Canceling First Premier

[Anonymous]

I have two First Premier cards one with a credit limit of 300 and the other with a 350 limit.I have recently applied and was approved for an American Express & Capitol One.  I do want to get rid of one of the First Premier cards due to all of the fees and my credit being back to "decent" (698 mid score from my mortgage guy). Since one has been open for 18 months and the other for 24 months will the age of account haunt me for seven years or does it not enter into the calculation once it is closed. Or should I cancel them both? My average age of accounts is 5 years.

[cobra19]

Make sure the balance on both FP cards is zero -  then close them botth.  FP can be very helpful when repairing.. With a 698 you're done repairing..

It will not hurt your age - they will continue to stay on your file for 7 years, I believe.  

[daisyduke]

AAoA (Average Age of Accounts) calculates all accounts, open and closed.

I would not close an account that has a balance reporting as this will affect your utilization. Pay the cards off first. Read the sticky about closing accounts before doing anything. You have moved on to better credit cards...

I don't know what you mean about 7 years haunting time. 7 years -  bad accounts stay on your record from the date of first deliquency (DOFD) that you never ever got current again. Take a charge off, for example, the DOFD would be the very first month you never got current, add 7 to 7.5 years that's when the account would fall off.

Paid positive status accounts remain for 10 years.

I hope this helps.