topic Close oldest card? in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Close oldest card?

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Mar 2015 15:00:06 GMT

My oldest card is only 15 months old. It is $300 secured USAA from my 550 score days. My scores are finally in the 700 to 720 range and I have 4 other cards from last October-November that have reported for 5-6 months. BOA Visa Sig for $5000, NFCU Sig for $8000, Barclays Rewards for $1000 and Chase Freedom for $500 (sucks I know). Also have a $6K LOC with NFCU. I'm thinking of closing the old USAA secured and using that $300 to pay other bills. My balances are zero except $1200 on the NFCU and $600 on the BOA. My overall utilization is 8%. I just don't want my scores to drop 10-20 pts if I close it. Does it matter that it is not 2 years old yet?

Re: Close oldest card?

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Mar 2015 15:08:49 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
My oldest card is only 15 months old. It is $300 secured USAA from my 550 score days. My scores are finally in the 700 to 720 range and I have 4 other cards from last October-November that have reported for 5-6 months. BOA Visa Sig for $5000, NFCU Sig for $8000, Barclays Rewards for $1000 and Chase Freedom for $500 (sucks I know). Also have a $6K LOC with NFCU. I'm thinking of closing the old USAA secured and using that $300 to pay other bills. My balances are zero except $1200 on the NFCU and $600 on the BOA. My overall utilization is 8%. I just don't want my scores to drop 10-20 pts if I close it. Does it matter that it is not 2 years old yet?

It will remain on your credit report for the next 10 years. You will continue to get positive affects of the AAoA. However, because the cad is only $300, it shouldn't have too much of an affect on your utilization?

Have you contacted USAA to see if you could PC the card to an unsecured instead?

Re: Close oldest card?

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Mar 2015 15:41:16 GMT

They have a newer version of their secured card that will PC, but mine was opened prior to that and they tell me it is not eligible. I really do not need another inquiry, or CC for all that matters. I'm letting the new ones age until October, then I'm going to try for a Chase Sapphire Preferred and close the Barclays if successful. I pay the Freedom off every month and also have my mortgage refinanced with Chase since December which I pay two weeks early every month. Hopefully by October they will consider it.

Re: Close oldest card?

gdale6 — Thu, 12 Mar 2015 23:11:49 GMT

If there is no monthly fee I would let it remain open until 2 years of history have reported this way you get the best possible Fico score out of it when you close it.