topic Re: Reducing credit is fun in Credit Cards

Reducing credit is fun

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 14:38:45 GMT

Closing cards and reducing credit can both be fun. I mentioned at end of year that my goal was to reduce total credit lines down from 234k (too much overall credit) down to around 170-180k. Income is north of 150k and although I'm not a BoA fan, they mentioned having too much credit when i was just showing 205k (other tradelines were not showing yet). So I would not do it for them, but I'll do it for several reasons:

1) Streamlining makes sense

2) Wanting to present the best possible picture for future applications (in garden for at least a year)

3) Acquiring cards with greater benefits and eliminating those with minimal benefit

4) Having a manageable amount of credit

5) Assessing what I need versus what I can acquire (i.e, just because someone will give me credit does not mean it is the wisest decision for me to amass as much as I can)

6) Continually assessing needs and profile and modifying profile appropriately

7) Interest in creating a bit of "wiggle room" for future CLI's that I would like to request

Closed two Comenity Visas (5k each CL) in the fall and it felt great. Recently closed J Crew ($17,500 credit limit) and Bloomingdale's ($14,500 credit limit). I didn't have many store cards anyway, but can definitely get far better benefits from my other cash back, rewards, and miles cards. Plus, I added two Amex cards in November and Chase Hyatt in December. Those were cards that I really wanted and have been using quite a bit, and I did not feel comfortable adding more without reducing the herd.

Which cards will you close this year?

Re: Reducing credit is fun

icyhot — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 14:59:33 GMT

Macy's ($10K) and Hilton, though I want to roll the Hilton limit onto Delta

Re: Reducing credit is fun

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 15:01:42 GMT

@icyhot wrote:
Macy's ($10K) and Hilton, though I want to roll the Hilton limit onto Delta

Sounds like a good plan, icyhot, and I definitely applaud divesting yourself of a DSNB card

Re: Reducing credit is fun

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 15:03:24 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@icyhot wrote:
Macy's ($10K) and Hilton, though I want to roll the Hilton limit onto Delta
Sounds like a good plan, icyhot, and I definitely applaud divesting yourself of a DSNB card

Kudos!! bye bye DSNB!

Re: Reducing credit is fun

BallBounces — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 15:04:39 GMT

I wonder what opinions are for ideal or healthy ratios of revolving credit limits to income is? Is using a ratio for this even close to a good way to look at it?

Re: Reducing credit is fun

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 18:43:53 GMT

@BallBounces wrote:
I wonder what opinions are for ideal or healthy ratios of revolving credit limits to income is? Is using a ratio for this even close to a good way to look at it?

Every lender will look at this differently. Members on the board have seen lenders not blink an eyelash when they have 300k-400k of credit and will approve them for additional credit; others have noticed "too much credit" being mentioned as a factor for certain banks (BoA in my case, may vary between individuals), or for CLI's with several different lenders. Certain credit unions may also be sensitive to having too much credit. Everyone's profile is different so the tolerance for different and high levels of credit is as variable as the wide variety of lenders.

Plus, individual experience with the same lender may vary. While BoA mentioned "too much credit", a friend of mine on the board has four times the amount of credit that I have and is being approved for new BoA cards. And I think that's wonderful and suits that person's individual needs, which is most important.

We all are different, and what may be right for me may not be right for someone else. But it does illustrate that with the same lender, BoA can give two very different answers of what is "too much credit" , even though we both have high incomes. AAoA, total profile, credit score, income, bucketing, relationship with that lender, and many other items factor in.

Re: Reducing credit is fun

icyhot — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 15:27:24 GMT

Wait, what's wrong with DSNB? I know the reporting thing is weird but did I miss something

Re: Reducing credit is fun

ScoreOrBeScored — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 15:36:50 GMT

Yes GAWD !!!!!! Congrats on triming that fat. I will be closing :

1)Kohl's - $3k

2) Capital One PlayStation - $5,500

3 ) Express - $3,000

4) Walamrt - $10,000

5) Amazon - $10,000

6) Kay's - $12,000

im currently at $183k in limits @ 2% Utl across 2 cards with $70k income.

making room for CSP & Hyatt April 2017

Re: Reducing credit is fun

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 15:41:27 GMT

@ScoreOrBeScored wrote:
Yes GAWD !!!!!! Congrats on triming that fat. I will be closing :

1)Kohl's - $3k
2) Capital One PlayStation - $5,500
3 ) Express - $3,000
4) Walamrt - $10,000
5) Amazon - $10,000
6) Kay's - $12,000

@Anonymous currently at $183k in limits @ 2% Utl across 2 cards with $70k income.
making room for CSP & Hyatt April 2017

Sounds great, scoreorbescored! I was thinking of you and your interest in reducing and glad you posted, too. Those all sound like excellent choices, good candidates for reduction, and I like your comment about " making room."

Re: Reducing credit is fun

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 15:42:22 GMT

1) Will close Arrival + as I don't get enough benefit for the AF

2) ebates Visa might get closed by issuer as I don't use it

CSP might get closed if I decide to get Premier

Re: Reducing credit is fun

ScoreOrBeScored — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 15:59:36 GMT

Thnx for the kind thoughts !!!!!

time to evict the current tenants and reserve those slots for new tenants that will pull their weight.....

i do about 70 swipes a month so CSP,freedom,Hyatt will get most of those for sure.

I will only keep loyal lenders on my team.

as stated before , by end of 2016, any card under $15k will get closed.so yes I will be on a HP cli spree this year,

under manual review , all I want to hear is {{{DAMN}}} .. That's better than APRROVED, because that says "IMPRESSED" (without saying it)

Re: Reducing credit is fun

Saleen099 — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 16:13:01 GMT

C1 QS $15.5K sd hopefully combining April
C1 Venture $20K sd hopefully combining April
C1 QS 5k sad hopefully combining April
Discover $11.5k carrying 0% balance definite keeper
Macy's store 21.5K and Amex 5K will Close
Bloomingdale's Store 21.7K Amex 4K. Will Close
Barclays arrival plus. $8500 closed
Barclays ring $2500 closed
Room TO GO 10K and 7.2K will close out

Re: Reducing credit is fun

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 16:04:10 GMT

@ScoreOrBeScored wrote:
Thnx for the kind thoughts !!!!!

time to evict the current tenants and reserve those slots for new tenants that will pull their weight.....

i do about 70 swipes a month so CSP,freedom,Hyatt will get most of those for sure.

I will only keep loyal lenders on my team.

as stated before , by end of 2016, any card under $15k will get closed.so yes I will be on a HP cli spree this year,

under manual review , all I want to hear is {{{DAMN}}} .. That's better than APRROVED, because that says "IMPRESSED" (without saying it)

Love the highlighted sentence

Re: Reducing credit is fun

ScoreOrBeScored — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 16:18:20 GMT

I think they should start up a monthlay closure thread like they do the garden thread each month. That would be great...

"January 2016 Closure Thread "

Re: Reducing credit is fun

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 16:20:32 GMT

@ScoreOrBeScored wrote:
I think they should start up a monthlay closure thread like they do the garden thread each month. That would be great...

"January 2016 Closure Thread "

Great idea! This would also show a balanced perspective and help us all to realize that culling the herd can be a good thing, and to keep that flexibility in terms of continually modifying our profiles.

Re: Reducing credit is fun

ScoreOrBeScored — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 16:30:20 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@ScoreOrBeScored wrote:
I think they should start up a monthlay closure thread like they do the garden thread each month. That would be great...

"January 2016 Closure Thread "
Great idea! This would also show a balanced perspective and help us all to realize that culling the herd can be a good thing, and to keep that flexibility in terms of continually modifying our profiles.

Very great concept !!!! Would be nice if Administration would stick their head in the door and see this

Mods run this by Admin and see what they think ........

this would definitely help people get the big picture by seeing what others are will to give up , in order to gain other products for the long term.

Get advice ice and options without having 350 separate threads about it each month.

Same goes for a monthly cli thread....would cut down on all the 900 cli threads each month .

i don't post cli unless it's something out the norm... Like if I took my Amex to $45k lol.......

Re: Reducing credit is fun

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 16:31:40 GMT

Definitely closing AARP, but only taking $3k from it and moving to Slate. Dont want to hear Chase telling me I'm at my max again if theres another card they have I may be interested in later.
Closing Arrival+, a $24.5k SM card limit is rather unnecessary but Id like to keep the same total exposure with Barclay and they havent given me any problems with consolidating before.

Seriously considering closing BCE and Discover also by the end of the year. Sole reason for BCE being open is bc of the 2000 backdate but I've realized I dont particularly care anymore. Had I not stumbled on this forum I wouldnt have known such a thing even existed. Literally havent used it for months and losing Amex from the portfolio wont bother me.

Discover used to be my favorite card, now not so much. Had one too many hassles getting Discover Deal bonuses and I use it maybe twice a month at most now with Petco. Not getting 10-15% off $60 here and there wont bother me.
At this point Im over rewards/bonus chasing, tired of having cards I dont use and therefore dont need. Should have passed on AARP but too late now.

Re: Reducing credit is fun

OMW2_HighAcheiver — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 16:32:26 GMT

Well....now that I have TWO reward majors, I'm even eliminating a lil sumpn' sumpn'! 😆

5/3
Eddie Bauer
Express
Kohl's (maybe)

Re: Reducing credit is fun

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 16:48:10 GMT

I will be closing my Barclay's Rewards MC this week as soon as my payment posts. I will also be closing Home Depot and seriously considering closing my TR Visa and Overstock but not certain just yet.

Re: Reducing credit is fun

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 17:32:43 GMT

Don't close them too fast. Barclays slashed my limits after seeing me close commenitycards. I reduced credit by 12k, so they dropped my NFL from 5000 to 1500