topic Re: Too many store cards? in Credit Cards

Too many store cards?

LS2982 — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 23:52:01 GMT

I currently have 8 store card accounts, I do not want to axe any GE accounts which occupy 6 of the 8 accounts. Best Buy and Firestone are the other 2. With the new prime lenders i've aquired in the past 6 months i'm a little worried they will not like all of these other accounts opened.

Is this something i'm just overthinking or could it be an issue?

Re: Too many store cards?

RockinRay — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 23:54:57 GMT

You have been doing great!

I would not worry about this at all.... They won't cancel you out for getting better cards. You might end up cancelling some of "them" out...

Re: Too many store cards?

LS2982 — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 00:07:34 GMT

@RockinRay wrote:
You have been doing great!

I would not worry about this at all.... They won't cancel you out for getting better cards. You might end up cancelling some of "them" out...

I'm considering axing BB if they do not grant a CLI this month, 1K CL there is low and is not useful for what I want it for (3D TV next year)

Re: Too many store cards?

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 00:17:01 GMT

Most creditors are really not concerned about the number of cards you have, their main concerned is

how you are using (THEIR) cards.

Unless you are in the market for a mortgage, I would not let it bother you.

Re: Too many store cards?

score_building — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 01:55:02 GMT

Too late to worry about it now but 8 is a lot of store cards IMO, if they have some utility, hopefully a lot -then so be it.

Otherwise, they could be taking the place of a mc, discover, amex, visa card.

Close those that will not get used and/or are low limits IF planning to close any to make more room for majors. No rush but the big league cards may ultimately have staying power down the road.

At this point, would at least consider adding no more store cards, if those currently have work for you than it's all good. The idea is not to have useless store card taking up too much space in the roster. IMHO, with store cards in general, moderation can be key. YMMV.

Re: Too many store cards?

jamesdwi — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 00:39:14 GMT

I have 10 store cards, 8 reporting, no issues so far, I don't think they major credit card company care about store cards for the most part there is limited danger to over using them. You can't get $1000 in cash off a jcpenny card. You can't use it at the local cashino or pay a lawyer bill with it. For the most part they are low limit cards. Just don't max your your major cards MC/Visa.DISC/AMEX and they are fine. They hope there rewards structures keep you using there cards instead of the store cards.

Re: Too many store cards?

android01 — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 01:01:36 GMT

@LS2982 wrote:
I currently have 8 store card accounts, I do not want to axe any GE accounts which occupy 6 of the 8 accounts. Best Buy and Firestone are the other 2. With the new prime lenders i've aquired in the past 6 months i'm a little worried they will not like all of these other accounts opened.

Is this something i'm just overthinking or could it be an issue?

You are definately overthinking this LS. However, I'd get rid of ALL of the store cards except for one. I'm pretty sure you can use Visa, MC, AMEX or Discover at any of those stores. Is there a good reason for keeping them?

Re: Too many store cards?

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 04:29:08 GMT

ithink you can close out cards which are not in use.

Re: Too many store cards?

webhopper — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 05:23:39 GMT

You can SD with no issues, if they close later, no biggie, I would set myself up a timeline on how many store cards I want by such and such date... Then, evaluate all of the cards at a defined interval and axe the ones that you can't see EVER fitting your needs again

You're doing awesome!

Re: Too many store cards?

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 05:51:04 GMT

I like store cards assuming you shop there. They offer a lot of discounts and you often get deffered interest deals for larger puchases. They also are easiest to qualify for. It is easier to keep for many years even if you don't them much. Over time they offer a great base for account age, oldest and AAoA. Co branded store cards are even better. I would keep them all.

Re: Too many store cards?

trumpet-205 — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 06:13:01 GMT

If I won't use it, I will axe it.

I used to have a JCPenney card, but since JCP now operates like Walmart (keeping price low, no more discount from using the store card), it makes no sense for me to keep the card. So I closed the card, one less thing to worry about.

Re: Too many store cards?

Smug — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 08:31:05 GMT

I just closed amazon, Firestone, JCPENNYS,chevron and a few more, I just asked for a CLI on my Walmart and it went from 2400 to 5 k, I think closing the cards was the best thing for me, I now only have 4 cards pep boys , Walmart,care credit, and lowes.

Re: Too many store cards?

RockinRay — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 12:27:02 GMT

I closed my store cards with the exceptions of:

1. Target Visa

2. Nordstrom Siggy Visa (not really a store card)

3. Walmart Discover

As others have posted, really no need for the others. Just too many to manage!

There, life is so easy now!

Re: Too many store cards?

tcbofade — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 12:45:46 GMT

I think that you're over thinking this one, LS.

I keep my store cards open (and empty) to take advantage of discounts for using the card...then PIF, or over time for zero percent deals...

So long as you're NOT carrying a balance on all of them, I don't think your prime lenders will care.

JMHO.

Re: Too many store cards?

jamesdwi — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 14:01:26 GMT

@score_building wrote:
Too late to worry about it now but 8 is a lot of store cards IMO, if they have some utility, hopefully a lot -then so be it.
Otherwise, they could be taking the place of a mc, discover, amex, visa card.

Close those that will not get used and/or are low limits IF planning to close any to make more room for majors. No rush but the big league cards may ultimately have staying power down the road.

At this point, would at least consider adding no more store cards, if those currently have work for you than it's all good. The idea is not to have useless store card taking up too much space in the roster. IMHO, with store cards in general, moderation can be key. YMMV.

as LS mentioned 6 of the 8 store cards are GE backed which equates to CLI's every 4 months and is always a SP, and if you contact an underwriter epic CLI's are possible and also there may be possibility to upgrade them...

They also help with the dreaded "thin file" denial reason, and "percent of cards with a balance" and given LS's tendancy to hang out here daily I bet he checks every card online at least once a week if not daily (yes i am guilty of this one).

Re: Too many store cards?

score_building — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 08:45:52 GMT

@jamesdwi wrote:
@score_building wrote:
Too late to worry about it now but 8 is a lot of store cards IMO, if they have some utility, hopefully a lot -then so be it.
Otherwise, they could be taking the place of a mc, discover, amex, visa card.

Close those that will not get used and/or are low limits IF planning to close any to make more room for majors. No rush but the big league cards may ultimately have staying power down the road.

At this point, would at least consider adding no more store cards, if those currently have work for you than it's all good. The idea is not to have useless store card taking up too much space in the roster. IMHO, with store cards in general, moderation can be key. YMMV.
as LS mentioned 6 of the 8 store cards are GE backed which equates to CLI's every 4 months and is always a SP, and if you contact an underwriter epic CLI's are possible and also there may be possibility to upgrade them...

They also help with the dreaded "thin file" denial reason, and "percent of cards with a balance" and given LS's tendancy to hang out here daily I bet he checks every card online at least once a week if not daily (yes i am guilty of this one).

Agreed- some nice growth potential, while a handful of upgrade invites are reported, are not guaranteed w/o a new app. Often those who receive upgrade offers have had the store card for several years before getting an offer.

With one notable exception- Nordstrom (tiered APRs which can be reduced if not approved at Tier 1) often come with astronomical APRs so PIF (or using interest free promos) are the only cost effective way to manage store cards. Care credit is one that does not offer four month CLI with SP.

So too generally offer quite a bit less flexibility than majors, since can be used at a limited range of retailers and if exposure limits become an issue can sometimes get in the way of higher limit/ approvals for major cc products, enter the dreaded: 'sufficient available credit (from current lenders)' response.

Invariably, 6 out of 8 cards from one issuer beckons the quesstion: too many eggs in one basket? DIversity is typically a key consideration with respect to bulding a roster. Ideally, thin files are expanded primarily with major credit cards. Again, as with most things credit related: YMMV...not necessarily a show stopper, however worth considering limiting to a few, if that can work for a card holder.

Re: Too many store cards?

Smug — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 11:44:54 GMT

@jamesdwi wrote:
@score_building wrote:
Too late to worry about it now but 8 is a lot of store cards IMO, if they have some utility, hopefully a lot -then so be it.
Otherwise, they could be taking the place of a mc, discover, amex, visa card.

Close those that will not get used and/or are low limits IF planning to close any to make more room for majors. No rush but the big league cards may ultimately have staying power down the road.

At this point, would at least consider adding no more store cards, if those currently have work for you than it's all good. The idea is not to have useless store card taking up too much space in the roster. IMHO, with store cards in general, moderation can be key. YMMV.
as LS mentioned 6 of the 8 store cards are GE backed which equates to CLI's every 4 months and is always a SP, and if you contact an underwriter epic CLI's are possible and also there may be possibility to upgrade them...

They also help with the dreaded "thin file" denial reason, and "percent of cards with a balance" and given LS's tendancy to hang out here daily I bet he checks every card online at least once a week if not daily (yes i am guilty of this one).

On another forum GEMB froze all of a persons cards due to him asking for too many CLIs....so be careful

Re: Too many store cards?

LS2982 — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 13:16:58 GMT

If it's not going to incur AA from other creditors i'll keep them open. I have a balance on 1 of the 8 cards (Amazon) taking advantage of the 0% interest.

Re: Too many store cards?

CorporalAv — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 13:33:58 GMT

I just opened an Amazon store card account and I think that is the only store card I will use, along with my NFCU Cash Rewards and Cap 1. You do have a ton of store cards that I personally think is too much but I don't see a reason to close them unless you replace them w/ prime credit cards

Re: Too many store cards?

Repo-ed — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 13:57:08 GMT

I think the amount of open accounts is a non-issue, but how you manage them... My grandparents had a BOOK of open CCs, and all top-tier issuers. I wish I had kept it, just to have something to stare at in awe - haha