Question on Closing accounts- Actual experiences

[Tonya-E]

Hi everyone,

I am seeking some advice to close some old sub-prime cards that I had when I went through a rough credit period.  One of the subprime cards is my oldest account (AAoA =5 years), which is why I have been really hesitant to close it.  Can some of you share your personal experiences with changes to your scores when you closed old subprime cards?  I know I read up here that closing the account will not affect your score in and of itself and that it continues to be included in your AAoA for 10 years.  However, the prime cards that  I have now I attained in the last couple of years so I am wondering if I will see a significant drop since my oldest account will go from 10 years to 2-3 years by closing these.

Additional information...subprime cards are totally roughly 4500 of my available credit out of 30,600.  After closing them all I woud be around 19% utilization. I have about $5000 on a citiforward card at 0% interest and will be paying it off before that expires. 

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

[Anonymous]

I'd wait on closing the account until you can lower your UTIL either by paying them off or getting more cards.  You're more likely to get approved with lower UTIL, or on recon by explaining that you wish to replace your sub-prime card, with better cards.

Does your sub-prime card have an AF?

[Anonymous]

if u have AF's i say close them

[Tonya-E]

Yes and that is why I had really thought about waiting on that....So you think I should wait until I pay off the citi balance? If so, I may speed that up then. I actually can pay it off but I was taking advantage of the fact that I am paying no interest.  I figured I could hold the money in an interest bearing account and make money for myself instead of them.

[Tonya-E]

Yes there is an AF....and that is the whole reason I am ready to say goodbye to them....

The breakdown is I  have 9 cards in total.  Of the 9, 4 have AF or monthly expense.  I have no balances on any cards except the 1 citi forward.  All other accounts are zero.

[Anonymous]

Well, pay it off and wait till its reported as paid off before applying for more cards.  If you're not planning to apply for more cards and plan on gardening I don't think Util really matters at that point and if they have AFs then I'd close em.

[Tonya-E]

Ok...that's what I will do then.  None of the subprimes have any balances so they can be closed immediately. I am not seeking credit and won't be for probably 3 years or so...

Does anyone have any firsthand experience in doing this and what the effects will be?

[llecs]

Be sure to read the Closing Credit Cards thread found stickied here somewhere. I'd also pay down Citi before closing the other CCs. Once you close those other CCs, your overall CC utilization will spike up because closed $0 balance CCs are forever removed from util. Closing it will have zero impact to your AAoA for the next 10 years or so. Closed accounts still report and factor into your AAoA, length or history, etc. I've closed many CCs without any score change, but I also made sure that util wasn't impacted before I did that.

[visorboy1974]

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@tonyaether wrote:

Ok...that's what I will do then.  None of the subprimes have any balances so they can be closed immediately. I am not seeking credit and won't be for probably 3 years or so...

Does anyone have any firsthand experience in doing this and what the effects will be?

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I closed 7-8 in a 3 month period and not only did my scores not go down, they went up.  Fair warning though...I went through a CLI spree during this time and saw my available credit go from $20K to $60K.  I think you have enough in credit lines that you won't take a hit worth worrying about if your util spikes a bit.  At the very least, get rid of the AF cards immediately.  You have no use for them now.  

[Tonya-E]

That is my biggest concern....the only reason for that is that I don't want some sharp drop in my scores causing a trigger to my other credit grantors.  I know sometimes when they see quick changes they try to slash your limits, raise your APR, etc.  Otherwise I would be fine with the temp drop in scores.  I plan to go ahead and pay down the citi and wait for it to report.  Then I will begin closing the other cards one by one. I already knew the citi needed to be paid down because it's a lil over 50% util.

My cards & my plan.....

Amex Blue Cash Preferred 0 balance C/L: $8100  (just apped & approved for that one but the account made it to EX report already which I found strange)

Citi - $5000 balance  C/L: $9600 limit

Chase Freedom - 0 balance  C/L:$3000

Target Visa- 0 balance C/L: $1500.00

Care Credit - 0 balance  C/L:$5400 (sockdrawered)

First Premier - 0 balance C/L: $1100 OLDEST ACCOUNT - TO GO LAST

HHB MC- 0 balance C/L: $800  TO BE CLOSED

HHB Premier Visa - 0 balance C/L:$400  TO BE CLOSED

Applied Bank - 0 balance C/L: $2200.00  (FIRST TO GO!!!)