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Ok everyone, as many have mentioned you've been great! So I'm looking for some advice.
My DH & I filed CH7 which was DC 8/12. I followed a modified version of SoulMaster's BK to 700 plan. Now I'm 14 months post BK and wanting to buy a house next September. DH qualifies for a VA loan (no money down, no PMI) So here's where I'd like your advice. I'm wondering if I should close some of the "starter" cards that I received when I started rebuilding. This is what we have:
Me - starting scores (EQ 510 - now 670, TU 513 - now 658, EX 528(USAA) - now 681(My Fico)
- CapOne Auto Loan Joint w/DH - opened 2 weeks post BK $30k loan at 12.59%, just refinanced through RateGenius at 3.49%
- Matrix Discover - opened 2 weeks post BK $300 CL, now $400 CL but now charging monthly maintenance (should I close?)
- 1st Premier MC - opened 6 weeks post BK $700 CL, you have to pay to get a CLI so I did not try (should I close?)
- Victoria's Secret - opened 3 months post BK $250 CL, only used once and PIF tried for CLI but denied because of no payment history with them
- Kohls' - opened 3 months post BK $300 CL now $500 CL (after 6 months)
- Apple FCU Secured Visa - opened 5 months post BK $350 CL, will not consider CLI until is been opened 1 year (4 months to go) (Should I close?)
- Amazon - opened 11 months post BK $400 CL, will not consider a CLI before 6 months but can graduate to Visa
- Barclay's Apple - opened 11 months post BK $1200 CL, CLI to $1690 after 3 months
- Kay's - opened last month $2000 CL
- NFCU GoRewards MC - opened last month $5000 CL
DH - starting scores (EQ 523 - now 644, TU 515 now 679, EX 539(USAA), now 672(My Fico)
- CapOne Auto Loan Joint w/DW - opened 2 weeks post BK $30k loan at 12.59%, just refinanced through RateGenius at 3.49%!!!
- CapOne Secured MC - opened 1 month post BK $300CL, tried appn'g for other CapOne cards all denied (should I close?)
- 1st Premier MC - opened 6 weeks post BK $700 CL, you have to pay to get a CLI so I did not try (should I close?)
- Dress Barn - opened 3 months post BK $500 CL, auto CLI to $750 after 6th statement
- Walmart Store Card - opened 9 months post BK $700 CL, tried for CLI twice and denied
- Kay's - opened last month $3000 CL
- Barclay's Rewards - opened last month $1500 CL
- NFCU GoRewards MC - opened last month $1000 CL
So I understand we don't need all of these cards and I certainly don't want to pay any fees. I will not be using most of them since we got NFCU & Barclay's. Everything is PIF. I am just concerned about closing accounts before you buy a house. I don't want to make any "rookie" mistakes and I'm willing to pay the fees to keep the accounts open until I close if that will help. I'd appreciate any advice.
Closing some of the accounts could result in a decrease of AAoA so be careful. Maybe calculate your AAoA and see how it would change if you closed the cards that are charging a fee. Good luck! Maybe somone else could chime in and try to help you a bit more.
Thanks! Everything was closed after BK and due to clean up efforts my AAoA according to Credit Karma is 3 years & DH is 1 year. So maybe I should leave them open.
@Scupra wrote:Closing some of the accounts could result in a decrease of AAoA so be careful. Maybe calculate your AAoA and see how it would change if you closed the cards that are charging a fee. Good luck! Maybe somone else could chime in and try to help you a bit more.
All accounts on the credit-report (open and closed) contribute to the AAoA. The only immedite impact of closing these CC-accounts would be a potential credit utilization change.
@mja wrote:Thanks! Everything was closed after BK and due to clean up efforts my AAoA according to Credit Karma is 3 years & DH is 1 year. So maybe I should leave them open.
Credit Karma uses a different formula to calculate AAoA. FICO uses open and closed accounts, CK uses open accounts only.