topic Re: Closing the OLDEST CC?!? in Credit Cards

Closing the OLDEST CC?!?

Anonymous — Sun, 18 May 2008 01:44:45 GMT

I have had a secured BoA CC for more than two years. That was my first credit card and I have had to open a savings account to secure it (with a disgusting APY of 0.18% and an annual fee of $9, can you say B.S.). The CC itself has an annual fee of $29. Even with these rediculous conditions I'm thankful since I have a CS of 746 right now and ability to get the best CCs around. So my question is, should i close my oldest account with $3,000 CL (which represents about 25.6% of my total CL), or should i contact Bank of America and get it unsecured with better conditions??!!?

Please give your opinion.

Re: Closing the OLDEST CC?!?

haulingthescoreup — Sun, 18 May 2008 01:58:27 GMT

My understanding is that the BofA secured card will convert ("graduate") to unsecured and keep the history. Does yours not do that?

Re: Closing the OLDEST CC?!?

unknown_entity — Sun, 18 May 2008 01:58:29 GMT

I'd keep it open and PIF if I used it. The $29 is very nominal in the AF world. A small price to pay for the history. IMO. You may want to call B of A and see if you can "graduate" the secured card to unsecured. If you don't have any lates or baddies with that account, I'm sure they can do something along those lines.

Re: Closing the OLDEST CC?!?

Anonymous — Sun, 18 May 2008 02:09:49 GMT

Apparently it doesn't graduate automatically, so I'll call the bank and make them graduate it. But my original question was (forgot to ask it), how long does a closed account stay on the CRs?

Re: Closing the OLDEST CC?!?

KingAdrock — Sun, 18 May 2008 02:10:41 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Apparently it doesn't graduate automatically, so I'll call the bank and make them graduate it. But my original question was (forgot to ask it), how long does a closed account stay on the CRs?

10 years.

Re: Closing the OLDEST CC?!?

Anonymous — Sun, 18 May 2008 02:15:34 GMT

Yeah but does it affect adversely your credit score in any way?

Re: Closing the OLDEST CC?!?

unknown_entity — Sun, 18 May 2008 02:28:17 GMT

You keep the history, but after 10 years it drops off your report. When you close an account, the only thing that impacts your score initially, is the loss of utility as it no longer reports as available credit.

Re: Closing the OLDEST CC?!?

Anonymous — Sun, 18 May 2008 02:49:40 GMT

For the 10 year thing, this is 10 years from the date it was closed right?

So if I had a credit card for 5 years before closing it, it will be 15 years from the date I opened it before it ages off?

Re: Closing the OLDEST CC?!?

unknown_entity — Sun, 18 May 2008 04:46:56 GMT

Yeppers.

Re: Closing the OLDEST CC?!?

jmbfl — Sun, 18 May 2008 05:49:51 GMT

If you have a closed account with a balance the balance counts toward the util calculation but the reporting CL does not - is that correct?

How does a closed account effect the age calculation?

Re: Closing the OLDEST CC?!?

islandchild82 — Sun, 18 May 2008 11:13:46 GMT

jmbfl wrote:
If you have a closed account with a balance the balance counts toward the util calculation but the reporting CL does not - is that correct?

Yes, that's right. So it's probably a good idea, when you have the option, to pay it off then close it.

Re: Closing the OLDEST CC?!?

marty56 — Sun, 18 May 2008 12:05:23 GMT

What is your current util. I lost 16 points on EX when an account that was a $0 was closed by the CCC. My util wasnt bad to begin with.

If BofA wont convert you to a unsecured account and you really want to close it, make sure your total util is bellow 10% of your total available credit mnus the limit added by the secured card.

People who know me here know that I hate BofA but some companies wont offer you another card if you have closed one of their accounts in the past. I dont know if BofA does this or not.

Re: Closing the OLDEST CC?!?

haulingthescoreup — Sun, 18 May 2008 18:58:16 GMT

OP, please read the initial post on "Closing Credit Cards" --it's stickied up at the top of page 1 of this Credit Cards board.