Just want to start off by saying i have been lurking this forum for a few years now. Most of my knowledge came from here and it has helped me build my credit score greatly.
I have multiple accounts (see below) and as of late have been having some issues with amex. Never had a late payment in my enitre history. I ran some high balances for a while on my business gold card w/ pay over time @ 3.5k out of a 35k pay over time limit along with my blue for business 16k out of 26k i believe. One day they decided to cut my blue for business limit to my balance of 16k, same thing with my gold at 3.5k and removed my pay over time. This took place when i was changing business locations during a build out and had to put the cashflows on hold during this time. Demanded when I called I pay off my gold and pay my balance to 5k or they will cut to balances on both cards. Reasoning was i kept my balance high on my blue & gold for too long. Along with that, I am at 2 years or probably more on a personal blue cash rewards that has been stuck at 1k since opening, even after trying the 3x increase trick. One of my lowest limit cards on my profile. With that being said, i recently did a payoff worth about 75K spread out across my accounts at the beginning of the month including a 25k loan that matured for about a year and was paid off a year and half early due to high rate. Some of this hasnt hit my scores yet but i already saw a 50 point jump to get back over 700. Also had 3 medical bills in collections with foxx worth about 3k i just found out about that were paid in full and marked for removal with foxx that should process by the end of the month.
I now have the ammount of credit i want/need and plan to raise the penfed and sapphire more if possible in the next year or two or three. My question is, I wanted to consolidate my accounts and simplify what I am dealing with. I am curious to know if i will do major damage to my score if i end up closing the Gold Charge card (dont want to pay the fee for an abysmal 3.5k limit with no pay it now and amex just plainly pissed me off), Blue cash pref becasue i dont use this due to the terrible limit, freedom because its consolidated with sapphire and even possibly barneys (since they stopped taking the card at the chicago store i shop at and is only good online and select stores). I guess where i am confused right now is - if i close these few low limit cards, will this help my overall profile or hurt it? i dont mind a small ding but i do not want to tank anything. I dont really care for amex anymore due to their extortion like practices. Maybe im better off throwing them in the desk drawer and forgetting they exist but i thought it made sense to have less accounts open that have larger limits.
The only borrowing i will be doing in the near future will be for a business loan, fixed rate through chase where i do my deposits unless i find a better deal elsewhere. Home is paid off completely and so is my business building.
Here are my accounts
*amex*
business gold 3.5k limit, no pay over time
Blue for business 16.8k down from 26K I believe
Blue cash preffered 1k
BofA 42K from 22k this month! big jump but consolidated and closed an approved travel rewards to this account this month day after approval (9k bal)
Chase Sapphire Reserve 26k (zero bal)
Discover NHL 23k (13k Bal)
Lowes 16k (zero Bal)
Chase Ink Cash 15k (6k Bal)
Pen Fed 10k (zero Bal, acquired this month)
Lowes Business 10k (zero Bal)
Synchrony Store card 6.5k (zero Bal)
Barneys New York 1k (zero Bal)
Chase Freedom 500 (Zero Bal, limit Consolidated to sapphire, kept open for 2 years since consolidation)
