topic Re: possibly closing a few cards in Credit Cards

possibly closing a few cards

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 17:13:17 GMT

CCU $500 - first card. account is 5 years and 8 months old. no rewards worth mentioning. haven't used it in almost two years and don't plan on it again.

Kay Jewelers $5,300 - this account is 4 years and 3 months old. use it sometimes to get my lady something and will get a ring with it someday. after that idk

Chase Freedom $2,000 - account is 4 years and 3 months old. i use this periodically if the quarters are good and i couldn't qualify for another one in 2 years or so if i closed this.

WF Platinum $3,000 - this account is 3 years and 8 months old. just offers rewards points, which i put them on paypal and used them all lol. will never use this card again. ever

NFCU cashRewards $10,000 - this account is 1 year and 7 months old. once the double cash promo runs out on the discover It then this will be my general spend card.

AmEx ED $2,000 - this account is 11 months old. not sure if i will ever use this due to me not liking MR points much. have 17k so i need to figure out how to use them lol.

Amazon Prime $3,500 - this account is 8 months old. i use it sometimes for the 5% cash back off of the statement. not sure if i would find anything on amazon to finance or not...

Barclaycard Sallie Mae $3,200 - account is 8 months old. this is my grocery and gas card when it's not in a discover category (due to the double cash promo on discover). i could use this on amazon i reckon (just no finance opportunity)

Discover It $1,700 - this account is 6 months old. this is my current general spend card and i use the categories. plan on keeping.

AmEx Hilton HHonors $1,000 - this account is 5 months old. i don't use it. i got the bonus because i plan on redeeming for some hotels. idk if it is a keeper after the redemption, though.

NFCU LOC $15,000 - keeping.

NFCU Platinum $8,000 - this account is 3 months old. it was a flagshipRewards but i ended up getting the venture with the bonus. this one didn't have a bonus so i converted it. if i could combine this into my cashRewards i would but i don't think they do that anymore i probably won't really use this any more but this is a big card to close so idk

Cap1 Venture $13,000 - this account is 3 months old. got the bonus and plan on combining my newer venture into it after that bonus. will use these rewards on a flight and maybe other things. will probably keep this for the long haul

Cap1 QS $3,000 - this account is 3 months old (got the double approval). got the bonus and will combine my new QS into this once i get that bonus too.

Lowes $12,000 - this account is 3 months old. i just figured you never know when you need to go to lowes.... lol.

AmEx Green NPSL - this account is 2 months old. complete waste lol. thought about keeping it for the 23 months until fee hits just for payment history because i have a few lates. but this card is useless to me so i will close this.

Cap1 QS $3,000 - this account is brand new (02/10/2016) will get the bonus and in 6 months combine it to my other QS

Cap1 Venture $5,000 - this account is brand new (02/10/2016) will get bonus and combine to my other venture

are there any cards you see that seem useless to me that i am missing?

Re: possibly closing a few cards

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 17:16:36 GMT

so basically will end up closing a venture and QS, probably the top one (CCU), the amex green, and maybe NFCU platinum

Re: possibly closing a few cards

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 17:39:39 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
so basically will end up closing a venture and QS, probably the top one (CCU), the amex green, and maybe NFCU platinum

Hello! My philosophy on credit (so you know where Im coming from) is that having too many cards is too tempting to overspend. In light of that any card under 10k I would get rid of because you have quite a few over that limit and it seems like you have grown to be able to have just high limit cards at this point. You can buy a ring or basically anything you want on those high limit lines and earn rewards and what not for them. Good luck with whatever you decide to do!!

Re: possibly closing a few cards

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 17:41:32 GMT

thanks for the info. i use a lot of my lower limit ones though lol. and i would need the 0% APR period for the ring as i am a broke man lol

Re: possibly closing a few cards

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 17:43:58 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
thanks for the info. i use a lot of my lower limit ones though lol. and i would need the 0% APR period for the ring as i am a broke man lol

Could you switch your spend to the high limit? Im just curious because I noticed that when I started closing my low limit cards my limits on my mastercards increased. Im not at your level yet but I went that direction so that was exciting for me to discover. Also the 0% apr is usually offered in bt checks and the like from the higher limit cards. Have you not had that yet? I just think it would strengthen your credit profile to not have those low limit cards. Just my 2 cents.

Re: possibly closing a few cards

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 17:47:44 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
thanks for the info. i use a lot of my lower limit ones though lol. and i would need the 0% APR period for the ring as i am a broke man lol

All the better reason to trim down. Right now my income is sitting at somewhere around $28k, so for me 4 cards is too many. I'll be trimming down to 2 after a while. Then once income isn't an issue, I'll get two more.

Re: possibly closing a few cards

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 18:04:17 GMT

yeah i don't think i would want only 4 lol

Re: possibly closing a few cards

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 18:05:36 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
yeah i don't think i would want only 4 lol

At one time I thought I was wanting 10 or more, but 4 is more than enough as long as they are good cards (read: not store cards).

Re: possibly closing a few cards

takeshi74 — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 20:16:02 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
are there any cards you see that seem useless to me that i am missing?

That's all for you to determine. You have to have a strategy and ensure that each card serves a purpose in that strategy. You should really use that prior to apping but it is what it is. if you don't know how/what to pare down then you need to back to the start and sort out your needs/wants. That will tell you exactly what to keep and what to close.

@Anonymous wrote:
and i would need the 0% APR period for the ring as i am a broke man lol

You won't get ahead by spending what you don't have. Sort out your finanances, set a budget, stick to it, etc.

Re: possibly closing a few cards

UncleB — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 21:31:24 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
CCU $500 - first card. account is 5 years and 8 months old. no rewards worth mentioning. haven't used it in almost two years and don't plan on it again.

Kay Jewelers $5,300 - this account is 4 years and 3 months old. use it sometimes to get my lady something and will get a ring with it someday. after that idk

Chase Freedom $2,000 - account is 4 years and 3 months old. i use this periodically if the quarters are good and i couldn't qualify for another one in 2 years or so if i closed this.

WF Platinum $3,000 - this account is 3 years and 8 months old. just offers rewards points, which i put them on paypal and used them all lol. will never use this card again. ever

NFCU cashRewards $10,000 - this account is 1 year and 7 months old. once the double cash promo runs out on the discover It then this will be my general spend card.

AmEx ED $2,000 - this account is 11 months old. not sure if i will ever use this due to me not liking MR points much. have 17k so i need to figure out how to use them lol.

Amazon Prime $3,500 - this account is 8 months old. i use it sometimes for the 5% cash back off of the statement. not sure if i would find anything on amazon to finance or not...

Barclaycard Sallie Mae $3,200 - account is 8 months old. this is my grocery and gas card when it's not in a discover category (due to the double cash promo on discover). i could use this on amazon i reckon (just no finance opportunity)

Discover It $1,700 - this account is 6 months old. this is my current general spend card and i use the categories. plan on keeping.

AmEx Hilton HHonors $1,000 - this account is 5 months old. i don't use it. i got the bonus because i plan on redeeming for some hotels. idk if it is a keeper after the redemption, though.

NFCU LOC $15,000 - keeping.

NFCU Platinum $8,000 - this account is 3 months old. it was a flagshipRewards but i ended up getting the venture with the bonus. this one didn't have a bonus so i converted it. if i could combine this into my cashRewards i would but i don't think they do that anymore i probably won't really use this any more but this is a big card to close so idk

Cap1 Venture $13,000 - this account is 3 months old. got the bonus and plan on combining my newer venture into it after that bonus. will use these rewards on a flight and maybe other things. will probably keep this for the long haul

Cap1 QS $3,000 - this account is 3 months old (got the double approval). got the bonus and will combine my new QS into this once i get that bonus too.

Lowes $12,000 - this account is 3 months old. i just figured you never know when you need to go to lowes.... lol.

AmEx Green NPSL - this account is 2 months old. complete waste lol. thought about keeping it for the 23 months until fee hits just for payment history because i have a few lates. but this card is useless to me so i will close this.

Cap1 QS $3,000 - this account is brand new (02/10/2016) will get the bonus and in 6 months combine it to my other QS

Cap1 Venture $5,000 - this account is brand new (02/10/2016) will get bonus and combine to my other venture

are there any cards you see that seem useless to me that i am missing?

You've got some really nice accounts there, my friend. I agree with you on the Capital One combinations - I would likely do that as well, but I think that was your plan from the beginning anyway, so that suggestion isn't really much help (LOL).

The one card that I can say I would consider giving the 'axe' is the Amex Green - because I'll be giving my own the 'axe' late next month before the AF comes due in April. You've got the ED card, which is no-AF, so it will hold your MR points until you decide what to do with them. It will also give you access to the occasional Amex Offer, which can be lucrative at times (or at least worth keeping a no-AF card around, IMO).

I agree that the Wells card might have outlived its usefulness, but remember to keep an eye on your utilization when you consider closing cards. While your wells card might not get much use (like, at all) it is still providing 'cushion', and there's the cell phone coverage if that's important to you (I'm not trying to advocate for it, I'm just throwing out data points...). I guess I'm just trying to say that it's probably 'neutral' (if not positive) as far as your credit profile goes, so don't get rid of it just to be getting rid of a card.

(Also keep in mind that indiscriminately closing accounts can be as detrimental as drapping... LOL)

Re: possibly closing a few cards

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 21:41:36 GMT

lol. well my utilization only ranges from 1-3% anyway so losing those low limit cards song do much i don't figure ha

Re: possibly closing a few cards

UncleB — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 21:50:38 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
lol. well my utilization only ranges from 1-3% anyway so losing those low limit cards song do much i don't figure ha

You know what's right for you - you wouldn't have made it this far if you didn't.

Some folks would call me 'paranoid', but my personal take on utilization is being ready for the unexpected... for example, I had to get some dental work done last year (including a couple of crowns) that weren't in the 'plan', and without my 'cushion cards' I would have been OK, but I would have had higher utilization than I like to show. (For the record, before anybody says you shouldn't use credit as an emergency fund, I could have used cash from savings, but I prefer using Care Credit at 0% or another 0% offer to using my own cash, and keeping low utilization allows me to do that.)

Having 'cushion cards' has also come in handy when I've helped out a family member or two from time to time... I only have to be concerned with being paid back, not with my lenders getting 'spooked' because my utilization has spiked... LOL.

Re: possibly closing a few cards

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 21:57:11 GMT

lol. yeah understandable. i am just torn! lol

Re: possibly closing a few cards

kdm31091 — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 02:59:42 GMT

IMO, the Kay Jewelers isn't necessary, but that's your call. You can utilize your 0% period on your new Venture or Quicksilver instead.

The Green and the Hhonors both sound like they don't/won't really benefit you, so that sounds like a good choice for chopping. Same with the ED. I'd redeem the MR points somehow (gift cards, if all else fails) and move on when you're ready.

Wells Fargo if you're not going to use it ever again...I'd just move on.

You know my mantra, pretty much if it's not useful to you, close it and move on. You have plenty of wiggle room with a lot of cards with decent limits.

Re: possibly closing a few cards

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 19:08:57 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
lol. yeah understandable. i am just torn! lol

i'm in the exact same situation. I need to close my Citi TYP, Chase Amazon, Chase Sapphire (not preffered). I just haven't pulled the trigger for some reason... I think Chase Amazon and Citi TYP should go for sure, Sapphire I'm fine keeping.. But Citi TYP I wanted to PC it into something but there's nothing to PC it to?

Re: possibly closing a few cards

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 19:09:57 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
lol. well my utilization only ranges from 1-3% anyway so losing those low limit cards song do much i don't figure ha

Btw which cards did you end up closing? if any lol

Re: possibly closing a few cards

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 19:35:50 GMT

haven't closed any just yet haha

Re: possibly closing a few cards

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 19:51:05 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
haven't closed any just yet haha

Oh no! Lol I know I gotta close at least one Chase card now that I got the IHG my 5th Chase! Bye Bye Amazon... lol