I'm addicted to opening accounts.

[Anonymous]

If this were me i would close the first premiere cards and that merrick card if it is as bad as i think it is. Those are useful for getting your foot in the door with prime lenders. But you are in with chase and barclay. Be good to them and in a year you will be able to get in with any lender of your choice. No need to keep paying ridiculous fees to predatory subprime lenders

[takeshi74]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Should I start shutting down cards?

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You really need to make the decision before applying.  Use the info below to aid you in your decision.

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@shoo wrote:

Closing accounts will probably mess up your AAoA depending on how long you've had the cards.

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This thread is linked in the Helpful Threads sticky in this subforum:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=creditcard&thread.id=117125&jump=true

[NRB525]

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@Anonymous wrote:
5 months ago I had 2 first premiere cards with a 600.00 total limit. Now I have a 5000 chase freedom, 3000 home depot, 2500 lowes, 2000 barclay apple, 1500 chase slate, 1500 barclay, 1000 merrick, 1000 fingerhut, 500 best buy master card, 850 j crew, 500 express, 500 brylane, 500 victoria secret, 600 Macy's, 500 amazon, 300 capital one and a couple other shopping cart trick cards. Should I start shutting down cards? First premier and some shopping cart cards? I need to stop! Utilization like 5%. I don't abuse them at all. Scores were in 400's now mid 600s.

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You need to step back, get all your card information organized in a spreadsheet, classify those cards into two classes:

Real credit cards, VISA, MC, (does not look like you have AMEX or Discover) and... you have just a few.

Store cards, which are terribly easy to get, and terrible terms. You've got a boatload there.

The store cards are likely to not care what you do with them, unless you don't pay and then they become just as big a problem on your credit report as anythng else.

The real credit cards you have for now are probably OK, but those are the ones you need to pay closest attention to. They are where your real, usable credit resides.

+1 to the other comments about stopping apping. Go in the garden, get out the weed whacker and unless you are going to shop regularly at that store, close the store card. Don't worry about any AAoA discussions, just get rid of them. 

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Like everyone mention already, 

1. It will mess up your AAoA

2. It shows you are in need of credits, which means high risk

Instead of closing accounts, I suggest you should try to bring the credit line limit for each of your account up to $5000 while you're gardening. 

[NRB525]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Like everyone mention already, 

1. It will mess up your AAoA

2. It shows you are in need of credits, which means high risk

Instead of closing accounts, I suggest you should try to bring the credit line limit for each of your account up to $5000 while you're gardening. 

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Except there is no AAoA to mess up, all these store cards are new.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Should I start shutting down cards? .

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Why do you want to start shutting down cards?  What do you accomplish by closing down cards?  They are only 5 months old; you're still taking a hit for them being new, regardless if they are closed or not.

You will only be lowering your available credit for utilization calculation ... to what end?

You only have a score in the 600's; its not like you have an 800 score and bored of getting approved for credit cards.  With a score as low as yours, you need all the active tradelines you can get to boost your score up.

Close the ones that are costing you annual fees (FirstPremiere and Merrick?).  

You've already taken the AAoA hit from those new cards, closing them won't change anything.

Nobody said you had to use the cards; throw them into some smelly sock drawer and forget about them.  The longer they stay open, the longer they will boost your credit scores.  After a few years of non-use, the credit company will close those cards down themselves.

in the meantime they've been boosting your AAoA and utilization just sitting there.  You can probably scrape 12-15 years of positive tradelines from each of those seemingly worthless cards.  If you close it now, you only get 10 years...why shortchange yourself when your score is only in the 600's?

[juggalo9er]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
Should I start shutting down cards? .

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Why do you want to start shutting down cards?  What do you accomplish by closing down cards?  They are only 5 months old; you're still taking a hit for them being new, regardless if they are closed or not.

You will only be lowering your available credit for utilization calculation ... to what end?

You only have a score in the 600's; its not like you have an 800 score and bored of getting approved for credit cards.  With a score as low as yours, you need all the active tradelines you can get to boost your score up.

Close the ones that are costing you annual fees (FirstPremiere and Merrick?).  

You've already taken the AAoA hit from those new cards, closing them won't change anything.

Nobody said you had to use the cards; throw them into some smelly sock drawer and forget about them.  The longer they stay open, the longer they will boost your credit scores.

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the cards will not affect your aaoa if you close them, they will report either way for 7 years

based on what you have close all af cards

why close the store cards if they do not have af's, let them report $0 for free, will do nothing but help in the long run

apply for whatever you feel you can get or want, stop when you start getting declined or low limits

i went from a 557 out of ch 7 to a 731 as of today with something like 19 cards

[Anonymous]

Shut down store cards and sub-subprime and garden.

[juggalo9er]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Shut down store cards and sub-subprime and garden.

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absolutely no reason to close down a no af positive trade line

[kdm31091]

I disagree with keeping store cards open just because. They almost always have terrible terms. Keeping them open just for the sake of keeping them open is not good IMO. I would close them, they are worthless generally, with a few exceptions.

Plus the limits tend to be so low that their impact on util is extremely small