Is it time to thin the herd?

[Anonymous]

I think I must be sick.  I keep applying for cards I don't need and now have way too many.  In the past week, I was approved for a Target ($2k) and Golden 1 Platinum Visa ($10k).  Should I close some of these cards?  Here is my "portfolio":

1. Captal One Venture: $30k 

2. Capital One QS: $6500

3. Capital One QS: $15k

4. Bofa Cash Rewards: $11k

5. Bofa Merrill Lynch: $20k

6. Uber: $4400

7. Barclay Apple: $3,700

8. Barclay Ring: $10k

9. Marvel: $10k

10. Blue Nile: $9k

11. Golden 1 Visa: $10k

12. Target: $2k

13. Discover: $15k

14. Blispay: $5k

15. Amazon store card: $10k

16. Lowes: $737 (really?)

The ones that I use on a daily/weekly basis are Discover (due to double cash back), Uber (4% on eating out) and Bofa Cash Rewards (gas and supermarket).  Which cards would you close and why?  Or, would you just sock drawer most of them and keep them open?  Thanks guys!

[mkhan1093]

Could you edit your post to say when each (MM/YY) was opened, or are those in order? I personally am the type to just keep cards open if they have no AF, and downgrade if they do and I don't get net positive expected value. However, if you're not that type, then close the cards you are struggling to even keep alive. If you try to do a small charge on each every 3-6 months just to keep it going, that's a good sign you don't need it.

[Anonymous]

I only have 1 card that has a fee, the Venture.  I suppose I could consolidate a few of these cards and obtain a larger limit.  

[Anonymous]

For me personally every card has to serve a purpose. If you find that one does not serve a purpose or give you any kind of value, than yeah close it ( unless it effects your AOAA.) 

[Hotcoals91]

I would suggest asking capital one if you can combine their cards into one quicksilver-gets rid of that venture annual fee and despite the marketing the quicksilver is better than the venture anyway.

[SBR249]

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@Anonymous wrote:

For me personally every card has to serve a purpose. If you find that one does not serve a purpose or give you any kind of value, than yeah close it ( unless it effects your AOAA.) 

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I would agree with this with the caveat that cards shouldn't be closed if it's going to have a large impact on your util. This is obviously dependent on how you use your cards. If you carry large balances then closing that Venture with the 30K may not be a good idea. But if you do the AZEO, then you can probably lose some CLs without breaking a sweat. 

The other thing to note is that AAoA won't be immediately affected by closing a card since closed accounts report for up to 10 years. So by the time the effect kicks in all your accounts will have aged a few years. Obviously if your card is 30 years old then it can still have some effects but the vast majority of people won't be impacted by this. 

For the OP,

- I personally would consider combining the 2 C1 QSs to begin with. If possible, choose a C1 rewards program that works best for you and combine all three C1 cards.

- Then aim for store cards that you no longer use or get enough use out of to justify keeping.

- Then I'd look at lower limit cards such as the Barclay Apple Rewards, aside from the financing on Apple products, I can't really see any reason to have it and unless you are buying Apple products frequently, it may not be all that useful. If you want to keep the Apple Rewards, maybe think about combining the Ring into it. 

- If you can spare the CL, I'd look into closing the Marvel card as well. Its biggest benefit that I can see is the 3% CB on dining. So unless you are buying lots of Marvel kit, you have the Uber and Discover to cover restaurant spending

That's at least 3+ cards that you can chop. If you are serious about chopping, then I'd aim for getting the number down to 10 for now. 

[AverageJoesCredit]

Well looking at your cards, at least you know your profile is strong in terms of limits. 2k sl on Target is really good. As it has been mentioned, thinning ones herd all comes down to what you spend , what your goals are , and how difficult is is to manage so many cards.

On this forum you will have your close them if you arent using them, sd if they have no af, and or combine what you can crowds. I actually like the idea of sding but at same time im not opposed to closing ones that i know i wont use or just to simplify my lineup. Wish you the best on your decision

[Gmood1]

I'd consolidate the ones that can be and SD the rest. Don't rush a decision. You may find use for some of them in the near future. In the end, only you can determine if you need to thin the herd or not. The positive here is you're not a one hitter quitter. You have relationships with different lenders instead of just one. Which isn't a bad thing IMO.

[UpperNwGuy]

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1. Captal One Venture: $30k - Combine with Quicksilver

2. Capital One QS: $6500 - Combine with other Quicksilver

3. Capital One QS: $15k - Keep, but see how large a credit limit you can get by combining all Capital One cards

4. Bofa Cash Rewards: $11k - Keep

5. Bofa Merrill Lynch: $20k - Close

6. Uber: $4400 - Keep

7. Barclay Apple: $3,700 - Close

8. Barclay Ring: $10k - Close

9. Marvel: $10k - Close

10. Blue Nile: $9k - Close

11. Golden 1 Visa: $10k - Close

12. Target: $2k - Close

13. Discover: $15k - Keep

14. Blispay: $5k - Keep

15. Amazon store card: $10k - Close

16. Lowes: $737 (really?) - Close

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My recommendations shown above.

[Anonymous]

You guys are awesome! Thanks for all the suggestions so far. I think I’m going to take it slow and see which ones I actually have use for. I’m definitely combining the Cap one cards as the online combining tool lets me do that. The cards I truly have no use for are the Ring, Marvel, and Blue Nile.