topic Re: Credit card trim down in Credit Cards

Credit card trim down

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Mar 2020 16:59:51 GMT

After my divorce several years ago my credit was a disaster around 405. A lot of work, good advice from the knowledgeable people here, and some good luck I'm currently around 768 fico (3 score average). I just got married last November and the wife while she sports a near perfect credit score is wary of the number of cards I've amassed during my rebuild. I dont carry a lot of balances. I have 3 with a balance, all on 0% used to pay for the portion of our wedding and honeymoon we didnt have saved or gifted to us, not a lot a little less than 10k. So I told her I would go through them and try to trim them down. So I was curious if closing them was a good idea or just sock drawer them. I have 24 card and I laid them all out I actually only regularly use 6-7 of them, 7 i never use, and 10 are special occasion, emergency, or just in case cards. I'm going to list them in their categories and would love any suggestions on any I could close our or any other to please the wife but not damage my credit score I've worked so hard on.

Regularly used

Usaa amex 5% gas $0/2500

Red card 5% target $0/1000

Penfed PCR 2% cb $1950/6000 (used to auto pay rent) PIF monthly

Amazon store card 5% CB or 0% $266/6000

Amex gold for MR points $0/NPSL

Capital one Venture 2x miles $2400/10500 (0% BT used toward wedding) but also used to book hotels.

BBVA compass 3% utilities $152/7500 (auto pay utilities) always PIF

Used only for certain things or special occasions or emergencies

Penfed Promise $0/2500 (have for emergencies no fee cash advance never used)

Care credit $0/6000 have for dental work will need some this year

Amex blue cash 3% groceries $0/3600 rarely use anymore

Discover it 5% categories only groceries restaurants and uber really $396/9500 PIF monthly

BoA cash rewards 3% categories $4000/7000 (on 0% from honeymoon)

Citi rewards $5065/8100 (got this for the 18 month 0% offer 3200 on it from wedding and about 2000 from when our washer/dryer went out

BB&T bright $550/6500 (got it for 0% offer for wedding didnt need it but used it to pay an emergency bill to keep other balances in check.

Delta skymiles Platinum $0/10000 (use this for flights which we take 6-10 a year as wifes family is scattered around the country. But they're raising the AF and I dont know if a companion pass is worth it with having the gold card.

Cards never used

Barclaycard apple rewards $0/2000

Herzberg store card $0/2501 (got for special 0$ when I bought an engagement ring never used since

Capital one Platinum $0/500 was my first secured card

Discover it chrome $0/1550 was my second secured card

Amex cash magnet $0/2000

Amex hilton $0/1300 (have a lot of hilton point if I didnt close this would I lose those?)

Walmart store card $0/2500 (got this for 3% online but the BoA has 3% online shopping but I mostly get online shopping from Amazon)

Oh I also have a blispay card but eh why mention that

Ok I think that's it any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Re: Credit card trim down

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Mar 2020 17:21:37 GMT

Personally, I would never do more than SD unless it's an never used card with an AF. Outside of that specific scenario I would just SD (or even shred) them and let the lender close them due to lack of use whenever (if ever) they feel like it. It will help maintain your AAoA and utilization for the longest amount of time for free.

Because you're doing this for your new wife (congrats) you'll want to discuss this in-depth with her to see what makes her the most comfortable that you're willing to do or compromise with. Is there a set number she wants you to have? Does she have specific goals she wants, i.e.-utilization %, etc.? Is she fine with you keeping all of them as long as they're locked away in a safe or something? The answer realistically lies in that discussion somewhere.

Re: Credit card trim down

Gmood1 — Sun, 08 Mar 2020 18:06:59 GMT

I agree with dyno85.

I normally SD the ones not used often, unless it's an AF card that doesn't get used enough to warrant the AF.

Since no one can tell the future. Some of them might be useful when you least expect it.

Re: Credit card trim down

JNA1 — Sun, 08 Mar 2020 19:04:40 GMT

If it were me, I’d educate her on your card lineup and explain that her nervousness is unfounded. You got to the point you did be working hard on your credit and (presumably) listening to people here. I wouldn’t close any cards just to appease a false notion. If you want to thin the herd to make them easier to manage, that’s a different story, but there’s likely nothing to gain by closing cards “just because”. You already took the hit for HPs and drop of AAoA for those cards, so at this point, they stand to help more than hurt.

Re: Credit card trim down

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Mar 2020 19:15:17 GMT

I would never close cards just to appease someone else. If she is worried about the potential for debt, you can get in just as much trouble with 10 cards as you can 24.

The most I would offer is to SD the cards.

Re: Credit card trim down

pinkandgrey — Sun, 08 Mar 2020 19:23:17 GMT

I would get rid of any and all that I didn't use. Just my philosophy, though--and a philosophy with which many disagree.

Re: Credit card trim down

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Mar 2020 19:27:44 GMT

@pinkandgrey wrote:
I would get rid of any and all that I didn't use. Just my philosophy, though--and a philosophy with which many disagree.

Yes! This.

Why keep around a bunch of cards that serve no purpose to you.

And this crap of not letting anyone tell you what to do with your cards, blah, blah. It's his wife. Once financial matters get mixed, it's not a sole decision anymore. This can ring even more true in community property states. If I was you, I'd close those that have no purpose to me and make the wife happy.

Re: Credit card trim down

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Mar 2020 19:33:39 GMT

Personally, I would let go of those cards you don't use and have no use for especially if it has AF's since its unnecessarily burning a hole through the SD.

Re: Credit card trim down

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Mar 2020 19:44:11 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@pinkandgrey wrote:
I would get rid of any and all that I didn't use. Just my philosophy, though--and a philosophy with which many disagree.
Yes! This.

Why keep around a bunch of cards that serve no purpose to you.

And this crap of not letting anyone tell you what to do with your cards, blah, blah. It's his wife. Once financial matters get mixed, it's not a sole decision anymore. This can ring even more true in community property states. If I was you, I'd close those that have no purpose to me and make the wife happy.

I don't care who you are, nobody is going to dictate what I do with my finances.

I would compromise by agreeing to the SD or possibly even cutting up some of the cards if it would help but I'm not going to burn relationships with a bunch of creditors to appease someone else's needs. I would get a divorce before I would give someone that much control.

Re: Credit card trim down

Gunnerboy — Sun, 08 Mar 2020 20:03:00 GMT

Yeah, 24 cards is too many to me. I would close those "Cards never used".

Even the five to six cards I SD at any given time, I fully intend to use 3-4 times throughout the year. SD'ing cards that I don't foresee using comes off as cluttered to me, redundant even. If I have so many cards that I have to write a list out everytime, then I know I have too many.

Re: Credit card trim down

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Mar 2020 20:17:29 GMT

I would close the ones you never use and keep the emergency ones open in a SD to help with utilization.

Re: Credit card trim down

Aim_High — Sun, 08 Mar 2020 21:14:49 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@pinkandgrey wrote:
I would get rid of any and all that I didn't use. Just my philosophy, though--and a philosophy with which many disagree.
Yes! This.
Why keep around a bunch of cards that serve no purpose to you.

+1 ^ ^ ^

Even closed, the cards will stay on your report for up to ten years for age. IMO, there is way to much emphasis on My Fico about keeping cards open just for the credit age. It really all depends. I did a major house-cleaning a few years ago (which is one reason I don't have even more cards open relative to my credit age) and strategically kept open my oldest cards while targeting the middle and young cards to remove. I significantly raised my Average Age of Open Accounts. Keeping a bunch of cards open that don't serve any purpose for you is just more to keep up with, especially with the potential of fraud today. Also, in some cases, lenders do look at your total credit lines available, so all that unused credit could hold you back from a higher limit in the future on a new account depending on the lender and other factors such as income, FICOs, and Debt.

Re: Credit card trim down

Aim_High — Sun, 08 Mar 2020 21:58:59 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
... the wife ... is wary of the number of cards I've amassed during my rebuild. ... I have 24 cards

Regularly used
Usaa amex 5% gas $0/2500
Red card 5% target $0/1000
Penfed PCR 2% cb $1950/6000 (used to auto pay rent) PIF monthly
Amazon store card 5% CB or 0% $266/6000
Amex gold for MR points $0/NPSL
Capital one Venture 2x miles $2400/10500 (0% BT used toward wedding) but also used to book hotels.
BBVA compass 3% utilities $152/7500 (auto pay utilities) always PIF

Used only for certain things or special occasions or emergencies

Penfed Promise $0/2500 (have for emergencies no fee cash advance never used)
Care credit $0/6000 have for dental work will need some this year
Amex blue cash 3% groceries $0/3600 rarely use anymore
Discover it 5% categories only groceries restaurants and uber really $396/9500 PIF monthly
BoA cash rewards 3% categories $4000/7000 (on 0% from honeymoon)
Citi rewards $5065/8100 (got this for the 18 month 0% offer 3200 on it from wedding and about 2000 from when our washer/dryer went out
BB&T bright $550/6500 (got it for 0% offer for wedding didnt need it but used it to pay an emergency bill to keep other balances in check.
Delta skymiles Platinum $0/10000 (use this for flights which we take 6-10 a year as wifes family is scattered around the country. But they're raising the AF and I dont know if a companion pass is worth it with having the gold card.

Cards never used

Barclaycard apple rewards $0/2000
Herzberg store card $0/2501 (got for special 0$ when I bought an engagement ring never used since
Capital one Platinum $0/500 was my first secured card
Discover it chrome $0/1550 was my second secured card
Amex cash magnet $0/2000
Amex hilton $0/1300 (have a lot of hilton point if I didnt close this would I lose those?)
Walmart store card $0/2500 (got this for 3% online but the BoA has 3% online shopping but I mostly get online shopping from Amazon)

Oh I also have a blispay card but eh why mention that

You won't lose hotel points (Hilton) if you close the Hilton credit card.

If you can, try to combine credit limits on cards you choose to close to at least build your existing credit. You may be able to do that with AMEX and Discover.

That said, I would:

Close the Blispay. Why not? It was an afterthought on your list anyway.

Close ALL the cards that you NEVER use. Two of them are secured cards that you no longer need. They need to go. Store cards like Herzberg and Walmart are also prime candidates if you don't shop there (and use the cards) at least a few times a year. Cash Magnet is an okay card but you have better rewards cards in your wallet. You could move the CL to the BLUE CASH card.

Consider closing at least three others. On my short list would be:

Capital One Venture. (The SUB is great, but for long term, it's not much more than a 2% card with an AF, especially now that the hotels.com 10x promotion is ended.)

Delta SkyMiles Platinum. (It doesn't sound like your travel is heavy enough to recoup your $250 AF.)

PenFed Promise. (You never even used it.)

Once you pay down the balances on CITI Rewards and BB&T Bright, you can decide whether they are something you have a purpose for over the long haul. But they could just be SD'd. The CITI card could also be PC'd to something like the DC card.

If DW doesn't already have a 3% or better groceries card and depending on who will do the grocery shopping, you might consider adding her as AU on your Blue Cash. Now that you have a household, it might become more important.

Re: Credit card trim down

kdm31091 — Sun, 08 Mar 2020 22:52:03 GMT

In general in the credit communities I think there is a real fear of closing accounts because AAoA tends to be somewhat overblown. Yes, it is important, but it is by far not the most important factor in your score. Beyond that, even when you do close an account, it's not going anywhere on your report for 10 years.

If you were going from say, 10 cards down to 1, I'd advise you to do it gradually but going from 10 to say, 7, is really not a big deal IMO and there's nothing to be afraid of unless it will make your utilization skyrocket.

There's also the argument that with no annual fee, there is no real pressing reason to close them and you could opt to just throw them in a drawer. You still do need to monitor them for fraud, but you do not have to actually use them. Lenders will eventually close them for inactivity, but this could take a long time, and if you decide you do want the card, you can make a minor purchase every 6 months or so.

For me, I don't like having to monitor things or have them taking up mental space in my head if I am deriving no benefit, so I tend to close cards that are useless to me for the most part.

Re: Credit card trim down

RobD3 — Sun, 08 Mar 2020 23:33:51 GMT

My first "high altitude" thought is this... We all come at this from different places, and your scores and histories relative to your wife's scores and histories is really an apples to oranges comparison. It just doesn't make sense. I see NO need to trim down cards just because some else says that they may be "uncomfortable" with the number of cards and accounts you have earned and apparently manage quite well. Respectfully, before you just start excising accounts which are in perfectly good status, maybe a good question to ask is...."Why, dear wife are you stressed about this? What specifically and EXACTLY are your concerns?" Maybe she has never had to walk in the shoes of someone who has had to rebuild... Maybe she doesn't understand that even if it feels counter-intuitive, credit algorithms weight MORE well managed cards as a positive and fewer well managed cards a little less positively. You are indeed a "thick-file" and therefore you have more moving parts that require a heftier infrastructure to carry. Does she have this same consideration in her file....? After all, it's alot easier for a thin young file to sport nearly perfect credit and a high score if the road has been somewhat smooth than it is for a heavy, thick file such as yours to regain glory after surviving a "Little Big Horn". In fact, it's a damned impressive feat that you've been able to not only recover from near credit death to the place you're at now, but also that you seem to manage it quite well. I'm confused as to why this would worry anyone...especially your new wife. Congrats on that btw.. As impressive as you've been how could she view the results of those efforts with any sort of drama or stress? Are you kidding me? I think that if I were her I'd be thankful and proud of of what you've been able to accomplish and give your perserverance and management skills thier due credit. Sounds to me like both of your future's are in good hands and will be well managed in the case of any unforseen crisis. You've proven this. Just my 2 cents...

Re: Credit card trim down

Kforce — Sun, 08 Mar 2020 23:34:35 GMT

@pinkandgrey wrote:
I would get rid of any and all that I didn't use. Just my philosophy, though--and a philosophy with which many disagree.

+ 1

We are on the same page.

Re: Credit card trim down

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Mar 2020 23:50:27 GMT

I am all for having a handful of cards and using all of them if they serve a purpose. I also prefer quality over quantity. If you can't use them all, I wouldn't keep them all. I would definitely get rid of the store cards not used. Then any of the major cards that have small CLs that don't grow. Consider any of them that you don't use anymore.

That leaves you with a handful of good cards and the potential of higher CLs on them. It also puts you in a position down the road to go get a new one that really appeals to you or PC one to one you want.

I would tell your wife that you are now a responsible cardholder and you are able to handle many cards well. And also tell her she is correct in that you have too many useless cards and will be closing several of them.

Re: Credit card trim down

Aim_High — Mon, 09 Mar 2020 01:55:44 GMT

@RobD3 wrote:
My first "high altitude" thought is this... We all come at this from different places, and your scores and histories relative to your wife's scores and histories is really an apples to oranges comparison. It just doesn't make sense. I see NO need to trim down cards just because some else says that they may be "uncomfortable" with the number of cards and accounts you have earned and apparently manage quite well. Respectfully, before you just start excising accounts which are in perfectly good status, maybe a good question to ask is...."Why, dear wife are you stressed about this? What specifically and EXACTLY are your concerns?" Maybe she has never had to walk in the shoes of someone who has had to rebuild... Maybe she doesn't understand that even if it feels counter-intuitive, credit algorithms weight MORE well managed cards as a positive and fewer well managed cards a little less positively. You are indeed a "thick-file" and therefore you have more moving parts that require a heftier infrastructure to carry. Does she have this same consideration in her file....? After all, it's alot easier for a thin young file to sport nearly perfect credit and a high score if the road has been somewhat smooth than it is for a heavy, thick file such as yours to regain glory after surviving a "Little Big Horn". In fact, it's a damned impressive feat that you've been able to not only recover from near credit death to the place you're at now, but also that you seem to manage it quite well. I'm confused as to why this would worry anyone...especially your new wife. Congrats on that btw.. As impressive as you've been how could she view the results of those efforts with any sort of drama or stress? Are you kidding me? I think that if I were her I'd be thankful and proud of of what you've been able to accomplish and give your perserverance and management skills thier due credit. Sounds to me like both of your future's are in good hands and will be well managed in the case of any unforseen crisis. You've proven this. Just my 2 cents...

I understand the concern from several posters about the apparent 'pressure' from OP's DW to downsize but that isn't so much the issue here, IMO. For one, he sounds open to reevaluating things in consideration of her thoughts and to me that is a very good thing. It shows he is listening and is respecting her, regardless of what he actually decides to do. Those are important qualities in a healthy long-term relationship. Moreover, he sounds like he believed she may be right and wanted our feedback. So I chose to focus on the profile he described, not the relationship issue, and I think that is more what he wanted anyway. And IMO, I believe DW may have valid points that he may have too many cards.

Now, if he described having 24 cards that were all useful and active, I would not advocate closing any of them simply to satisfy a spouse's desire to run things differently. But that was not the case.

The thick or thin file discussion is really beside the point. Having a "thick" file isn't all about having dozens of useless cards. You can have a very thick file with a relatively few number of healthy and active accounts. And even thick files deserve to be pruned back now and then. There is no need to fear trimming. The file will still be thick once the pruning is done. My file is very thick but I could not even begin to tell you number of cards I've closed or had closed over the years.

I agree with @kdm31091 that the main considerations on closing an unused trade line would be whether there was an AF and whether loss of the credit limit would have a significant effect on total utilization if OP was carrying balances.

Re: Credit card trim down

K-in-Boston — Mon, 09 Mar 2020 02:19:47 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
After my divorce several years ago my credit was a disaster around 405. A lot of work, good advice from the knowledgeable people here, and some good luck I'm currently around 768 fico (3 score average). I just got married last November and the wife while she sports a near perfect credit score is wary of the number of cards I've amassed during my rebuild. I dont carry a lot of balances. I have 3 with a balance, all on 0% used to pay for the portion of our wedding and honeymoon we didnt have saved or gifted to us, not a lot a little less than 10k. So I told her I would go through them and try to trim them down. So I was curious if closing them was a good idea or just sock drawer them. I have 24 card and I laid them all out I actually only regularly use 6-7 of them, 7 i never use, and 10 are special occasion, emergency, or just in case cards. I'm going to list them in their categories and would love any suggestions on any I could close our or any other to please the wife but not damage my credit score I've worked so hard on.

Regularly used

Usaa amex 5% gas $0/2500
Red card 5% target $0/1000
Penfed PCR 2% cb $1950/6000 (used to auto pay rent) PIF monthly
Amazon store card 5% CB or 0% $266/6000
Amex gold for MR points $0/NPSL
Capital one Venture 2x miles $2400/10500 (0% BT used toward wedding) but also used to book hotels.
BBVA compass 3% utilities $152/7500 (auto pay utilities) always PIF

Used only for certain things or special occasions or emergencies

Penfed Promise $0/2500 (have for emergencies no fee cash advance never used)
Care credit $0/6000 have for dental work will need some this year
Amex blue cash 3% groceries $0/3600 rarely use anymore
Discover it 5% categories only groceries restaurants and uber really $396/9500 PIF monthly
BoA cash rewards 3% categories $4000/7000 (on 0% from honeymoon)
Citi rewards $5065/8100 (got this for the 18 month 0% offer 3200 on it from wedding and about 2000 from when our washer/dryer went out
BB&T bright $550/6500 (got it for 0% offer for wedding didnt need it but used it to pay an emergency bill to keep other balances in check.
Delta skymiles Platinum $0/10000 (use this for flights which we take 6-10 a year as wifes family is scattered around the country. But they're raising the AF and I dont know if a companion pass is worth it with having the gold card.

Cards never used

Barclaycard apple rewards $0/2000
Herzberg store card $0/2501 (got for special 0$ when I bought an engagement ring never used since
Capital one Platinum $0/500 was my first secured card
Discover it chrome $0/1550 was my second secured card
Amex cash magnet $0/2000
Amex hilton $0/1300 (have a lot of hilton point if I didnt close this would I lose those?)
Walmart store card $0/2500 (got this for 3% online but the BoA has 3% online shopping but I mostly get online shopping from Amazon)

Oh I also have a blispay card but eh why mention that

Ok I think that's it any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Of the regularly used cards, keep them all! I do see that you are charging rent to your PCR; even though you are paying it in full, yo are taking a minor hit for the utilization on the card card exceeding 30% each month. Have you considered asking PenFed for a credit line increase to give you a buffer here (alternately, close and combine the Promise card into it for a new $8500 credit line)?

Middle cards... PenFed Promise is good, but you do have other options for emergency cash with several cards that have BT offers (including straight to checking like Discover and BOA). Keep your Care Credit if you're gonna have that work done. Amex Blue Cash, since you have the Gold Card which earns 4x on groceries, consider closing it and moving the limit to your Delta card (however, weigh how long you have held this card if getting Amex bonuses in the future is important to you). Discover it, BOA Cash Rewards, Citi Rewards+, and BB&T don't touch since they have 0% offers going.

SkyMiles Platinum - the AF has increased to $250. Unless you're flying during a big sale or not a very far distance, it would be difficult to not at least regain that from the companion certificate. That Gold Card is only covering $100 of incidentals; if you ever check bags that Platinum card waives them for you and up to 8 people traveling with you. Even at the low end of 6 trips, if only ONE of you checks a bag, that's $480 in bag fees for one bag each way on 12 flights. Plus there are other perks with the card as well.

Never used cards... Apple Rewards you can close. Herzberg you can close. CapOne Platinum and Discover it Chrome - have these graduated, and how much older are they than your other cards? If the age difference is small between these and your next oldest card, close away. They're stay on your reports and contribute to age for up to 10 years. If they're still secured, you'll get that money back. If they are say 10 years old and the rest of your cards are all 2-4 years old, then certainly weigh whether keeping the oldest one open will be worth it a decade from now as you would have a decrease in oldest account age. Amex Cash Magnet close and move some of that limit to Delta Platinum (however, weigh how long you have held this card if getting Amex bonuses in the future is important to you). Amex Hilton, no those Hilton points are in your Hilton account. Consider upgrading or downgrading the card to another Hilton product, or if not useful consider moving $300 of it to Delta Platinum and closing (however, weigh how long you have held this card if getting Amex bonuses in the future is important to you). Walmart you can close as it no longer seems to serve your needs. Blispay you could close if it's not useful.

Re: Credit card trim down

Remedios — Mon, 09 Mar 2020 02:29:24 GMT

Monitoring cards is not that much of a chore.

Most major lenders allow for cards to be locked. Lock and have it sleep with the sockies.

You want to have a decent amount of cards that will report 0 balances each month, part of reindeer games.

You also want to keep the cards that routinely get decent BT offers, it's easier to hang onto them, then try applying when you need one, but are in no position to get approved.

Furthermore, utilization padding is necessary as long as scoring algorithm remains what it is today. Without trended data, a balance is balance.

For some profiles, that's a non issue, but if rebuilding, it can become one. You're simply viewed differently as long as negatives remain. Add balance to it, and we're already at two strikes.

You really need to take a look at closing cards not just in "I'm I using them" context, but also in "Do I need them for reasons other than spending"

How many you decide to keep is up to you and your comfort level. I'd keep enough to give myself decent breathing room.

You seem to have gone through a little application overkill, dont make the same mistake now, only reverse.