing that button every four months since 2013, you'd probably have a $4000 limit on that card by now.

Fantastic advice

Re: Cancel Amazon store card or not ?

pipeguy — Sat, 24 Jan 2015 16:56:12 GMT

Generally store cards are high APR accounts that I/you should close if you don't use them and don't need them - that being said many of the cards that are backed by GE/Sync offer 6-12-18 month 0% APR on purchases (subject to minimum amounts).

Considering the multitude of products available through Amazon, I consider this the premier card for no cost financing and I use it all the time for 0% extended payment purchases. I really don't care about the higher published everyday APR's because I always pay before the promotional rate expires.

Based on my usage of Amazon - I'd vote to keep it open just for the option to use free financing if needed. Note too that my card went from $600 opening CL to $5000 in about 3 years mainly using the luv button, but with some auto-increases too.

Re: Cancel Amazon store card or not ?

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Jan 2015 17:07:29 GMT

When you think about it, Amazon is the easiest to keep open because there is no actual CARD, it's just an account that you can leave open and buy things when you want to. It's not considered a subprime account by any means despite it being a store card, and you can get decent CLIs by hitting the love button, or especially calling the UW.

Re: Cancel Amazon store card or not ?

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Jan 2015 17:12:28 GMT

@gdale6 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
i have had it for over a year , I used it once to buy a $20 book ! I really don't see my self purchasing anything else from Amazon ., and now that I have 7 other credit cards I really don't see much uses to it besides aaoa my oldest account is 2.8 and its a citi card ., that amazon card Ive had since sept 2013 I have chase freedom and discover that offer cash back bonus on Amazon every year ... What do I do !? Does having a store card ding my score or help it !???
You should maintain 1 store card for mix of credit it gives you a little boost for having one. I would not close it till it passes 24 months of reporting its considered mature by Fico at that point.

Store cards are credit cards or charge cards and give you no additional boost beyond having any other credit or charge card. The original poster might benefit by keeping the line open as a utilization buffer or even just another positive TL. However, the fact that the Amazon card is a store card has no beneficial effect on his score beyond that which any other card with the same statistics (CL, utilization, age, etc) would have.

Re: Cancel Amazon store card or not ?

ecxpa — Sat, 24 Jan 2015 17:24:32 GMT

GOOD deals on Amazon......use the card and it will grow. I think you have to use it though to get CLI. It's a SP and a good utilization buffer. I've never closed a card because I didn't need it......have had some store cards closed by the lender for not using, Target and Haverty's furniture. I've worked to hard to get my credit rebuilt to throw back the cards that helped. AF cards are another story I'm looking a chopping some of these. I personally see no benefit from closing a card that isn't costing you anything.

However, I am not an expert, maybe closing a card you are not using could improve your chances of getting a card you would use. I would love to see some of the experts here comment as to whether or not closing one CL can help you get another CL.

Re: Cancel Amazon store card or not ?

peaceonearth — Sat, 24 Jan 2015 17:40:10 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
i have had it for over a year , I used it once to buy a $20 book ! I really don't see my self purchasing anything else from Amazon ., and now that I have 7 other credit cards I really don't see much uses to it besides aaoa my oldest account is 2.8 and its a citi card ., that amazon card Ive had since sept 2013 I have chase freedom and discover that offer cash back bonus on Amazon every year ... What do I do !? Does having a store card ding my score or help it !???

You're not paying any AF. I would just leave it alone.

Re: Cancel Amazon store card or not ?

Imperfectfuture — Sat, 24 Jan 2015 19:13:35 GMT

@ecxpa wrote:
GOOD deals on Amazon......use the card and it will grow. I think you have to use it though to get CLI. It's a SP and a good utilization buffer. I've never closed a card because I didn't need it......have had some store cards closed by the lender for not using, Target and Haverty's furniture. I've worked to hard to get my credit rebuilt to throw back the cards that helped. AF cards are another story I'm looking a chopping some of these. I personally see no benefit from closing a card that isn't costing you anything.

However, I am not an expert, maybe closing a card you are not using could improve your chances of getting a card you would use. I would love to see some of the experts here comment as to whether or not closing one CL can help you get another CL.

Actually, yes. The more conservative banks, chase included, have an internal limit of combined credit allowed. Also, there are many in the camp that if you don't use it, close it. IF you have a toy limit on several cards, and keep them open, your starting limits on prime cards are lower. Also, manual review likes to see usage on cards.

I tend at this time to keep cards open and reporting for a minimum of 12 statements. The legacy Visa is on the chopping block when the 12th statement posts to my report. The only reason.that oes schwab is still there, oldest account, it's inactive, and created before the vast majority of folks were paying by internet. But it's only one card. Open date Jan 2007. Conversely, my next card was opened May 2013.

Whether inactive cards help is another matter. My AAoA for Transunion comes out at 2.2 years, while eq comes out at 1+ some years (don't remember exactly). I also have a closed by consumer credit card on eq for capital one, that doesn't show up on my other reports. It will hang out until 2017, I'll take it.

I truly believe that once past the rebuilding stage (scores over 700, 720, your personal preference), you should only keep the cards that are beneficial to you. How bout some juicy new rewards or travel card coming out, just when your income increases enough to enjoy the benefits, but your multitude of no fee rebuilder commenity cards, synchrony cards hold you back on approval? Or, when getting that business card with all the perks, including hidden trade line, they definitely want to see only credit you DO use, their limit is based off several factors, including available credit. You want to consistently future proof your portfolio, and pruning is part of gardening.

Just my thoughts, but if OP only used the card for 20, and has no intention of using again, even the promos are not good, close the dang card. :-)

Re: Cancel Amazon store card or not ?

DaveInAZ — Sat, 24 Jan 2015 22:59:07 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
i have had it for over a year , I used it once to buy a $20 book ! I really don't see my self purchasing anything else from Amazon ., and now that I have 7 other credit cards I really don't see much uses to it besides aaoa my oldest account is 2.8 and its a citi card ., that amazon card Ive had since sept 2013 I have chase freedom and discover that offer cash back bonus on Amazon every year ... What do I do !? Does having a store card ding my score or help it !???

Yeah, I had that situation - I opened an Amazon store card last spring only because I was making a rare Amazon purchase for $40 and during checkout that offered a $25 credit for opening the account. Never used it again. Amazon is OK, but I have a Best Buy MC that gives me ElitePlus status, free 2 day shipping w/no min. purchase + 5x points, so BB is a better deal for me. I decided to close the Amazon card last fall. Now that I've decided to put my house on the market this spring I need to spruce things up a bit, so I'm going to apply for a Lowes card, also issued by Synchrony, and I'll use that much more than I would the Amazon card. .