topic Re: I closed my accounts today in Credit Cards

I closed my accounts today

wacdenney — Wed, 12 Nov 2014 13:26:57 GMT

Well I closed 2 accounts today anyway... I still have 14 left which is still a lot. May look to close some more moving forward, but as of today goodbye Citi Simplicity and Barclaycard Rewards. Don't let the door hit you on your way out of my portfolio!

Re: I closed my accounts today

juggar — Wed, 12 Nov 2014 13:31:27 GMT

Why would you do such?

Re: I closed my accounts today

wacdenney — Wed, 12 Nov 2014 13:42:01 GMT

Just trimming the fat to make my life more manageable. I fall in to the "close them if they aren't useful" camp. I know it's not as big of a clique as the "SD everything for eternity" people but then I was never really one of the cool kids anyways.

I originally got the Simplicity card to do a BT that I never actually wound up doing and I was never able to find any evidence that it could be PCd to anything else so I'm tired of looking at it. I got Barclaycard Rewards hoping to build a relationship that would help me get approved for Sallie Mae but it didn't help. They didn't care...

The 2 cards simply no longer had a place in my strategy so I cut em loose. Diamond Preffered barely survived, I will PC it to Double Cash next month and hopefully breath new life into it. BofA only survived because it's my oldest account. At this point, my CR shows nearly as many closed accounts as it does open ones. I just don't like sitting on cards that no longer fit into my plan. Just a different way of thinking I guess.

Re: I closed my accounts today

juggar — Wed, 12 Nov 2014 13:58:08 GMT

@wacdenney wrote:
Just trimming the fat to make my life more manageable. I fall in to the "close them if they aren't useful" camp. I know it's not as big of a clique as the "SD everything for eternity" people but then I was never really one of the cool kids anyways.

I originally got the Simplicity card to do a BT that I never actually wound up doing and I was never able to find any evidence that it could be PCd to anything else so I'm tired of looking at it. I got Barclaycard Rewards hoping to build a relationship that would help me get approved for Sallie Mae but it didn't help. They didn't care...

The 2 cards simply no longer had a place in my strategy so I cut em loose. Diamond Preffered barely survived, I will PC it to Double Cash next month and hopefully breath new life into it. BofA only survived because it's my oldest account. At this point, my CR shows nearly as many closed accounts as it does open ones. I just don't like sitting on cards that no longer fit into my plan. Just a different way of thinking I guess.

I dont think I would want that many closed accounts on my report ever... haha wouldnt that throw red flags to the credit analyst if you had to recon?

I know if I was a credit analyst I would be asking you about the closed accounts as thats not normal behavior to close so many.

Re: I closed my accounts today

baller4life — Wed, 12 Nov 2014 14:00:48 GMT

Not normal? WTH? He only closed 2 cards, not 12. Closed accts remain 10 yrs on your report. Analysts don't care about them. Besides it will say Closed By Consumer. No big deal. Some people don't want a gazillion cards to keep up with. Especially if they serve no purpose! Nothing wrong at all with trimming the fat. I will be doing the same next year.

Re: I closed my accounts today

juggar — Wed, 12 Nov 2014 14:03:22 GMT

@baller4life wrote:
Not normal? WTH? He only closed 2 cards, not 12. Closed accts remain 10 yrs on your report. Analysts don't care about them. Besides it will say Closed By Consumer. No big deal. Some people don't want a gazillion cards to keep up with. Especially if they serve no purpose! Nothing wrong at all with trimming the fat. I will be doing the same next year.

"At this point, my CR shows nearly as many closed accounts as it does open ones."

Please read the post before commenting thanks.... OP has closed more than two.

I would be asking questions if he had like 10+ accounts closed in the last few years...

Re: I closed my accounts today

Involver — Wed, 12 Nov 2014 14:08:36 GMT

Closing accounts does not raise red flags unless you're repeatedly closing them with balances. If anything it shows you are trying to responsibly manage your accounts.

Re: I closed my accounts today

baller4life — Wed, 12 Nov 2014 14:09:17 GMT

Well I'm driving and missed that part. Sue me. Wac, If you're closing so many cards, why are you getting these particular cards in the first place? Sign up bonus?

Re: I closed my accounts today

chalupaman — Wed, 12 Nov 2014 14:15:40 GMT

Hey Wac. No shame in doing that. I've done the same thing with several cards I didn't need anymore or with cards that weren't growing or performing that well (like Fingerhut, Wal-Mart, and that Chevron card) and also what Baller said. The account still report either way for up to 10 years, it's utilization that's possibly affected in the short term. Also I always end up getting way better cards anyway so it's not really that big of a deal to me.

Re: I closed my accounts today

Dw4250 — Wed, 12 Nov 2014 15:25:31 GMT

Good for you WAC. I am in the close them if you don't need them camp as well. I'm planning on trimming down to 8-10 cards, but am waiting until some of my cards hit one year old before closing (March 2015).

Frankly one of the biggest reasons is I'm tired on toting around this massive wallet with 16 credit card slots! Even though I've got several SDed, it's still a pain carrying around this mini trapper keeper.

Maybe if European man purses become suddenly fashionable (those guys always manage to look cool with those...lol) and I can throw all my cards in the purse. But I don't see those becoming "a la mode" anytime soon (at least not in suburban Minneapolis!!!)

Re: I closed my accounts today

wacdenney — Wed, 12 Nov 2014 15:35:27 GMT

Over the past couple of years of rebuilding I made several cliche mistakes like shopping carts, as well as simply outgrown several cards that were at one time usefull.

Here's the rundown... I currently show 8 closed accounts:

Merrick Bank - Part of the rebuilding process

MyPoints Visa - Shopping Cart

SportsmansGuide Visa - Shopping Cart

Ebates - Didn't use as like I thought I would.

WalMart - No rewards useless

Capital One QS1 - Refused to remove AF

Capital One QS1 - Former Orchard Refused to remove AF

Chase Amazon - Replaced and CL reallocated

Simplicity and Barclay will bring the total to 10 closed so that's 14 open and 10 closed.

Nope, not churning signup bonuses, just the folley of the process of rebuilding. Live and learn and your scores grow and oportunity opens up. Sub-Prime options like Merrick and Orchard and Cap1 serve their purpose and you move on. You make stupid mistakes like shopping cart tricks. You get some cards like Ebates and don't even know what you were thinking. Amazon was a foot in the door with Chase but eventually served its purpose and was no longer needed.

It's my journey, and this is how it's gone so far. Yeah I could have just tossed all these in the ole SD, but why??!?

Re: I closed my accounts today

odd_dog — Wed, 12 Nov 2014 15:45:32 GMT

Congrats Wac! I have closed many cards during my credit tenure....everyone's situation is different...those that are "into" scores I have actually had my scores increase when cancelling a card....and there are many reasons to cancel, not just because of those wonderful sign up bonuses, sometimes cards are no longer useful in ones portfolio, Apple finance for instance, no rewards (when I had the "white" card) I obtained it solely for the 0% financing and when paid off got rid of it, I was not going to use it again. Also new cards with different reward structures come out all the time, why would I necessarily keep old ones I am not using when I pick up new ones? Again we all have different wants and needs concerning a specific card, but why do a lot on here get freaky when people close accounts? I can understand explaining to someone the consequences of closing an account, and then it is UP TO THEM to decide what works best for THEM, but some here totally freak when someone does that (not on this thread, but have been around long enough here to see that) to each his or her own, teach but don't preach......UNLESS it is solicited.....and Wac believe me I am so for making things simple, with over 20 cards I HAVE To!! LOL Good luck to you!

Re: I closed my accounts today

chalupaman — Wed, 12 Nov 2014 15:56:16 GMT

@wacdenney wrote:
Over the past couple of years of rebuilding I made several cliche mistakes like shopping carts, as well as simply outgrown several cards that were at one time usefull.

Here's the rundown... I currently show 8 closed accounts:

Merrick Bank - Part of the rebuilding process
MyPoints Visa - Shopping Cart
SportsmansGuide Visa - Shopping Cart
Ebates - Didn't use as like I thought I would.
WalMart - No rewards useless
Capital One QS1 - Refused to remove AF
Capital One QS1 - Former Orchard Refused to remove AF
Chase Amazon - Replaced and CL reallocated

Simplicity and Barclay will bring the total to 10 closed so that's 14 open and 10 closed.
Nope, not churning signup bonuses, just the folley of the process of rebuilding. Live and learn and your scores grow and oportunity opens up. Sub-Prime options like Merrick and Orchard and Cap1 serve their purpose and you move on. You make stupid mistakes like shopping cart tricks. You get some cards like Ebates and don't even know what you were thinking. Amazon was a foot in the door with Chase but eventually served its purpose and was no longer needed.

It's my journey, and this is how it's gone so far. Yeah I could have just tossed all these in the ole SD, but why??!?

Do you think they'll let me move the CL of my SW card in a couple of months over to the AARP card and let me close the SW card afterwards? Besides for the sign up bonus I was able to get and all, I really just got that card to get in with Chase just like you got the Amazon Visa. Do you also think that the Chase Freedom is still a useful card despite them getting rid of some of the benefits? My Discover card is still stuck at 500 even after 7 months of having it. Ugh.

Re: I closed my accounts today

HiLine — Wed, 12 Nov 2014 16:08:03 GMT

Congratulations! Knowing when to stop is just as important as knowing when to start!

Re: I closed my accounts today

baller4life — Wed, 12 Nov 2014 16:14:11 GMT

Makes sense to me. The rebuilding process is also a learning process. We pick up useless cards that we ultimately don't really need in our quest to build credit. I ultimately only want to manage 10 to 12 cards max. So once my reports are clean next year, I will be shuffling some cards in and out my portfolio as well. At that point I can be pickier as to what cards I actually want. We all eventually reach that point in our journey! Do what works for you Wac!

Re: I closed my accounts today

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Nov 2014 16:21:21 GMT

Congrats on closing the accounts. It does make life easier somewhat when it comes to managing them.

I closed 8 store card accounts on Monday night myself because Barclays closed my Apple card due to too many new accounts and inquiries. All of the accounts I closed had a $0 balance. I paid off Barclays and closed the cards to hopefully alleviate more issues with other creditors having a red flag over me because of all of the new activity.

If this afffects my score, I will live it and garden for a while and try to grow the other accounts I do wish to keep.

Re: I closed my accounts today

MarineVietVet — Wed, 12 Nov 2014 16:22:00 GMT

@wacdenney wrote:
Well I closed 2 accounts today anyway... I still have 14 left which is still a lot. May look to close some more moving forward, but as of today goodbye Citi Simplicity and Barclaycard Rewards. Don't let the door hit you on your way out of my portfolio!

Stick to your guns!! Don't let anyone make you second guess yourself on this decision.

You're the only one who knows all the particulars in your situation.

I only have six cards and that's probably too many for me at this point in my life. But the youngest card is almost eight years old and I guess I'll hang on to all of them for awhile yet.

Re: I closed my accounts today

MarineVietVet — Wed, 12 Nov 2014 16:22:39 GMT

@HiLine wrote:
Congratulations! Knowing when to stop is just as important as knowing when to start!

Excellent point!!!

Re: I closed my accounts today

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Nov 2014 16:36:05 GMT

I don't think a lot of closed accounts on the report are an issue. The only negative is that it might raise questions if they think you are churning for rewards but really the same question can arise if you have a bunch of no-activity open cards

Re: I closed my accounts today

wacdenney — Wed, 12 Nov 2014 17:03:42 GMT

@chalupaman wrote:
@wacdenney wrote:
Over the past couple of years of rebuilding I made several cliche mistakes like shopping carts, as well as simply outgrown several cards that were at one time usefull.

Here's the rundown... I currently show 8 closed accounts:

Merrick Bank - Part of the rebuilding process
MyPoints Visa - Shopping Cart
SportsmansGuide Visa - Shopping Cart
Ebates - Didn't use as like I thought I would.
WalMart - No rewards useless
Capital One QS1 - Refused to remove AF
Capital One QS1 - Former Orchard Refused to remove AF
Chase Amazon - Replaced and CL reallocated

Simplicity and Barclay will bring the total to 10 closed so that's 14 open and 10 closed.
Nope, not churning signup bonuses, just the folley of the process of rebuilding. Live and learn and your scores grow and oportunity opens up. Sub-Prime options like Merrick and Orchard and Cap1 serve their purpose and you move on. You make stupid mistakes like shopping cart tricks. You get some cards like Ebates and don't even know what you were thinking. Amazon was a foot in the door with Chase but eventually served its purpose and was no longer needed.

It's my journey, and this is how it's gone so far. Yeah I could have just tossed all these in the ole SD, but why??!?
Do you think they'll let me move the CL of my SW card in a couple of months over to the AARP card and let me close the SW card afterwards? Besides for the sign up bonus I was able to get and all, I really just got that card to get in with Chase just like you got the Amazon Visa. Do you also think that the Chase Freedom is still a useful card despite them getting rid of some of the benefits? My Discover card is still stuck at 500 even after 7 months of having it. Ugh.

Freedom is useful to me for the 5% categories. We take vacation every year and stay at Marriott so I basically use Freedom to earn Marriott points at 5% in rotating categories. My Chase cards in general are really the cream of my crop at this point. I would be just fine with just the 4 of them alone. Especially since getting AARP. I use it the most hands down.