I was looking through my portfolio of cards and noticed that while many have evolved and stayed with the times some have rotted in my collection. Now I do understand that as time goes forward I should expect change but being a picky fellow I believe I made many wise choices over my 12.5yr of credit use. I currently average 5.75yr in length. So I have selected the following for pruning and seek opinions.
00,500 5yr0mo Barclays AARP Essential Rewards MasterCard
05,000 6yr3mo Capital One Quicksilver Visa
10,000 5yr5mo FedEx Employees Credit Association Visa
09,500 1yr9mo HSBC Cash Rewards MasterCard
The rest of my cards are in my signature and I believe these ones are more or less redundant. Maybe I am missing something?
I'd cut all four. None of them stand out with unique earnings or benefits, and you've got plenty of cards to manage that will be open. The wish list cards will also take attention when you get them.
In a few months you'll wonder why you waited this long to close them.
Close them and you could probably thin the herd further.
If you have a wish list get those and dump the rest. It"s not how many cards you have, it"s about the benefits and rewards you get.
If you combined the SD of Myfico forums you would have a credit limit of a small nation......
Personal Cards: Amex Plat | Amex Delta Res | CSR | Citi AA Exec Business Cards: Ink+ | Amex BGR
@NRB525 wrote:I'd cut all four. None of them stand out with unique earnings or benefits, and you've got plenty of cards to manage that will be open. The wish list cards will also take attention when you get them.
In a few months you'll wonder why you waited this long to close them.
I know exactly why I waited this long for each of them. There were reasons. Also I can easily manage the cards I have plus everything on the wishlist. The reason there is a wishlist is that some just are out of my immediate reach. Likewise each card did have something unique to it that I appreciated. For example the FedEx card is the only fixed rate card I have plus it is single digits APR. Kind of useless when aiming for cash back with it not having rewards. Likewise HSBC was at 3% for the first year on 10k in spend. I waited through the Citizens transition to try to revitalize it but I was not moved. Barclays card was managed by Chase at first and gave me a different rewards program that worked better. After transition it flipped like everything Barclays does. I pulled credit line before as a precaution. Lastly the Capital One is still iffy as they keep rolling out enhancement programs but it does not work. At least they are trying.
@redpat wrote:
Close them and you could probably thin the herd further.
If you have a wish list get those and dump the rest. It"s not how many cards you have, it"s about the benefits and rewards you get.
If you combined the SD of Myfico forums you would have a credit limit of a small nation......
I am getting my cards for long term value. The large quantity is not a collection but a set I want to use. What you see selected is long term rot. I try to guess ahead but that doesn't work always. If you think there is more to clear out feel free to point a card out.
So each of the four has now deflated as to reasons to have them, either rewards or APR, to be not interesting. Thus your proposal to close them. I doubt anyone will be able to provide reasons to keep any of these open, if that is what you seek.
Deflated is a good way to describe the HSBC and Barclays cards. The Capital One card was opened for international travel but was quickly replaced. Lately they tried to enhance it with partnered business but I think that part is broken as I have never been correctly credited yet. Always had to call in. The FedEx card went in a direction that I generally do not normally go in because normally APR is variable. Overall FedEx and HSBC had the "Ohh, look at this cool issuer" vibe to add to having the card.
I think I will let the Capital One Quicksilver hang around for a bit longer to get my last purchase properly credited. I will take the FedEx card out of it's misery as soon as I get it under control. The Barclays card I need to check the offers on the account another time but I might call to close. I will have to call HSBC and figure out what they can offer. Probably a closer once they cannot do anything.