topic Re: Is this a good move... in General Credit Topics

Is this a good move...

Score_Chaser — Sun, 14 May 2023 10:42:53 GMT

Long time reader, First time poster.

10 years ago I had to file BK (Recently fell off). Fresh out of BK I got a bunch of CC (9) to try and rebuild. Within a year I entered a bad relationship and maxed them all out. 5 years ago I found the love of my life and decided I need to fix my credit! I started with the lowest balance to pay off first. I have made great progress with only a few left with a remaining balance. Here is a list of my current CC situation,

Cap1 Quick Silver (Opened 2014) (CL= $5750) (Balance= $3000)
Credit Union Visa (Opened 2014) (CL= $3000) (Balance= $2900)
Discover (Opened 2016) (CL= $6000) (Balance= $99)
Credit One (Opened 2014) (CL= $1600) (Balance= 0)
Mercury (Opened 2014) (CL= $900) (Balance= 0)
Cap1 Platinum (Opened 2016) (CL= $750) (Balance= 0)
Shell (gas card) (Opened 2016) (CL= $2000) (Balance= 0)
Amazon (Opened 2016) (CL= $1000) (Balance= 0)
Cap1 Walmart (Opened 2016) (CL= $520) (Balance= 0)
Carecredit (Opened 2016) (CL= $2400) (Balance= 0)
NEW AMEX BCE (OPENED 2023) (CL= $9000) (BALANCE= 0)

My question is this, I want to keep the ones in "BOLD" but how much of a hit would my score take if I closed the others?

I will continue to keep paying the other balances off until I reach 9% (AZEO) or lower.

Starting score 10 years ago was low 500 maybe high 400 I don't remember

Current score

EX - Fico 8 (From EX) 726 (0 negative accounts)
TU - Fico 8 (From Discover) 696 (1 paid collection almost 2 yrs ago. Will not remove)
EQ - Fico 8 (From MyFico Free) 719 (0 negative accounts)

Scores were about 25 points higher but I recently paid my car off.

I don't want to tank my score's as I will need another car in the coming months.

I have come a long way....

Thanks to all for reading, Any and all advice is welcome.

Re: Is this a good move...

SouthJamaica — Sun, 14 May 2023 11:43:14 GMT

@Score_Chaser wrote:
Long time reader, First time poster.
10 years ago I had to file BK (Recently fell off). Fresh out of BK I got a bunch of CC (9) to try and rebuild. Within a year I entered a bad relationship and maxed them all out. 5 years ago I found the love of my life and decided I need to fix my credit! I started with the lowest balance to pay off first. I have made great progress with only a few left with a remaining balance. Here is a list of my current CC situation,

Cap1 Quick Silver (Opened 2014) (CL= $5750)     (Balance= $3000)
Credit Union Visa (Opened 2014) (CL= $3000) (Balance= $2900)
Discover                (Opened 2016) (CL= $6000) (Balance= $99)
Credit One             (Opened 2014)   (CL= $1600)    (Balance= 0)
Mercury                 (Opened 2014)   (CL= $900)      (Balance= 0)
Cap1 Platinum     (Opened 2016)   (CL= $750)      (Balance= 0)
Shell (gas card)   (Opened 2016) (CL= $2000) (Balance= 0)
Amazon                (Opened 2016)    (CL= $1000)   (Balance= 0)
Cap1 Walmart      (Opened 2016)   (CL= $520)     (Balance= 0)
Carecredit           (Opened 2016) (CL= $2400) (Balance= 0)

NEW AMEX BCE   (OPENED 2023) (CL= $9000) (BALANCE= 0)
My question is this, I want to keep the ones in "BOLD" but how much of a hit would my score take if I closed the others?

I will continue to keep paying the other balances off until I reach 9% (AZEO) or lower.

Starting score 10 years ago was low 500 maybe high 400 I don't remember

Current score
EX - Fico 8 (From EX) 726 (0 negative accounts)
TU - Fico 8 (From Discover) 696 (1 paid collection almost 2 yrs ago. Will not remove)
EQ - Fico 8 (From MyFico Free) 719 (0 negative accounts)
Scores were about 25 points higher but I recently paid my car off.
I don't want to tank my score's as I will need another car in the coming months.

I have come a long way....
Thanks to all for reading, Any and all advice is welcome.

Since it's important to you not to tank your scores at this time, I wouldn't mess with it. Having a bunch of zero balance scores is helping your scores, and your utilization is too high on the cards you want to keep. What you really need to do is pay down your high utilization accounts.

After your car loan, getting rid of Credit One and Mercury is probably ok, shouldn't hurt you too bad. But I would stop there.

Getting rid of your Quicksilver makes no sense at all. That's the best card you have. What you should be doing is paying that off.

Re: Is this a good move...

Creditwiser — Sun, 14 May 2023 12:05:52 GMT

Agree with @SouthJamaica , You need to pay down the Credit union Visa and Cap 1. Leave the rest alone for now.The high UTL on those 2 cards is hurting your scores and you're dangerously close to going over-limit.

Re: Is this a good move...

Thomas_Thumb — Sun, 14 May 2023 13:46:39 GMT

@Score_Chaser wrote:
Long time reader, First time poster.
10 years ago I had to file BK (Recently fell off). Fresh out of BK I got a bunch of CC (9) to try and rebuild. Within a year I entered a bad relationship and maxed them all out. 5 years ago I found the love of my life and decided I need to fix my credit! I started with the lowest balance to pay off first. I have made great progress with only a few left with a remaining balance. Here is a list of my current CC situation,

Cap1 Quick Silver (Opened 2014) (CL= $5750)     (Balance= $3000)
Credit Union Visa (Opened 2014) (CL= $3000) (Balance= $2900)
Discover                (Opened 2016) (CL= $6000) (Balance= $99)
Credit One             (Opened 2014)   (CL= $1600)    (Balance= 0)
Mercury                 (Opened 2014)   (CL= $900)      (Balance= 0)
Cap1 Platinum     (Opened 2016)   (CL= $750)      (Balance= 0)
Shell (gas card)   (Opened 2016) (CL= $2000) (Balance= 0)
Amazon                (Opened 2016)    (CL= $1000)   (Balance= 0)
Cap1 Walmart      (Opened 2016)   (CL= $520)     (Balance= 0)
Carecredit           (Opened 2016) (CL= $2400) (Balance= 0)

NEW AMEX BCE   (OPENED 2023) (CL= $9000) (BALANCE= 0)
My question is this, I want to keep the ones in "BOLD" but how much of a hit would my score take if I closed the others?

I will continue to keep paying the other balances off until I reach 9% (AZEO) or lower.

Starting score 10 years ago was low 500 maybe high 400 I don't remember

Current score
EX - Fico 8 (From EX) 726 (0 negative accounts)
TU - Fico 8 (From Discover) 696 (1 paid collection almost 2 yrs ago. Will not remove)
EQ - Fico 8 (From MyFico Free) 719 (0 negative accounts)
Scores were about 25 points higher but I recently paid my car off.
I don't want to tank my score's as I will need another car in the coming months.

I have come a long way....
Thanks to all for reading, Any and all advice is welcome.

Definitely keep the Cap One Quicksilver. It has a nice CL with growth potential. Also, it will be one of your two oldest open accounts once the Credit One, Mercury and Cap 1 Warmart/platinum cards are closed.

I would recommend keeping the Amazon card as well. Fico likes it when a majority of cards report $0 balances and the the CLs on the cards help keep aggregate utilization low. Dropping to seven open cards from 11 will still allow you to report balances on 3 cards without reaching 50%.

As others have said, paydown the 2 cards that are highly utilized before beginning the closure process. I would wait until both are below 49% UT. If you want to get more data on how lowering card utilizations impacts your score, wait until the cards are paid down to below 29%.

Re: Is this a good move...

CH-7-Mission-Accomplished — Sun, 14 May 2023 13:52:02 GMT

@Score_Chaser wrote:
Long time reader, First time poster.
10 years ago I had to file BK (Recently fell off). Fresh out of BK I got a bunch of CC (9) to try and rebuild. Within a year I entered a bad relationship and maxed them all out. 5 years ago I found the love of my life and decided I need to fix my credit! I started with the lowest balance to pay off first. I have made great progress with only a few left with a remaining balance. Here is a list of my current CC situation,

Cap1 Quick Silver (Opened 2014) (CL= $5750)     (Balance= $3000)
Credit Union Visa (Opened 2014) (CL= $3000) (Balance= $2900)
Discover                (Opened 2016) (CL= $6000) (Balance= $99)
Credit One             (Opened 2014)   (CL= $1600)    (Balance= 0)
Mercury                 (Opened 2014)   (CL= $900)      (Balance= 0)
Cap1 Platinum     (Opened 2016)   (CL= $750)      (Balance= 0)
Shell (gas card)   (Opened 2016) (CL= $2000) (Balance= 0)
Amazon                (Opened 2016)    (CL= $1000)   (Balance= 0)
Cap1 Walmart      (Opened 2016)   (CL= $520)     (Balance= 0)
Carecredit           (Opened 2016) (CL= $2400) (Balance= 0)

NEW AMEX BCE   (OPENED 2023) (CL= $9000) (BALANCE= 0)
My question is this, I want to keep the ones in "BOLD" but how much of a hit would my score take if I closed the others?

I will continue to keep paying the other balances off until I reach 9% (AZEO) or lower.

Starting score 10 years ago was low 500 maybe high 400 I don't remember

Current score
EX - Fico 8 (From EX) 726 (0 negative accounts)
TU - Fico 8 (From Discover) 696 (1 paid collection almost 2 yrs ago. Will not remove)
EQ - Fico 8 (From MyFico Free) 719 (0 negative accounts)
Scores were about 25 points higher but I recently paid my car off.
I don't want to tank my score's as I will need another car in the coming months.

I have come a long way....
Thanks to all for reading, Any and all advice is welcome.

I agree with what others have written about leaving things alone until you get that utilization down. In particular, do not close that C1 card with the $3K balance because immediately that account would be scored as over100% utiliztion on that card -- $3K Balance/$0 Credit Limit -- and you will get an extra score ding for having a maxed out card.

Re: Is this a good move...

Score_Chaser — Sun, 14 May 2023 14:43:01 GMT

Thanks to all that have replied. I will leave things alone until I get things paid off/down.

Again Thank you, I have learned a lot from just reading your all's recommendations to others.

I have reach a big goal of 700 with all your help!