topic Re: Need advice from the pros in closing some accounts (updated) in Credit Cards

Uodated. Needing advice in closing accounts

morgacj2004 — Fri, 10 Feb 2017 02:52:44 GMT

So I am now in my final stage of the rebuild. I have got all three scores over 700 and have 200 k in available credit. I would now like to cull my cards and focus on CLI and getting some legacy cards. Household income is 125k yr. Travel 3-4 X year including 1 intl trip. Shop mostly at Amazon, Costco Fred Meyers Kohls Macy's and Target. Own a condo and 2 vehicles. Eat out occasionally. Spend about 20 nights a year in hotels. Mainly fly AK Air

Cards I use. A lot

1. CITi Costco

2. Blispay

3. B of A AK Siggy

4. Chase Amazon Prime VIsa

5. AK USA Visa Siggy

6. Macys

7. Kohls

8. Target

9. Barclay Ring

Cards I am not sure about but have some spend

1. PFCU Plat Rewards

2. PFCU Travel Rewards

3. NFCU Go Rewards

4. NFCU Cash Rewards

5. Discover IT

6. Barclay Aviator

7. GAP Visa

Cards that I rarely use

1. BofA Travel Rewards

2. Synchrony Virgin America Visa

3. Barclay Cash Fwd

4. SEARS MC

5. Cabellas Visa

I have a Zero balance on all of the above cards. I have a balance on my CO Venture and CO Venture One. 18 Month zero financing so I can't close. Any advice would greatly be appreciated. Believe it or not I closed more than 15 accounts last year while opening up 5 or 6 new ones.

Re: Need advice from the pros in closing some accounts

Chris679 — Mon, 06 Feb 2017 06:20:41 GMT

Personally i don't close accounts I throw them in the SD if there is no AF. If I want to keep it open I use it once a year, if I don't care I let nature take its course.

Re: Need advice from the pros in closing some accounts

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Feb 2017 06:24:21 GMT

@morgacj2004 wrote:
So I am now in my final stage of the rebuild. I have got all three scores over 700 and have 200 k in available credit. I would now like to cull my cards and focus on CLI and getting some legacy cards. Household income is 125k yr. Travel 3-4 X year including 1 intl trip. Shop mostly at Amazon, Costco Fred Meyers Kohls Macy's and Target. Own a condo and 2 vehicles. Eat out occasionally. Spend about 20 nights a year in hotels. Mainly fly AK Air

Cards I use. A lot

1. CITi Costco
2. Blispay
3. B of A AK Siggy
4. Chase Amazon Prime VIsa
5. AK USA Visa Siggy
6. Macys
7. Kohls
8. Target
9. Barclay Ring

Cards I am not sure about but have some spend

1. PFCU Plat Rewards
2. PFCU Travel Rewards
3. NFCU Go Rewards
4. NFCU Cash Rewards
5. Discover IT
6. Barclay Aviator
7. GAP Visa

Cards that I rarely use

1. BofA Travel Rewards
2. Synchrony Virgin America Visa
3. Barclay Cash Fwd
4. SEARS MC
5. Cabellas Visa

I have a Zero balance on all of the above cards. I have a balance on my CO Venture and CO Venture One. 18 Month zero financing so I can't close. Any advice would greatly be appreciated. Believe it or not I closed more than 15 accounts last year while opening up 5 or 6 new ones.

My advice (YMMV)

Cabelas and Sears will likely take care of themselves by the end of the year (Cabelas will switch to Cap 1, Sears is headed towards bk), so no real harm closing them (Cabelas should give you an in with Cap 1, if you are interested in going that way. However, Cap 1 doesn't treat acquired accounts very well, usually)

Is your Target a MC? They have switched some people to MC (and given huge CLIs), so probably worth holding onto.

BoA tends to offer nice BT, so there's that.

For your travel cards (I am assuming they have AFs), if you travel the airline, they're worth it. If not, dump them.

I'd keep the ones you use, and at least one of the CUs, and Discover. Everything else should be considered to cut. Your usage pretty much already answers your questions.

Re: Need advice from the pros in closing some accounts

austinguy907 — Mon, 06 Feb 2017 07:01:20 GMT

@morgacj2004 wrote:

Cards I use. A lot

1. CITi Costco
~~2. Blispay~~
3. B of A AK Siggy
4. Chase Amazon Prime VIsa
5. AK USA Visa Siggy
~~6. Macys~~
~~7. Kohls~~
~~8. Target~~
~~9. Barclay Ring~~

Cards I am not sure about but have some spend

1. PFCU Plat Rewards
2. PFCU Travel Rewards
3. NFCU Go Rewards
4. NFCU Cash Rewards
5. Discover IT
~~6. Barclay Aviator~~
~~7. GAP Visa~~

Cards that I rarely use

1. BofA Travel Rewards
~~2. Synchrony Virgin America Visa~~
~~3. Barclay Cash Fwd~~
~~4. SEARS MC~~
~~5. Cabellas Visa~~

Barclay's is off the list with the AA potential of them either balance chasing, CLD, or closing them down

Store cards just for a coupon are kind of silly to keep around when you have some other cards that are decent

I know PF/NF cards have different options but, consilidating to simplify might help you out in your fat trimming

Same consilidating with BOA

Since you travel on AK Air it might be worth the AF to keep them around for the miles/passes if they're offered.

This would have you down in the 5-10 accounts range instead of 20-30 cards. Easier to manage and focus on maximizing the results with them. Sure, there's probably some emotional attachment to some of them from rebuilding but, taking a harder look at things and getting rid of the riff raff makes more sense than carrying dead weight later on down the road.

Re: Need advice from the pros in closing some accounts

morgacj2004 — Mon, 06 Feb 2017 19:43:42 GMT

I have kept the store cards not for coupons although that helps but for the 5% discount I get when I use the card. What other card , Visa, MC, AX offers 5% back?

Re: Need advice from the pros in closing some accounts

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Feb 2017 19:58:49 GMT

I would keep all of the credit union cards, they have no AF and tend to be generous with CLIs in addition to having great customer service so for me I would keep them. I am not a fan of store credit cards other than Target because of the 5% discount so I would dump them and use rewards cards when I shop there. Other than that I don't see anything I would be in a hurry to dump.

Re: Need advice from the pros in closing some accounts

AverageJoesCredit — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 02:09:44 GMT

Close the Penfed, NavyFed, and Discover cards!

Dont grow and not worth the headaches and heartaches.....

Keep anything Barclays and Synchrony, they will back you up till the end of the world!

Re: Need advice from the pros in closing some accounts

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 04:25:55 GMT

@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
Close the Penfed, NavyFed, and Discover cards!

Dont grow and not worth the headaches and heartaches.....

Keep anything Barclays and Synchrony, they will back you up till the end of the world!

Are you serious? I have found the total opposite.

Re: Need advice from the pros in closing some accounts

dragontears — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 05:11:07 GMT

Sarcasm is rarely interpreted well in written words and should be avoided in case someone takes you seriously and follows your bad "sarcastic" advice

Re: Need advice from the pros in closing some accounts

morgacj2004 — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 05:23:54 GMT

It was so obvious to me however newbies might take your advice literally!

Re: Need advice from the pros in closing some accounts

AverageJoesCredit — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 12:15:06 GMT

Sorry guys, your right, sometimes my humor gets the best of me lol. Been following Op's journey for awhile so im Glad Morgac got it though. To the newbies, heck im still there myself lol, Penfed, Navy, and Disco are great cards to have and can grow awesomely.

Even though it doesnt really harm you to keep open if no af, if there are cards you are not using and dont plan to use but still want to close some, go ahead. I think its a luxury to have cards that you can cut and still have amazing cards left. Good luck Morgac

Re: Need advice from the pros in closing some accounts

morgacj2004 — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 21:11:56 GMT

Thanks to all for the advice. It is a luxury to be able to close cards esp knowing what a struggle it was to get to this point.

Re: Need advice from the pros in closing some accounts

austinguy907 — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 22:08:59 GMT

It's like going uphill 10 miles each way in a foot of snow. Both directions can be difficult since you put in so much effort to get some of those about to RIP. Just light some candles and put their shredded remains in a shoe box under the bed.

Re: Need advice from the pros in closing some accounts (updated)

morgacj2004 — Thu, 09 Feb 2017 07:16:48 GMT

Thanks for the advice. For now I am going to close the following accounts

1. SEARS MC-CITI-2k

2. Virgin Visa -Comenity-4K

3. Cabelas -WFB-10k

4. BofA Travel Rewards-1k transfer CL first to AK Siggy

5. AA Aviator Red MC- 4K -Barclay. Cancel once I use or transfer the 40 k miles

still on the fence with the BC Cash Forward-9.5k CL. Have used in the past for BT 3% Zero APR-12 month deal

This is the first round. I use Blispay frequently and will keep open for now along with the other store cards. Need to consider which cards to use as my daily driver.?

Re: Need advice from the pros in closing some accounts (updated)

morgacj2004 — Fri, 10 Feb 2017 02:54:24 GMT

Forgot to mention I also closed my Amazon Store Card 6k CL after getting the Chase Amazon Prime card

Re: Need advice from the pros in closing some accounts (updated)

austinguy907 — Fri, 10 Feb 2017 05:00:52 GMT

@morgacj2004 wrote:

still on the fence with the BC Cash Forward-9.5k CL. Have used in the past for BT 3% Zero APR-12 month deal

Discover does this all of the time not to mention they'll give you 12 mo's 0% purchases as well with a quick chat online or a phone call. If you're not using it put something small on it each month like a cable bill and autopay. Hit the CLI button every other month and it will blossom nicely.

Re: Uodated. Needing advice in closing accounts

AverageJoesCredit — Fri, 10 Feb 2017 11:58:17 GMT

Nice job on your cuts. Great to keep what works and what doesnt

Re: Need advice from the pros in closing some accounts (updated)

SouthJamaica — Fri, 10 Feb 2017 12:15:30 GMT

@morgacj2004 wrote:
Thanks for the advice. For now I am going to close the following accounts

1. SEARS MC-CITI-2k
2. Virgin Visa -Comenity-4K
3. Cabelas -WFB-10k
4. BofA Travel Rewards-1k transfer CL first to AK Siggy
5. AA Aviator Red MC- 4K -Barclay. Cancel once I use or transfer the 40 k miles

still on the fence with the BC Cash Forward-9.5k CL. Have used in the past for BT 3% Zero APR-12 month deal

This is the first round. I use Blispay frequently and will keep open for now along with the other store cards. Need to consider which cards to use as my daily driver.?

Don't just close the Aviator, roll the credit limit over into one of your other Barclays cards.

Re: Uodated. Needing advice in closing accounts

morgacj2004 — Sat, 11 Feb 2017 00:39:12 GMT

Exactly. That is what I did the last time I closed a card with them

Re: Need advice from the pros in closing some accounts

grillandwinemaster — Sat, 11 Feb 2017 15:35:43 GMT

@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
Close the Penfed, NavyFed, and Discover cards!

Dont grow and not worth the headaches and heartaches.....

Keep anything Barclays and Synchrony, they will back you up till the end of the world!

"Sarcasm is a tool used for humor!" - Jim Rome

Joe, I enjoy your sarcastic sense of humor!

My wife "lovingly" refers to me as her "lovable, sarcastic, arrogant, bastard!"

Hmm, I wonder what she means by that?? Lol