Closing cards doesn't affect your credit age regardless of how old they are at the time of closure. Closed accounts in good standing remain for up to 10 years.
As for your question, with 7 recent COs, it'll be tough to get approved for prime cards and with the high SLs that you want. I'd highly suggest holding off on new cards for now and instead address those charge offs. Are they paid/unpaid, and are there related collections showing on your reports?
@Mike1014805 wrote:The charge offs are all paid off. I have 0 credit card debt. I just got approved for a Venture Card with my current credit report, so I figured I'd have a chance of applying for 1 more card before the year is up.
Well it's good that they're all paid off, but they're still fresh derogatories. I'd still say to hold off. Cap One is an outlier in that they're very forgiving when you burn them as well as still approving people even with a fairly dirty file. Most other lenders aren't like that, save for those bottom of the barrel, predatory ones such as First Premier and Credit One.
Plus, you've already got the 3 cards minimum for building/optimizing scores. I know you want to "upgrade" them since 2 out of the 3 are starter cards, but again, I'd say wait and let those paid COs age a bit more (at least another year) before trying for prime cards. It's up to you, of course, but that's my opinion. I'm saying this from personal experience: with several recent (yes, in the credit world, 2 years is still considered recent) charge offs, prime banks tend to simply not give you the time of day. Or if they do, they give you "toy" (small) limits.
I think a credit union may be better for you. Are you a member of any by chance?
@Mike1014805 wrote:I'm looking to add ONE more credit card to my mix, because I have a couple of "bad credit" credit cards that I want to close, and replace them with a newer card that will hopefully have a higher limit.
It would help us a lot if we knew more about your current cards (besides the Venture) and what other features (besides credit limit) of the card are most important such as rewards in a certain spending category, lower APR, lender diversity, or perks. If it's rewards you are seeking, which of your spending areas is most in need of better rewards right now? Also, which lenders were the charge-offs with since they would probably not be receptive?
Overall, I agree with @OmarGB9 that it may be best to garden another year but the information above will help us if you decide to proceed.
