At what score to dump subprime cards?

[Open123]

In my estimation, the decision on when to shed the "sub prime" cards should be predicated on cards you have and not on score alone.

For instance, when you have two "no annual" fee cards from any national bank (i.e. Chase, Citi, BofA, Amex Discover, etc...many more) with a CL that accords you enough space to fit your normal spending, then I'd say you're ready to shed your high fee, high interest, no rewards and low limit cards.  Don't even wait until the next annual fee date, just purge them asap. 

Your credit file will look much more appealing to the potential lenders without the toy limit First Premier ilk on your CR. 

PS - It remains on your report, but on manual review "closed at consumer's request" will at least imply to a manually reviewer you're making progress on your rebuilding process.

[iMacDrew]

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@Open123 wrote:

In my estimation, the decision on when to shed the "sub prime" cards should be predicated on cards you have and not on score alone.

For instance, when you have two "no annual" fee cards from any national bank (i.e. Chase, Citi, BofA, Amex Discover, etc...many more) with a CL that accords you enough space to fit your normal spending, then I'd say you're ready to shed your high fee, high interest, no rewards and low limit cards.  Don't even wait until the next annual fee date, just purge them asap. 

Your credit file will look much more appealing to the potential lenders without the toy limit First Premier ilk on your CR. 

PS - It remains on your report, but on manual review "closed at consumer's request" will at least imply to a manually reviewer you're making progress on your rebuilding process.

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+1 othe. Factors to consider are credit limits on cards that you are going to keep. I wouldn't drop them till your score is high enough for you to drop 15 points and still. Be content. 

[Revelate]

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@Open123 wrote:

In my estimation, the decision on when to shed the "sub prime" cards should be predicated on cards you have and not on score alone.

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This 100%.  

Scores are only one part of the equation, and by their definition alone a Freedom is throughly sub-prime since we're now seeing approvals at 630 for it, regardless of how good a card it is by any other definition; however, it's only one piece of the approval puzzle when it comes to credit cards.  Ergo, don't factor it on scores, do it on what's in the rest of your credit card portfolio as Open most excellently suggests.

[jamesdwi]

When you can no longer justify the cost of the cards CL + Rewards. vs its AF

I have a CapOne sub-prime card that has a 2k CL but no AF and 0% BT and 11.9% APR It will continue to live on my report untill they close it. Doesn't matter if its sub-prime or not it has features that make it worth while to keep open. 

On the other hand my CapOne rewards card with its 750 CL + $39 AF is on its last year, it will close it when its AF posts. I kept it this year because I closed two other MC's (best buy reward zone & Sears MC) and didn't want to be without a MC based rewards card. The empty slot may make room for a CapOne prime card if I decide to take the tri HP for it. 

[compassion101]

Agree with the several posts above. Base your decision to dump sub-prime cards on the cards you have. If you have a good score that you think can attain prime cards, then go get the prime cards and dump the subprimes after that, not vice-versa.

[rtw]

Thanks for sharing. This post inspired me to dump my Credit One card. I tried to close it but they agreed to wave my annual fee for the next 6 months. I'll try again in February.

[Open123]

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@jamesdwi wrote:

I have a CapOne sub-prime card that has a 2k CL but no AF and 0% BT and 11.9% APR It will continue to live on my report untill they close it. Doesn't matter if its sub-prime or not it has features that make it worth while to keep open. 

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In my view, this is the very definition of "prime" card.

The terms work for you, no fee, low apr, and the CL accords you enough room for whatever spending you allocate to the card.  To me, that it's CapOne, CapTwo, or CreditOne isn't relevant.

If First Premier came up with a better SPG card, I'd apply for it and cancel Amex. 

PS - It's only relevant when the views of others matter.  In business, sometimes image does matter, but not in one's personal life, at least not in my estimation.

[tboy1977]

That CapOne card is SWEET!!  That is prime.  $2k limit and 11.9% APR.  Nice.  If a card is empty and has no AF, it can't hurt you.............

[migliogiorni]

Got my first prime around 680.  If your sub prime is your highest AAOA keep it mine has an AF going to see if they will wave it next time if not I will drop it.

[Anonymous]

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@HenryJumbo wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
I've seen some FICO scores not much higher than mine with prime cards, but have also seen 700s not able to get prime cards..so at what score level is it realistic to close rebuilders/builders?

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If your score is really around 610 as indicated in your sig I don't know if that's primeville.

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I don't really care if we're in "primeville" right now - I have no intention of doing anything with my/our credit cards for at least 9-12 months, so they can just peacefully garden until then. Simply curious, since I've seen several different numbers thrown around like 640, 680, 720, 780 and so on.