topic Re: Closing an account/applying for new one with same creditor? in Credit Cards

Closing an account/applying for new one with same creditor?

Anonymous — Sat, 17 May 2008 15:16:59 GMT

I am in the process of paying down/BTing my Discover card. Because of a few missed payments, my APR went up to 30%. I've gotten it down to 24% by being responsible. Because of that high APR still, and because I have a couple of prime cards now, I intend to carry a zero balance on the Discover, or close it. Since my credit limit is over $10,000 closing it seems like a bad idea because it is great for my utilization.

If I want to have a Discover with a decent rate, what's my better option. Close the account and apply for a new one? (What would happen?) Just keep asking them to lower it? [Again I'm very apprehensive to close a card with that credit limit.]

What do you think?

Re: Closing an account/applying for new one with same creditor?

haulingthescoreup — Sat, 17 May 2008 16:02:26 GMT

Absolutely no reason whatsoever to close it! You would never want to lose a CL that high. I would treat them as a PIF'er. If you're determined to carry a balance, do so on other cards. After about six months of barely using the Discover, and always PIF'ing before your statement date, call up and ask if they can go ahead and give you a better APR.

But this works best if you show that you don't need a low APR, by not carrying balances on any cards. If they think that they can make some money off of you with a high APR, they will certainly do so. Right now, they don't have any incentive to lower it, if that makes sense.

Re: Closing an account/applying for new one with same creditor?

Anonymous — Sat, 17 May 2008 16:07:37 GMT

Keep a clean payments for 1 year- they should adjust it back down to a reasonable rate-

Re: Closing an account/applying for new one with same creditor?

Anonymous — Sat, 17 May 2008 16:33:16 GMT

By clean payment - is just carry a zero balance going to work for me, or would it be better to PIF every month?

Re: Closing an account/applying for new one with same creditor?

haulingthescoreup — Sat, 17 May 2008 16:36:27 GMT

zero balance = PIF. Unless you mean sock-drawering it (not using it at all) vs using and paying off immediately? I would use it, but not much. Two tanks of gas a month maybe.

By the way, if it's a Discover More, you'll get 5% cash back on gas (and hotels) from July through September. Be sure to sign up for it. Anyway, that would be a win-win for you.

Re: Closing an account/applying for new one with same creditor?

Anonymous — Sat, 17 May 2008 16:41:15 GMT

Mine is a discover platinum. I guess what I mean is should I PIFand keep a zero balance for the year, or keep using the card a little by litter, but always PIF monthly? What would give me the desired result (lower APR)?