Closing low limit cards guidance

[Anonymous]

I'd like to close one or 2 of my low limit cards. The cards in my signature are all several years old and with the exception of disco, none are giving me cli's. No lates, uti is at 10% individual and one store card is reporting around 40%. Ive gotten 1 cli from cap1 for 300 bucks and no joy on the others. Id like to get higher limit cards to grow my overall credit limits. Do I need to close these low limit cards BEFORE I app with better cards or make sure to get the approvals before I close them? What's the best way to go about it? I keep getting pre-selected offers from citi for several of their products, but im hesitant to app because I've read they don't typically give out great sl and can be slowish to grow. Also because pre-selected doesn't mean a qualification. Bankcard scores are in the low 700s all the way up to 746 on the fico9 bankcard score. Thanks everyone.

[jcooks]

If the cards aren't costing you anything, keeping them won't hurt you.  Closing them out can hurt by lowering your available credit and raising UTI.  It will not hurt your AAOA as it will still be reported for however long you had them opened for.

[Anonymous]

Yeah thays why I'm really hesitant about closing them at all. I just dont want any potential credit apps with higher SL to be denied or effected if they see that I have low limits on all other cards. Biggest I have is my disco and it's still below 4k. I know nfcu gives out great SL on their cards, but im unfortunately blacklisted with them since they had to pay me 7k in a settlement a few years ago.

[jcooks]

Even if you close the cards, reports will still show the limit on the cards.  All of those Cap One's and the BoA may be bucketed and no room for CLI's.  Those may just need to be throw in the sock drawer.  Focus on both Amex and the Discover IT as these are the cards that most likely will be more generous with CLIs.  When did you get these 3 cards?

[Anonymous]

Yeah cap1 and bofa are definitely buckeyes. I've been with them both for like 5 years and gotten very little love from cap1 and zero from bofa. Both Amex cards were opened back in 17 as well and im pretty sure they aren't going to give me a cent more until my profile moves to a clean card. Been with disco for maybe 3 years and I've gotten one increase of 600 and tried again after 90 days and got my hand slapped. I dont think disco is buckeyes, but all the others certainly feel that way. I've had pretty major spend on Amex and disco through the years and this past 12 months, I've spent probably 10k on flights on the Amex and pif each month.

[jcooks]

Do you have any derogs?  Whatever is holding Amex back from giving you any CLI's is probably going to hold you back from getting a higher SL with a new card.

[Anonymous]

Yeah there are derogatory accounts. Like 3 supposed to come off by June and July this year. After that there will be my student loans that were discharged but still reflecting missed payments from 2017 if I remember right. Those aren't scheduled to come off til 2025. I have one 30 day late back in 18 on my motorcycle loan that they refuse to remove even though they returned the payment to me with no notice. Other than that I haven't missed any payments on a single account. So I'm probably in trouble with higher limits until all derogs fall off?

[Anonymous]

Amex is known to be very hesitant to open up until one's file is clean. I'd wait until those accounts fall off and score changes are reflected in your Amex account before trying again with them. Having some old lates may be ok since they're years back, although I can't promise it, but if you have CO/CA accounts you're stuck until they're gone at least.

[jcooks]

I would wait until those derogs falls off.  Getting that UTI lower would also help too.

[Anonymous]

There are no CA histories at all, only CO and they are all zero balances either pif or settled for less. But all at zero and like I said should fall off not August. Now ofcourse the SL are killing me, I know. I was approved for TPD discharge, but they all went into default before that was approved. All balances are zero on the SL and there is a not that they have been permanently reassigned to the govt. But all the lates are going to be on there until 2025. Should I be in a better spot for higher limit cards after the CO fall off or will those SL accounts still keep me in the jailhouse?