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Now they I have gotten approved for the BECU cashback visa and my recent Penfed CLIs and new card with them, I have decided it is that time again. I have WAY too many cards and although I handle them well through rotation, I think it is time to simplify my portfolio yet again.
I am glad to have a few CU acoounts now and that way I don't have all my eggs in one basket I try to keep utlization around 3% but never above 6%, so these closing should not really hurt my ratios.
I have decided to close the following:
Wayfair 24.5K CL I used this on a few occasions, but nothing in awhile
Macys 25K CL Again used this last christmas, but can use cashback cards or not shop there at all
Marvel 5K CL Love the look of the card, oh I do lol. But honesntly don't need it
Walmart 10K Soon to be Cap one I seriously do not like Cap one and think I am just going to close this before the takeover.
So that will be 4 down and may still cut some others loose on my next go around
Good plan I hope
None of those have an AF. Unless your afraid of hitting the upper limits with these lenders, why?
@Meanmchine wrote:None of those have an AF. Unless your afraid of hitting the upper limits with these lenders, why?
I know they have no fees, I just think I am need of a trim down?
I can’t say that I blame you here. I could use a credit trim myself but I’m just not willing to cut CU cards and that makes up 3 of the 5 candidates.
@Anonymous wrote:I can’t say that I blame you here. I could use a credit trim myself but I’m just not willing to cut CU cards and that makes up 3 of the 5 candidates.
@Anonymous
Oh I don't blame you there, cutting store card and co branded are much easier, cutting CU cards not so much.
@Jnbmom wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:I can’t say that I blame you here. I could use a credit trim myself but I’m just not willing to cut CU cards and that makes up 3 of the 5 candidates.
@Anonymous
Oh I don't blame you there, cutting store card and co branded are much easier, cutting CU cards not so much.
Yeah I want to cut PayPal and Payboo but SSFCU, DCU, and my NFCU cashRewards are all redundant cards.
The rest of my cards I actually use. I use the cashRewards too but it’s a copy of my QS and that card is 3 years older than my next oldest card so it’s not getting closed.
Its just easier to keep them all I guess. 😂
I think when trimming, people can find all sorts of reasons to justify keeping cards. Removing one aged card from a profile of, say, 20 cards is not going to significantly hurt anything. 10 years from now your profile will have advanced 10 years when that older account falls off anyway. AAoA is only 15% of your score, so it matters, but it isn't the biggest factor at all, and not worth all that much stress. Time is always marching forward and AAoA recovers. Doesn't mean you need to keep otherwise useless accounts.
CU or not, if the card serves no purpose, I'd just get rid of it, but that's just me.
I see a lot of credit forums and blogs out there making it sound like people are committing mortal sins by closing some of their excessive credit cards and I just don't buy it, especially when you have several other accounts in good standing.
It is important not to have all your eggs in one basket, but I think that mantra leads people to keep a lot of accounts they don't need. Most people in the "regular world" have around 3 cards with maybe 3 different lenders. Just keep that in mind.
The last thing I would point out is that I see a lot of simplifying, and then adding new accounts again weeks or months later, and the cycle repeats. So if you're deciding to simplify, do it, be done with it, and commit to no new accounts.
@kdm31091 wrote:I think when trimming, people can find all sorts of reasons to justify keeping cards. Removing one aged card from a profile of, say, 20 cards is not going to significantly hurt anything. 10 years from now your profile will have advanced 10 years when that older account falls off anyway. AAoA is only 15% of your score, so it matters, but it isn't the biggest factor at all, and not worth all that much stress. Time is always marching forward and AAoA recovers. Doesn't mean you need to keep otherwise useless accounts.
CU or not, if the card serves no purpose, I'd just get rid of it, but that's just me.
I see a lot of credit forums and blogs out there making it sound like people are committing mortal sins by closing some of their excessive credit cards and I just don't buy it, especially when you have several other accounts in good standing.
It is important not to have all your eggs in one basket, but I think that mantra leads people to keep a lot of accounts they don't need. Most people in the "regular world" have around 3 cards with maybe 3 different lenders. Just keep that in mind.
The last thing I would point out is that I see a lot of simplifying, and then adding new accounts again weeks or months later, and the cycle repeats. So if you're deciding to simplify, do it, be done with it, and commit to no new accounts.
The reason why you don’t get rid of CU cards is because they are an easy way to keep your CU membership active. While it’s not always so important to have access to CU credit cards, it’s definitely useful to have relationships with CUs for other loans since CUs are much more likely to lend to you when you need it than banks are.
The rest of it I agree with more or less. You neglected to mention that you should keep your oldest account if it has no AF if at all possible. I won’t close my QS because it’s older than any of my other cards by 3 years. AoOA is important too. I have no doubt that my solid 5 years with my QS has clinched me a number of approvals.