Does AAoA "ballast" ever help with approvals?

[wasCB14]

My oldest card is from 2013. I don't plan to close it.

I know keeping cards open helps utilization.

I know closing or downgrading cards within a year can attract negative attention from that lender and maybe other lenders if it happens a lot.

I have some borderline useless cards from ~2015 that I've downgraded to no-AF cards and kept open in the thinking that they somehow make my bonus chasing and churning less blatant (CFU, DC, ED). Of course, with the exception of CFU until recently, none of them have gotten significant spend for a while and my credit report shows that to any lender doing a manual review.

And when a card doesn't get manual review, many lender policies seem to focus on something else, like whether you've had the same or a similar bonus or card in the last few years. They don't really seem to care whether most cards opened a few years ago are still open.

Has anyone ever heard from an issuer rep that it helped or hurt than an account (other than your oldest) was open or closed after 4 or 5 years?

[Anonymous]

Citi resets their 2 year waiting periods for SUBs if you close or PC a card from the same family. 

[Remedios]

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@wasCB14 wrote:

My oldest card is from 2013. I don't plan to close it.

I know keeping cards open helps utilization.

I know closing or downgrading cards within a year can attract negative attention from that lender and maybe other lenders if it happens a lot.

I have some borderline useless cards from ~2015 that I've downgraded to no-AF cards and kept open in the thinking that they somehow make my bonus chasing and churning less blatant (CFU, DC, ED). Of course, with the exception of CFU until recently, none of them have gotten significant spend for a while and my credit report shows that to any lender doing a manual review.

And when a card doesn't get manual review, many lender policies seem to focus on something else, like whether you've had the same or a similar bonus or card in the last few years. They don't really seem to care whether most cards opened a few years ago are still open.

Has anyone ever heard from an issuer rep that it helped or hurt than an account (other than your oldest) was open or closed after 4 or 5 years?

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Never. 

The only accounts I ever heard about were new ones. I have plenty of closed cards, no one ever blinked, no questions were asked. 

[wasCB14]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Citi resets their 2 year waiting periods for SUBs if you close or PC a card from the same family. 

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Citi varies. Some Citi offers lack that language. Others use 48 months since the last bonus.

[simplynoir]

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@wasCB14 wrote:

Has anyone ever heard from an issuer rep that it helped or hurt than an account (other than your oldest) was open or closed after 4 or 5 years?

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If anything if you're thinning the herd due to inactivity it should help when it goes to manual review. But I've never heard of a recon being performed and the denial came up as closing accounts being the reason. An outlier is maybe if the closure was performed by the bank and not the cardholder but even then I don't see that coming up if it closed on a positive note

[FinStar]

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@Remedios wrote:

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@wasCB14 wrote:

My oldest card is from 2013. I don't plan to close it.

I know keeping cards open helps utilization.

I know closing or downgrading cards within a year can attract negative attention from that lender and maybe other lenders if it happens a lot.

I have some borderline useless cards from ~2015 that I've downgraded to no-AF cards and kept open in the thinking that they somehow make my bonus chasing and churning less blatant (CFU, DC, ED). Of course, with the exception of CFU until recently, none of them have gotten significant spend for a while and my credit report shows that to any lender doing a manual review.

And when a card doesn't get manual review, many lender policies seem to focus on something else, like whether you've had the same or a similar bonus or card in the last few years. They don't really seem to care whether most cards opened a few years ago are still open.

Has anyone ever heard from an issuer rep that it helped or hurt than an account (other than your oldest) was open or closed after 4 or 5 years?

---

Never. 

The only accounts I ever heard about were new ones. I have plenty of closed cards, no one ever blinked, no questions were asked. 

---

+1

IME, and my numerous interactions with UW with countless manual reviews, other factors come into play in those discussions.  But, I can honestly say that most analysts frown upon the new accounts thing, but for good reason. 

[Remedios]

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@FinStar wrote:

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@Remedios wrote:

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@wasCB14 wrote:

My oldest card is from 2013. I don't plan to close it.

I know keeping cards open helps utilization.

I know closing or downgrading cards within a year can attract negative attention from that lender and maybe other lenders if it happens a lot.

I have some borderline useless cards from ~2015 that I've downgraded to no-AF cards and kept open in the thinking that they somehow make my bonus chasing and churning less blatant (CFU, DC, ED). Of course, with the exception of CFU until recently, none of them have gotten significant spend for a while and my credit report shows that to any lender doing a manual review.

And when a card doesn't get manual review, many lender policies seem to focus on something else, like whether you've had the same or a similar bonus or card in the last few years. They don't really seem to care whether most cards opened a few years ago are still open.

Has anyone ever heard from an issuer rep that it helped or hurt than an account (other than your oldest) was open or closed after 4 or 5 years?

---

Never. 

The only accounts I ever heard about were new ones. I have plenty of closed cards, no one ever blinked, no questions were asked. 

---

+1

IME, and my numerous interactions with UW with countless manual reviews, other factors come into play in those discussions.  But, I can honestly say that most analysts frown upon the new accounts thing, but for good reason. 

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☹

You're making me sad 

[wasCB14]

No rumors of Citi launching anything new soon, by chance? I kept DC since PCing from Prestige, figuring I might be able to PC it to something interesting eventually.

I don't have much Plastiq-able spend and don't really like TYs.

[FinStar]

Not AFAIK...or, not that's been mentioned recently in DoC or FT, for instance.

Citi Rewards+ was the last known product launch.

I didn't think you be much of a Citi fan given most of the benefit changes that have occurred on a variety of their products since last year.

[Meanmchine]

I prefer to keep accounts open, putting a charge on each of them once every 6 months ( non AF cards  ) unless there is a compelling reason to close them. Just my own opinion