Any ideal strategy for closing a few cards?

[Physh1]

So I've worked so hard in the last 3 years to get my credit up & fixed...floating around 800 on all 3 reports. I've gathered quite the assortment of cards & really thing it's time to make a few consolidation moves. I've got $380k in available credit...some cards are overlapping as far as rewards go so I'm considering dropping at least 1 cash back card, closing 1 annual fee Delta Amex & moving the limit over to my EDP, & closing my Sync Amazon Store card, & I have the Barclays Aviator Red & Citi's AA card...thinking about moving the limit on my Aviator to my Uber card & closing the Aviator...keeping the Citi version. The only thing I won't try to do yet is merge my 2 Discover IT as my new one is only 6 months old & I'm still working the cashback match.

My utlilzation is low, everything financially is solid, & I have no desire or need for any other cards. Just time to tune-up my credit collection.

Should I space out the moves or just knock them all out now?

[VanderSnoot]

Hopefully @pinkandgrey will chime in. I believe she closed a bunch of cards at once, but I don't want to speak for her. It sounds like this is well planned and considered (utilization, moving limits, etc.), so nothing to add there, either.

[Anonymous]

Just knock them out. Spacing closures is for thin files or high utilization. 

[Anonymous]

The only thing to take into consideration is your debt load.  If it will result in significantly higher utilization then a slow approach might be better if you have a large purchase coming up.  otherwsie just axe them all at once as there's no adverse affect.  I think there's a lot of superstition on the best approach methods when it's just something you want to do and it's simple as that.  The banks don't have a specific method when they close them for you either, they just do it.

[pinkandgrey]

It sounds like utilization isn’t an issue for you, so I’d just shut them all down at once. When I closed half my cards, I did them all on the same day lol. Back-to-back calls. I like to take the efficient route. Good luck! 

[NRB525]

My approach when closing is to allow time to walk through all the steps such as making sure no recurring charges are still set up, moving limits and letting that settle out, and after a statement prints, using that as a Go time.

Also as I have been stepping completely out of certain banks ( BofA and WF checking ) taking the time to delete connections to other banks, and autopay to the CC.

So my preference is to be slow and deliberate, similar to when you are adding accounts and making sure things work correctly.

[Kforce]

As everyone above said:

You are ready to start cutting cards.

Welcome to the simple life.

[Kforce]

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@NRB525 wrote:
My approach when closing is to allow time to walk through all the steps such as making sure no recurring charges are still set up, moving limits and letting that settle out, and after a statement prints, using that as a Go time.

+100

Best to be safe and let statement or two with 0 first.

[Physh1]

Thanks for the info...my util is not an issue & I'm not closing a large % of my available credit...mainly consolidating. I'll get ready to make some phone calls on Monday. Thanks everyone...