topic Re: time to thin the herd. suggestions please in Credit Cards

time to thin the herd. suggestions please

Anonymous — Thu, 04 May 2017 21:03:46 GMT

hello everyone. thank you for the wealth of knowledge and experiences shared here.

i want to keep my cards to be managable for me. so it's about time to let some go. have 8 cards, want to get it down to 5, maybe 6 at the most.

these are the ones that i want to keep :

citi dc cl 6900 apr 15 % age 8 months.

amex bce cl 10000 apr 17.74% age 8 months.

discover it cl 4300 apr 19% age 1 year 7 months.

pfcu (local cu) cl 4500 apr 16.49% age 5 months.

the other cards are on the chopping block. suggestions please for the 5th card to keep.

cap 1 qs. cl 5300 apr 23% age 2 year 6 month. oldest card.

bofa 321 rewards. cl 3500 apr 19.24 age 1 year 6 months.

barclays rewards. cl 2700 apr 18.74 age 1 year 3 months.

us bank amex 365 cl 8500 apr 22.74 age 8 months.

have no plans to travel, so i have little to no interest in a pc to a travel card.

im kind of leaning towards the bofa and us bank maybe for the 5th and 6th final cards (maybe).

suggestions and opinions would be greatly appreciated

thank you

Re: time to thin the herd. suggestions please

Anonymous — Thu, 04 May 2017 21:07:41 GMT

I wouldn't close cards unless there's an annual fee -- just sock drawer those with an AF so you get better utilization maintenance and extend the aging on your CRs.

Re: time to thin the herd. suggestions please

SunriseEarth — Thu, 04 May 2017 22:35:09 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
hello everyone. thank you for the wealth of knowledge and experiences shared here.

i want to keep my cards to be managable for me. so it's about time to let some go. have 8 cards, want to get it down to 5, maybe 6 at the most.

these are the ones that i want to keep :

citi dc   cl 6900 apr 15 % age 8 months.
amex bce   cl 10000   apr 17.74% age 8 months.
discover it   cl 4300   apr 19%   age 1 year 7 months.
pfcu (local cu) cl 4500   apr 16.49%   age 5 months.

the other cards are on the chopping block. suggestions please for the 5th card to keep.

cap 1 qs. cl 5300 apr 23% age 2 year 6 month. oldest card.
bofa 321 rewards.   cl 3500   apr 19.24    age 1 year 6 months.
barclays rewards. cl 2700   apr 18.74    age 1 year 3 months.
us bank amex 365   cl 8500   apr 22.74   age 8 months.

have no plans to travel, so i have little to no interest in a pc to a travel card.
im kind of leaning towards the bofa and us bank maybe for the 5th and 6th final cards (maybe).
suggestions and opinions would be greatly appreciated
thank you

Barclays Rewards seems like it'd be be most likely to be pruned, since you can use Citi DC for any of the 2% categories instead. As for BofA, is the 3% gas of any use to you? If not, seems like that would also be ripe for pruning. So that leaves QS and Amex 365.

I'm actually not sure how US Bank is about PCs, because that card might be better for you if it was a Cash+. Otherwise (and unless you need a larger CL for UTIL padding), I'd say close it and keep QS, perhaps in the SD. Both are 1.5% cash back, but QS rewards post more quick and the card is no FTF, if you ever travel.

However, keep in mind that it's good to have at least half of your revolving lines with zero balances. You may want to consider simply keeping the cards you no longer use open but SDed, if you need balances to post on your other CCs.

Re: time to thin the herd. suggestions please

Kforce — Thu, 04 May 2017 21:36:05 GMT

I don't keep cards that I don't need or use.

I would close all 4 that you have on the chopping block.

If you can PC to the US-Bank Cash+. and the catagory's work,

it might be a keeper.

The others are just so-so cards (IMO).

Re: time to thin the herd. suggestions please

Anonymous — Thu, 04 May 2017 22:17:02 GMT

@SunriseEarth wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
hello everyone. thank you for the wealth of knowledge and experiences shared here.

i want to keep my cards to be managable for me. so it's about time to let some go. have 8 cards, want to get it down to 5, maybe 6 at the most.

these are the ones that i want to keep :

citi dc   cl 6900 apr 15 % age 8 months.
amex bce   cl 10000   apr 17.74% age 8 months.
discover it   cl 4300   apr 19%   age 1 year 7 months.
pfcu (local cu) cl 4500   apr 16.49%   age 5 months.

the other cards are on the chopping block. suggestions please for the 5th card to keep.

cap 1 qs. cl 5300 apr 23% age 2 year 6 month. oldest card.
bofa 321 rewards.   cl 3500   apr 19.24    age 1 year 6 months.
barclays rewards. cl 2700   apr 18.74    age 1 year 3 months.
us bank amex 365   cl 8500   apr 22.74   age 8 months.

have no plans to travel, so i have little to no interest in a pc to a travel card.
im kind of leaning towards the bofa and us bank maybe for the 5th and 6th final cards (maybe).
suggestions and opinions would be greatly appreciated
thank you
Barclays Rewards seems like it'd be be most likely to be pruned, since you can use Citi DC for any of the 2% categories instead. As for BofA, is the 3% gas of any use to you? If not, seems like that would also be ripe for pruning. So that leaves QS and Amex 365.

I'm actually not sure how US Bank is about PCs, because that card might be better for you if it was a Cash+. Otherwise (and unless you need a larger CL for UTIL padding), I'd say close it and keep QS, perhaps in the SD. Both are 1.5% cash back, but QS rewards post more quick and the card is no FTF, if you ever travel.

However, keep in mind that it's good to have at least have of your revolving lines with zero balances. You may want to consider simply keeping the cards you no longer use open but SDed, if you need balances to post on your other CCs.

yes i agree. barclays is probably the weakest link.

yes i do have some use for bofa 3% gas. have to look at my spending. have been using citi dc and pfcu as the go to cards.

i can call us bank 2 or 3 times and try to pc it to the cash + and see what happens.

my util is pretty good. knock on wood. normally i'll let less than $100 report and pif before the due date.

i could keep the other cards open for something else down the road, sd them and buy a pack of gum every 3 to 6 months.

btw. all of the cards have no af with them.

Re: time to thin the herd. suggestions please

Anonymous — Thu, 04 May 2017 23:58:39 GMT

did call up us bank. was able to pc to cash + on the first try. i guess i was lucky. lol. took less then 5 minutes. the normal 7 - 10 days to get the new card.

i'll close barclays by the end of the month. want to cash out the rewards thats there. don't want to give them any money, leave money on the table.

Re: time to thin the herd. suggestions please

Kforce — Fri, 05 May 2017 00:12:20 GMT

Congratulations on the PC.

I have a Cash+ and it gives me good value.

Hope it is useful to you.

Re: time to thin the herd. suggestions please

Anonymous — Fri, 05 May 2017 00:25:22 GMT

@Kforce wrote:
Congratulations on the PC.
I have a Cash+ and it gives me good value.
Hope it is useful to you.

thanks. i hope so. i'll give the card a try.

Re: time to thin the herd. suggestions please

SunriseEarth — Fri, 05 May 2017 00:26:49 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
did call up us bank. was able to pc to cash + on the first try. i guess i was lucky. lol. took less then 5 minutes. the normal 7 - 10 days to get the new card.
i'll close barclays by the end of the month. want to cash out the rewards thats there. don't want to give them any money, leave money on the table.

That's great news! Congrats! I'm happy with Cash+...it's a good addition to your cash back lineup.

Re: time to thin the herd. suggestions please

Anonymous — Fri, 05 May 2017 00:39:17 GMT

thank you for the suggestion. i did look a little at the 5%/2% categories. some does look useful.

Re: time to thin the herd. suggestions please

SunriseEarth — Fri, 05 May 2017 00:54:54 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
thank you for the suggestion. i did look a little at the 5%/2% categories. some does look useful.

If you do any shopping at Amazon, the Book Stores 5% category is very useful. I usually select that one and Fast Food. I've also found Department Stores useful, too. It really all depends on your spend.

Re: time to thin the herd. suggestions please

Anonymous — Fri, 05 May 2017 01:00:14 GMT

Yep chop all the ones that you don't use. Some house cleaning is always a good thing!