Canceling/Getting Rid of Credit Cards

[Anonymous]

Maybe play just the tip with them. Close one and see how it feels. If it feels good then close another. Continue until you’re completely satisfied.

[AverageJoesCredit]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Maybe play just the tip with them. Close one and see how it feels. If it feels good then close another. Continue until you’re completely satisfied.

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☺

[UpperNwGuy]

I was in your situation about 18 months ago.  I had 15 cards scattered across about 9 lenders.  Yet I was only using 2 cards regularly, the Chase Sapphire Reserve and the PenFed Power Cash Rewards.

I went on a cancellation spree one morning in June 2017, and now I am down to 7 cards at 4 lenders.  Here was my logic on what to cancel and what to keep:

-- Cancel all store cards.

-- Keep all 4 cards from PenFed and NFCU because these two credit unions have been my primary financial institutions for several decades.

-- Keep the 2 Chase cards (CSR and United Explorer) because I get high value from one and perks from the other.

-- Keep my UNFCU card because it is the only card I have that defaults to chip+PIN like European cards.

-- Cancel everything else.

I cancelled 8 cards and gave up about $60,000 in overall credit limit.  My credit scores were unaffected by the cancellations.  One of the cards I cancelled was 44 years old.  I no longer have a relationship of any kind with Amex, Citi, Capital One, or Synchrony.

[AverageJoe1970]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Destroying the cards won’t stop them from working and soon creditors wil cancer for no activity anyways so u will get your wish!

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I have several cards that don't get any use. No issues w/ any bank/financial institution - including getting additional automatic increases. 

I know the accounts are still f active. Duh. I have just felt no need to keep the physical cards.

[Anonymous]

Another option, if you are wanting to keep credit line high is to combine limits.  If several Amex cards then go online and transfer limits to your BlueCash (I think you can do all but 500) then close the remaining accounts.  I know several financial instutitions allow this.

[AverageJoe1970]

Thanks... this is what I wondering. Great to read that there were no adverse impacts. I have two super old cards with silly low limits and I've kept them simply because of (perhaps perceived perception) that they help w/ my AAoA.

Edit/question: Am I mistaken in thinking that an long-standing open account adds adds to the AAoA - or is that about the inception/opening of a card/account?

Thanks again.

@UpperNwGuy wrote:

I went on a cancellation spree one morning in June 2017, and now I am down to 7 cards at 4 lenders.  Here was my logic on what to cancel and what to keep:

-- Cancel all store cards.

-- Keep all 4 cards from PenFed and NFCU because these two credit unions have been my primary financial institutions for several decades.

-- Keep the 2 Chase cards (CSR and United Explorer) because I get high value from one and perks from the other.

-- Keep my UNFCU card because it is the only card I have that defaults to chip+PIN like European cards.

-- Cancel everything else.

I cancelled 8 cards and gave up about $60,000 in overall credit limit.  My credit scores were unaffected by the cancellations.  One of the cards I cancelled was 44 years old.  I no longer have a relationship of any kind with Amex, Citi, Capital One, or Synchrony.

[kdm31091]

The account being open vs closed is irrelevant to your AAOA once it is open. The account is going to continue to age and contribute to AAOA regardless of being open/closed.

After 10 years, a closed account does drop off, and it can hurt your AAOA at that time. However, your score is so high I really would not stress much over it. Besides, AAOA is not remotely the most important component of score. You will not suddenly see a major tanking of your score over it.

So for the next 10 years, whether the accounts are open or closed is irrelevant as far as AAOA.

[Anonymous]

As you know this question is very unique to each credit profile. In my case I dropped (closed) eight credit cards over two and a half years loosing about $80,000 in CL's. As has been posted already, the AAOA goes for about ten years and my credit file is thick and will likely not take a great drop. Too many cards to try and keep track of and active. My spend just isn't there anymore and several cards keep changing apr and benefits so their usefulness changes. Got rid of them and gained a great piece of mind

[AverageJoe1970]

Hmm... so in 10 years, could/will I see a drop in my score with 8 cards dropping off my report?

@kdm31091 wrote:

The account being open vs closed is irrelevant to your AAOA once it is open. The account is going to continue to age and contribute to AAOA regardless of being open/closed.

After 10 years, a closed account does drop off, and it can hurt your AAOA at that time. However, your score is so high I really would not stress much over it. Besides, AAOA is not remotely the most important component of score. You will not suddenly see a major tanking of your score over it.

So for the next 10 years, whether the accounts are open or closed is irrelevant as far as AAOA.

[wasCB14]

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@AverageJoe1970 wrote:

Hmm... so in 10 years, could/will I see a drop in my score with 8 cards dropping off my report?

@kdm31091 wrote:

The account being open vs closed is irrelevant to your AAOA once it is open. The account is going to continue to age and contribute to AAOA regardless of being open/closed.

After 10 years, a closed account does drop off, and it can hurt your AAOA at that time. However, your score is so high I really would not stress much over it. Besides, AAOA is not remotely the most important component of score. You will not suddenly see a major tanking of your score over it.

So for the next 10 years, whether the accounts are open or closed is irrelevant as far as AAOA.

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I've heard (but my history is too short to have personally observed) that closed accounts can occasionally drop off a bit earlier than 10 years. That is, I don't think it's always exactly 10 years.

Keep in mind two other things:

-An 825 is great (assuming it's out of 850), and a little drop even from here isn't likely to have any negative effect on your actual access to credit.

-The cards you do keep open will continue to age. In ~10 years, the accounts you close now will fall off, but this drop will be at least somewhat offset (perhaps fully, or more than offset, I'm not sure) by the increased age of the cards you keep open.