topic Re: Should I close CCs in Credit Cards

Should I close CCs

lexus400 — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 16:48:32 GMT

I have a credit one CC and a first premier CC. Both since Mar 2008 never late and now with a zero balance. I dont want to continue paying annual fees for a card with a 200 and a 250 credit limit. Should i close or bite the annual fee bullet. Will this hurt my score. Thanks for any and all responses.

Re: Should I close CCs

fused — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 17:15:30 GMT

Do you have other CCs? If so, what are their CLs and balances, and are they in good standing? Also, you might want to read the CC link in my siggy.

Re: Should I close CCs

Anonymous — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 19:03:21 GMT

Toy limit cards are there to allow yuo to demonstrate payment history without

the poor lenders taking any real risk.

Now that you have 2 years of perfect history on those cards, considering apping

for another unsecured or 2, then close those toy cards. They are there simply

to milk fees and will likely never rise to real credit limits.

A trick I recently used was I apped for a CLI on my credit union CC.

I explained that I wanted to close out the toy cards, balance transfer

over to my CU and raise the CL by $1500. They approved and I think

my suggestion of "trading" 4 toy limits for a higher limit on my CU card

was a factor.

The BT amounts were small totally, less than 20% of the card's new limit,

so I dont think it was the BT. I believe the underwriter saw I was trying to

break out of toy limit hell and worked with me..

Good luck!

Re: Should I close CCs

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 02:47:27 GMT

Definitely time for something better. Even after you close them, they remain as good accounts for 10 years. They are way too expensive at this point.

Re: Should I close CCs

lexus400 — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 08:07:33 GMT

Thanks for the advice. I have 5 CCs. All in good standing. Which should I close if any with the exception of statefarm. My statefarmbank( joint with wife) limit is 8500 with 2059 balance which i will pay down to under 750 this week. I have dillards 100 limit, never used, (0 balance) creditone 200 limit( 0) balance, orchard 320 limit (0 balance) and firstpremier 250 limit (0 balance). I havve had these cards for 2 years now. Dec 2009 pulled by VA lender scores were EQ 606 TU 609 EX 624. After paying down CC balances over the past few months my scores are EQ 658 TU 684 EX FAKO 714 I hope to see a bigger jump after my statefarm reports next month. Thanks again guys.

Re: Should I close CCs

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 18:36:46 GMT

Nice work.

What are the annual/monthly fees?

I would guess the highest are First Premier and Credit One, but I'm not that familiar with them. If they're the highest, I would strongly consider saving the bucks and closing those two.

And I would consider holding on to Orchard until you can replace it with another lovely bank card that doesn't have any fees - maybe even one with rewards when you can.

And, If you can, pop over to Dillard's and buy something once in awhile. The have great socks. Really!

That's a free card with history that will grow. Try to keep it happy until it no longer serves your needs. (I like my Dillard's card - they do have some amazing sales).

Re: Should I close CCs

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 19:22:28 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Nice work.

What are the annual/monthly fees?

I would guess the highest are First Premier and Credit One, but I'm not that familiar with them. If they're the highest, I would strongly consider saving the bucks and closing those two.

And I would consider holding on to Orchard until you can replace it with another lovely bank card that doesn't have any fees - maybe even one with rewards when you can.

And, If you can, pop over to Dillard's and buy something once in awhile. The have great socks. Really!
That's a free card with history that will grow. Try to keep it happy until it no longer serves your needs. (I like my Dillard's card - they do have some amazing sales).

Compared to First Premier (have you read their terms?) , Orchard is a lovely card.