topic Re: Should I cancel my cards? in General Credit Topics

Should I cancel my cards?

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Aug 2019 20:48:21 GMT

I first joined this forum many years ago when I had terrible credit and wanted to improve it. I did, I got a lot of credit cards, I got a mortgage, I got good credit. My credit score is now 779 and I have no credit card debt yet I still have all these cards with hundreds of dollars in annual fees a year. I want to cancel these cards because I don’t want to pay annual fees for cards I don’t use, but I’m worried it’ll tank my credit if I cancel them.

Has anyone had any experience with this? And if I call the banks and have them cancel my cards, will they waive the fee or offer me a card without a fee? I’m just not sure what I should do. Next year my husband and I will probably be looking to buy a new house so I don’t want to tank my credit before we do this and then I can’t bring it up quickly.

Re: Should I cancel my cards?

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Aug 2019 21:03:53 GMT

Do you have any no-annual fee cards, and how long have you had them?

If you close old cards you may see a modest temporary decrease in your credit score, but as long as you're not seeking a loan at the time that's not a problem. If you're 750 or 760 for a few months instead of 779 that doesn't matter.

Will this tank my credit?

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Aug 2019 21:05:23 GMT

I asked this in the credit card forums but it might be better for this one. I got a lot of rewards and travel cards as I was building my credit. Now I have a lot of credit cards and 0% utilization Nd good credit (779). The only card we even use is our Amex Platinum which we pay off every month. I’m happy to keep that card but I’m sick of paying annual feels for all of my other cards that I don’t even use anymore and haven’t in years. If I were to cancel all but 2 or 3 cards would it rank my credit score? Closing cards and then losing all of that open available credit? We want to buy another house next year so I don’t want to do anything that will hurt my credit before then.

Re: Should I cancel my cards?

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Aug 2019 21:08:19 GMT

I think the only no annual fee card I have is my Discover so I’d keep that. My AMEX is my oldest card because I used the trick this board told me and got my card back dated to my first card in college which was 20 years ago. I’ll keep my AMEX Platinum because it’s the one card we actually use and pay off every month. All the rest of the cards I’ve had for 5 years.

Re: Should I cancel my cards?

Andypanda — Tue, 13 Aug 2019 21:13:21 GMT

If you are not planning to apply for a mortgage or auto loan in the next year or 2, apply for a non af card or 2. The temporary drop in score is worth the savings of the af. My view is fico scores are just a tool to be used.

Re: Will this tank my credit?

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Aug 2019 21:21:12 GMT

Hi, welcome to MyFico.

Closing revolving lines will decrease your average account age which does affect your FICO score. Your Amex Plat is considered a "charge card" which reports differently than a revolving line. FICO scoring models prefer for you to have at least 3 revolving credit lines open, with some type of active installment loan.

Go through your cards and see which ones do not have an annual fee or other fees, current apr's and then look at the reward structure for each. Based on that, you should be able to tell which card needs to be eliminated, if any.

Re: Will this tank my credit?

Jnbmom — Tue, 13 Aug 2019 21:40:02 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hi, welcome to MyFico.

Closing revolving lines will decrease your average account age which does affect your FICO score. Your Amex Plat is considered a "charge card" which reports differently than a revolving line. FICO scoring models prefer for you to have at least 3 revolving credit lines open, with some type of active installment loan.

Go through your cards and see which ones do not have an annual fee or other fees, current apr's and then look at the reward structure for each. Based on that, you should be able to tell which card needs to be eliminated, if any.

Closing your cards will not hurt your AAOA, your accounts will continue to report up to ten years. The only way your AAOA goes down is if you add cards, closing cards does not !!

If you list your cards and AFs we can get a better picture.

Re: Should I cancel my cards?

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Aug 2019 21:36:30 GMT

That’s the thing, we are potentially going to be looking for a new house next year. So I don’t really want any inquiries.

Re: Will this tank my credit?

AllZero — Tue, 13 Aug 2019 22:10:45 GMT

If eligible, have you considered doing a product change to downgrade your annual fee CC to a no fee CC? Thus, keeping your available credit limits to help utilization % if you ever carry a balance.

Re: Will this tank my credit?

FireMedic1 — Tue, 13 Aug 2019 22:26:21 GMT

@Jnbmom wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Hi, welcome to MyFico.

Closing revolving lines will decrease your average account age which does affect your FICO score. Your Amex Plat is considered a "charge card" which reports differently than a revolving line. FICO scoring models prefer for you to have at least 3 revolving credit lines open, with some type of active installment loan.

Go through your cards and see which ones do not have an annual fee or other fees, current apr's and then look at the reward structure for each. Based on that, you should be able to tell which card needs to be eliminated, if any.
Closing your cards will not hurt your AAOA, your accounts will continue to report up to ten years. The only way your AAOA goes down is if you add cards, closing cards does not !!

If you list your cards and AFs we can get a better picture.

+1 Or if an old closed account of 14yrs falls off and get hit with a 10 pt loss like I did last month. Grrrrrrrr! Least I got an extra 4yrs out of it.

Re: Should I cancel my cards?

JR_TX — Tue, 13 Aug 2019 22:31:55 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I think the only no annual fee card I have is my Discover so I’d keep that. My AMEX is my oldest card because I used the trick this board told me and got my card back dated to my first card in college which was 20 years ago. I’ll keep my AMEX Platinum because it’s the one card we actually use and pay off every month. All the rest of the cards I’ve had for 5 years.

If that Amex card is really back dated 20 years in your CRs and not just on the webpage then I think it’s worth the AF (If you can afford it). I’d find a way to keep that and cancel the newer AF cards. But you know your finances better so it’s ultimately your call.

Re: Will this tank my credit?

K-in-Boston — Tue, 13 Aug 2019 22:46:27 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I asked this in the credit card forums but it might be better for this one. <snip>

Hi @Anonymous and welcome to the myFICO Forums. I've merged both of your threads here in General Credit Topics to eliminate confusion and receiving responses in two different places.

Re: Will this tank my credit?

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Aug 2019 23:33:57 GMT

I was wondering if this was something I could do. Or consolidating all of my Chase cards into one and keeping the credit lines?

Re: Will this tank my credit?

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Aug 2019 23:35:07 GMT

That’s good to know. But won’t losing all of that open available credit hurt?

Re: Should I cancel my cards?

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Aug 2019 23:35:52 GMT

Yes my AMEX shows 20 years on my credit report.

Re: Should I cancel my cards?

AllZero — Tue, 13 Aug 2019 23:41:48 GMT

I/we have no idea who you are replying to. Have you considered activating desktop mode?

Re: Should I cancel my cards?

FireMedic1 — Tue, 13 Aug 2019 23:57:36 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Yes my AMEX shows 20 years on my credit report.

If you want to answer another posters question or post. Hit "Reply" Then hit the "Quote" button. Then type your responce. Welcome.

Re: Should I cancel my cards?

SouthJamaica — Wed, 14 Aug 2019 02:38:03 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I first joined this forum many years ago when I had terrible credit and wanted to improve it. I did, I got a lot of credit cards, I got a mortgage, I got good credit. My credit score is now 779 and I have no credit card debt yet I still have all these cards with hundreds of dollars in annual fees a year. I want to cancel these cards because I don’t want to pay annual fees for cards I don’t use, but I’m worried it’ll tank my credit if I cancel them.

Has anyone had any experience with this? And if I call the banks and have them cancel my cards, will they waive the fee or offer me a card without a fee? I’m just not sure what I should do. Next year my husband and I will probably be looking to buy a new house so I don’t want to tank my credit before we do this and then I can’t bring it up quickly.

Since you have low utilization, and will still have low utilization, yes you should feel free to close the cards you don't use which have annual fees.

It will not affect your scores adversely in the near future, and some mortgage loan officers prefer a profile with few revolving lines of credit. Most of your closed accounts will stay on your credit reports for many years.

If you close your oldest account today, and 10 years from now it falls off your credit report, that might affect your score at that time, but you will probably have such a well seasoned profile that it won't make a difference.

Re: Will this tank my credit?

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Aug 2019 03:18:55 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Closing revolving lines will decrease your average account age which does affect your FICO score.

Incorrect information above. Closing revolving lines has no impact at all on AAoA as both open and closed accounts impact AAoA equally. Closed accounts will remain on a CR for 10 years typically, so any adverse impact from their closure won't happen for a decade.

OP, go ahead and close your AF cards. Or, see if you can downgrade the AF cards to non-AF versions or PC them to non-AF products. At that point you can SD them and not have to worry about the fees. As long as you have a couple of non-AF cards (like Discover) in your profile that remain open you'll be just fine.

Re: Will this tank my credit?

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Aug 2019 03:35:13 GMT

Thank you everyone! I called Barclaycard, Chase and Capital One today. With Barclaycard they just moved my credit line from my American Airlines card to my Apple Rewards card and closed the AA card. With Chase they did the same. Closed my Chase Sapphire Preferred and moved the credit line to my Chase Freedom. Capital One is the only one who said they couldn’t move accounts so I just closed that one. Now the only card I have left is my AMEX platinum. Thanks everyone!