Closing a low limit account (recently opened)

[Anonymous]

Hello, would greatly appreciate any advance on the following. Recently opened a CL with Macys....they provided me with a line of 600 dollars. I fell into the trap of opening a CL with them to get a discount on a purchase. My credit score fell as a result, I imagine both from the inquiry and low credit limit? (not sure why the low limit when I have other CLs that are 15k+)....the account has now been open for 2 months. I wondering wether I should keep it open or just close it. Not sure if the low limit is impacting my credit score if a negative way. I don't shop at Macys often either so I am probably not going to be using the card often. Thanks. Any advice would be appreciated.

Message Edited by Heissej on 03-21-2008 04:59 PM

[Anonymous]

Cool you jets my friend! You next month you will be able to get a CLI!

[Anonymous]

So I should keep it open and just request a credit line increase? would that bring back up my FICO score? sorry...definitively not an expert on this matter

[Anonymous]

Understand I am no expert. But in my understanding, the score drop probably came from the combination of the inquiry and the newness of the account. By closing it, the inquiry and the account will still remain. So you should see no upward move in FICO by closing it. Hold on to it, and the score should recover after a few months of responsible payment.

[Anonymous]

Hold on to MAcys for dear life.  They doubled me in four months and who knows what they will do next go round.  I undrstand they are great at CLIs and it is a store brand card....be patient.  The deals ain't bad either.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone for the response

[haulingthescoreup]

Store cards usually start with low limits, so even if another lender was doing a manual review, they shouldn't get weird about it. Agree with PP: your ding was from the newness of the account, and reaging your average credit age. Time will fix both of these.

Common exception to low limits on store cards: appliance and electronics stores, because their goodies are so expensive. And this is referring to store-only cards: no Visa, MC, etc logo on the card.