topic Re: Can I close my starter Credit Cards? in Credit Cards

Can I close my starter Credit Cards?

Ontherise2020 — Tue, 11 Oct 2022 19:03:10 GMT

Hello All,

Need some advice. I have been rebuilding my credit for quite some time (since 2015 to be exact) and of course, I started with the usual rebuild cards such as First Premier ($1650 & a second one for $1700), 2 Credit One cards ($700 & $800), Indigo ($300), Mission Lane ($500) and First Savings ($2100).

Since then I currently have credit cards with much higher limits with my total amount of credit close to $165K. I know that the Average Age of Accounts is important and i do not want to jeopardize my credit score which is in the mid 700's.

Is it ok to close the rebuilder cards? Any information you can give me would be most appreciated.

Thank you!!

Re: Can I close my starter Credit Cards?

GZG — Tue, 11 Oct 2022 20:21:38 GMT

AAoA will still continue to count closed accounts for up to 10 years, so you should be fairly safe to close out your rebuilding cards.

I can't find anything in the primer from the forum Primer or older DPs from people here that suggest that once you're credit established with multiple high-limit cards, closing rebuilder cards would be a bad thing.

10+ years from now when those accounts fall off of your reports, you might have a tiny dip because your oldest revolvers will be younger than your rebuilder cards would have been but it will be entirely negligible assuming you maintain you continue to maintain your credit.

I'd definitely appreciate additional DPs on this though

Re: Can I close my starter Credit Cards?

gdale6 — Tue, 11 Oct 2022 21:17:04 GMT

If you no longer have a need for them, close them down especially if they have an AF.

Re: Can I close my starter Credit Cards?

raisemysc0re — Wed, 12 Oct 2022 01:47:19 GMT

Wouldn't it be prudent to keep your oldest non-AF card, even if it is a starter card to maintain AoOA?

Re: Can I close my starter Credit Cards?

WasteMgmt — Wed, 12 Oct 2022 02:34:43 GMT

I may keep the oldest no annual fee card open. Probably close the CreditOne cards. And when you get some more prime cards evaluate cutting out some others as they stay on your report for 10 years.

Re: Can I close my starter Credit Cards?

SouthJamaica — Wed, 12 Oct 2022 03:36:35 GMT

@Ontherise2020 wrote:
Hello All,
Need some advice. I have been rebuilding my credit for quite some time (since 2015 to be exact) and of course, I started with the usual rebuild cards such as First Premier ($1650 & a second one for $1700), 2 Credit One cards ($700 & $800), Indigo ($300), Mission Lane ($500) and First Savings ($2100).

Since then I currently have credit cards with much higher limits with my total amount of credit close to $165K. I know that the Average Age of Accounts is important and i do not want to jeopardize my credit score which is in the mid 700's.

Is it ok to close the rebuilder cards? Any information you can give me would be most appreciated.
Thank you!!

Yes it's ok. They'll continue to be factored into your FICO aging metrics so long as they continue to be reported, which is usually many years down the road.

Re: Can I close my starter Credit Cards?

TheRedHat — Wed, 12 Oct 2022 03:49:43 GMT

If I'm being completely honest here, if I had the same TCL as you, I would close all of the rebuild cards and not look back.

Re: Can I close my starter Credit Cards?

raisemysc0re — Wed, 12 Oct 2022 16:51:35 GMT

I have a CapOne QS card with no AF that I am thinking ofd closing.

It is one of my oldest, but not 'THE' oldest and is my second lowest CL card.

It really does not serve a purpose so I was just running a small monthly subscription through it to keep it current.

I just moved the subscription to another card and was ready to hit the cancel button but should I just wait til CapOne closes it on their end?

Re: Can I close my starter Credit Cards?

FLLGuy — Wed, 12 Oct 2022 20:57:05 GMT

i guess there comes that moment in our credit journey to reassess. I like this topic as it personally struck a chord with me and my line up.

Starter cards I've let go after a 1yr post BK13 discharge:

Credit One / CL $700
OllO Rewards / CL $2,100
AU - Amex BCP pc'd to Blue Everyday / CL $2,000

Next - soon enough Overstock CL $19,750 and my two other AU Amex cards.

Re: Can I close my starter Credit Cards?

805orbust — Thu, 13 Oct 2022 01:02:35 GMT

Chop ANY rebuilder cards with an annual fee yesterday... yesterday. As for the next wave, totally up to you, but if no annual fee you can sock drawer them, it doesn't hurt. For me? I'm closing even the 2nd wave cards. All will continue to report for 10 years, and once you have a high enough aggregate (say $40-50,000) what value does a $1-2000 card add to your utilization really?

Re: Can I close my starter Credit Cards?

Ontherise2020 — Thu, 13 Oct 2022 16:29:26 GMT

@gdale6 They do have annual fees and they are sock drawer cards at this point! Thank you for responding!

Re: Can I close my starter Credit Cards?

CYBERSAM — Thu, 13 Oct 2022 16:49:13 GMT

@805orbust wrote:
Chop ANY rebuilder cards with an annual fee yesterday... yesterday. As for the next wave, totally up to you, but if no annual fee you can sock drawer them, it doesn't hurt. For me? I'm closing even the 2nd wave cards. All will continue to report for 10 years, and once you have a high enough aggregate (say $40-50,000) what value does a $1-2000 card add to your utilization really?

X2 💯

@Ontherise2020 Not only you don't need them but probably you are not monitoring them as closely as you started! Some of these rebuilder banks have horrible fraud protection procedure (ie. Creditone)

Also what can you really buy with very low limits? Most likely is going to effect your score negatively if you go shopping because of utilization!

You probably have one card that has more limit then all of these combine! Cut them and move on.

Great job on improving your credit 👍👍

Re: Can I close my starter Credit Cards?

mrcrisp023 — Thu, 13 Oct 2022 18:02:15 GMT

Personally I wouldn’t close them all at once as that will really hurt your AAoA. I’m not sure how much it will impact your scores though. If it were me I would close them gradually. I’m still learning though, that may be too conservative.

Re: Can I close my starter Credit Cards?

805orbust — Thu, 13 Oct 2022 18:51:26 GMT

@mrcrisp023 being conservative with credit will NEVER get you in trouble with me. However, even after closed, the accounts will continue to factor into your AAoA for up to 10 years. (Can be shorter with certain lenders, ymmv) But it'll be a LONG time before you feel those affects. Of course there will be a change in the utilization so that will be immediate, but as far as losing your age don't let it spoil your weekend

Re: Can I close my starter Credit Cards?

BronzeTrader — Thu, 13 Oct 2022 19:28:13 GMT

If the old card won't affect you negatively, like on-going annuel fee etc, there is no need to close any existing card. Sure you can close some of the department store cards since you probably won't shop there again. And you already get so many cards to mange.

Re: Can I close my starter Credit Cards?

Ontherise2020 — Thu, 13 Oct 2022 22:55:03 GMT

@GZG Thank you for your response! All my rebuilders have either AF's or MF's and they are in the sock drawer. I do not want to continue to pay fees on cards I never use.

Re: Can I close my starter Credit Cards?

Ontherise2020 — Thu, 13 Oct 2022 22:56:32 GMT

@raisemysc0re All my starter cards have either hefty AF's and / or MF's and I never use these cards.

Re: Can I close my starter Credit Cards?

Ontherise2020 — Thu, 13 Oct 2022 22:58:16 GMT

@WasteMgmt I actually have a lot of prime cards with large credit limits so I closed all my rebuilders as the AF's & MF's are big and I don't want to pay fees for cards that I no longer use.

Re: Can I close my starter Credit Cards?

Ontherise2020 — Thu, 13 Oct 2022 23:00:30 GMT

@FLLGuy I would not close the Overstock card because your CL is huge and can factor into your credit utilization numbers.

Re: Can I close my starter Credit Cards?

Ontherise2020 — Thu, 13 Oct 2022 23:03:59 GMT

@TheRedHat I did just that! Closed all my rebuilders! All had either AF's or MF's