I need a pruning plan

Anonymous · ‎03-16-2018

I want to weed out all the garbage

1) Capital One Secured Mastercard $1050 (Jan 2015, secured SL: $750, APR: 24.15%, AF: $29)

2) Credit One Visa $900 (May 2016, SL: $400, APR: 25.15%, AF: $99.99)

3) FNCC/Legacy Visa $850 (Jul 2016, SL: $350, APR: 29.90%, AF: $75)

4) Merrick Bank Visa $1500 (Jun 2017, SL: $750, APR: 22.70%, AF: $36)

5) Kay (Genesis FS) $1500 (Jun 2017, SL: $1500, APR: 26.99%, AF: $0)

6) Care Credit (Sync) $7000 (Jul 2017, SL: $500, APR: 26.99%, AF: $0)

7) Credit One Mastercard $800 (Nov 2017, SL: $800, APR: 25.15%, AF: $60)

8) Amazon Prime (Sync) $1000 (Dec 2017, SL: $200, APR: 26.99%, AF: $0)

9) Walmart (Sync) $200 (Dec 2017, SL: $200, APR: 23.90%, AF: $0)

10) Victoria's Secret (Comenity) $350 (Mar 2018, SL: $350, APR: 26.24%, AF: $0)

11) J. Crew (Comenity) $200 (Mar 2018, SL: $200, APR: 26.24%, AF: $0)

12) Chevron (Sync) $300 (Mar 2018, SL: $300, APR: 28.24%, AF: $0)

13) ExxonMobile (Citi) $200 (Mar 2018, SL: $200, APR: 26.24%, AF: $0)

.. and my new primes:

14) Amex Gold Delta Skymiles $1000 (Mar 2018, SL: $1000, APR: 16.99%, AF: $95/1st year waived)

15) Chase Freedom Unlimited $1000 (Mar 2018, SL: $1000, APR: 24.99%, AF: $0)

16) Bank Americard partial secured $500 (Mar 2018, $99 secured SL: $500, APR: 21.49%, AF: $39)

What's the best way to go about this?

I want to maximize my potential with Amex/Chase/BoA. No sense in wasting any more time/resources managing the cards that are doing nothing for me, right? I'd want to keep my Amazon and Care Credit accounts with Synchrony just because they've been good to me and are really helpful.. but then again the minute I qualify for the Chase Amazon and a high enough limit with any of my cards to match my Care Credit and offer me that peace of mind for medical emergencies, I'd dump Sync too.

Every card I listed has 100% perfect history and I've allowed them to cut statements with a nominal balance to show activity -- most of them I charge up and pay off a few days later each month in rotation to show the lender I'm using them too.

I want to focus all my attention on Chase/Amex/BoA. With only $2500 in limits, I could easily max each one out and PIF twice a month. Not sure if that's the best route, but probably best saved for another separate thread. Should I let these age a bit before starting to weed out others? Should I start cutting maybe one card every 45 days or so going in order of least desireable oldest to most desireable newest?

Anonymous · ‎03-16-2018

This is a little obvious, but close all of the cards with annual fees. And I don't just mean PIF, close them.

Anonymous · ‎03-16-2018

@Anonymouswrote:
This is a little obvious, but close all of the cards with annual fees. And I don't just mean PIF, close them.

Not obvious to me! I've worked 3 years to build all this and it's my first time ever building credit. This is everything from my Day One Cap One!

My concerns are lower overall limits and # of acccounts (due to utilization since I have lower limits.. divisors are helpful)

AAoA is currently 3+ years. My oldest accounts (4 student loans, one of which is PIF) are 9-1/2 years old, so those are my nice firm anchor I've come to rely on..

AverageJoesCredit · ‎03-16-2018

Id dump Amex Boa and especially Chase. They only lead to more temptations. At least with Credit Ones and The Merrick and the Legacy, youll be paying them each year to be number One in credit, Buffy's watcher, and a legend that creates his/her own legacy.

JK

I think you definetly can weed out the af cards. Synchrony is not a bad bank to have cards with, its all perspective and how one uses them. Youve done good getting in with Amex , Boa, and Chase. Look at what store cards you have that you will actually use, and close the others. Fight the score not score the Fight

Anonymous · ‎03-16-2018

@Anonymouswrote:
@Anonymouswrote:
This is a little obvious, but close all of the cards with annual fees. And I don't just mean PIF, close them.
Not obvious to me! I've worked 3 years to build all this and it's my first time ever building credit. This is everything from my Day One Cap One!

My concerns are lower overall limits and # of acccounts (due to utilization since I have lower limits.. divisors are helpful)

AAoA is currently 3+ years. My oldest accounts (4 student loans, one of which is PIF) are 9-1/2 years old, so those are my nice firm anchor I've come to rely on..

Well if you're paying in full and you dont need the credit why would you keep cards charging you money for nothing? You're paying for something you don't need since clearly you have cards with no annual fees.

Anonymous · ‎03-16-2018

@AverageJoesCreditwrote:
Id dump Amex Boa and especially Chase. They only lead to more temptations. At least with Credit Ones and The Merrick and the Legacy, youll be paying them each year to be number One in credit, Buffy's watcher, and a legend that creates his/her own legacy.

JK

I think you definetly can weed out the af cards. Synchrony is not a bad bank to have cards with, its all perspective and how one uses them. Youve done good getting in with Amex , Boa, and Chase. Look at what store cards you have that you will actually use, and close the others. Fight the score not score the Fight

Thank you so much for your reply -- I've read so many of your posts! How do I go about weeding them out? One at a time? Space it out? All at once? I have no idea how to do this!

Anonymous · ‎03-16-2018

@Anonymouswrote:
@Anonymouswrote:
@Anonymouswrote:
This is a little obvious, but close all of the cards with annual fees. And I don't just mean PIF, close them.
Not obvious to me! I've worked 3 years to build all this and it's my first time ever building credit. This is everything from my Day One Cap One!

My concerns are lower overall limits and # of acccounts (due to utilization since I have lower limits.. divisors are helpful)

AAoA is currently 3+ years. My oldest accounts (4 student loans, one of which is PIF) are 9-1/2 years old, so those are my nice firm anchor I've come to rely on..
Well if you're paying in full and you dont need the credit why would you keep cards charging you money for nothing? You're paying for something you don't need since clearly you have cards with no annual fees.

I ask myself that same question every day. I thought that's how you build credit.. start off wherever you can, pay your dues, let history build until you work your way up.. but I think Chase, Amex, and BoA put me up a few notches.. Just don't want to lose them or something because they see me dropping all my other cards. I have no idea how this process works. I'm afraid to mess up. I've worked so hard! I went from scores literally below 400 3 years ago to mid-600's today. I've paid a LOT of AFs to get here!! lol

P.S. I kid you not.. I applied for an auto loan 4 years ago. The sales manager brought me to his desk, turned his monitor around and started laughing at me, saying, "I couldn't sell you the shoes I have on!" .. my credit score was 346. I didn't even know scores could be that low :-(

Anonymous · ‎03-16-2018

@Anonymouswrote:
@Anonymouswrote:
@Anonymouswrote:
@Anonymouswrote:
This is a little obvious, but close all of the cards with annual fees. And I don't just mean PIF, close them.
Not obvious to me! I've worked 3 years to build all this and it's my first time ever building credit. This is everything from my Day One Cap One!

My concerns are lower overall limits and # of acccounts (due to utilization since I have lower limits.. divisors are helpful)

AAoA is currently 3+ years. My oldest accounts (4 student loans, one of which is PIF) are 9-1/2 years old, so those are my nice firm anchor I've come to rely on..
Well if you're paying in full and you dont need the credit why would you keep cards charging you money for nothing? You're paying for something you don't need since clearly you have cards with no annual fees.
I ask myself that same question every day. I thought that's how you build credit.. start off wherever you can, pay your dues, let history build until you work your way up.. but I think Chase, Amex, and BoA put me up a few notches.. Just don't want to lose them or something because they see me dropping all my other cards. I have no idea how this process works. I'm afraid to mess up. I've worked so hard! I went from scores literally below 400 3 years ago to mid-600's today. I've paid a LOT of AFs to get here!! lol

I got ya, so you needed them at one point because they are all you could get. Fair enough, you don't need them anymore. Pay them off and close them.

Anonymous · ‎03-16-2018

Close the subprime cards with a AF. As far as the prime banks with a AF, use your best judgement. Keeping the prime bank cards with a AF might be worth it in the short term just to establish a relationship with those banks so you can qualify for better, no fee cards with them down the line. But the subprime cards, don't hesitate to eliminate them if they have a fee.

In my early rebuilding, I got a few cards with a AF. But since I qualify for better cards now I cut the annual fee cards and I refuse to have any more cards with an annual fee. It's a waste of money, and there are plenty of cards out there with rewards and no annual fee.

As far as a time frame to do it, there's no need to wait to kill the subprime cards. Just do it as soon as you can afford to pay off whatever you owe on them.

Anonymous · ‎03-16-2018

@Anonymouswrote:
How do I go about weeding them out? One at a time? Space it out? All at once? I have no idea how to do this!

For the non-prime ones with annual fees, weed them out all at once. In other words, immediately close the following:

1) Capital One Secured Mastercard $1050 (Jan 2015, secured SL: $750, APR: 24.15%, AF: $29)
2) Credit One Visa $900 (May 2016, SL: $400, APR: 25.15%, AF: $99.99)
3) FNCC/Legacy Visa $850 (Jul 2016, SL: $350, APR: 29.90%, AF: $75)
4) Merrick Bank Visa $1500 (Jun 2017, SL: $750, APR: 22.70%, AF: $36)
7) Credit One Mastercard $800 (Nov 2017, SL: $800, APR: 25.15%, AF: $60)

For the store cards you'd need to close some of them as well, they can be a factor holding you back from higher limits, but we can deal with them later. Call each creditor, close the non-prime cards with annual fee and update your list and then we find out the next step.