Reasons to close credit cards?

[Anonymous]

Some have suggested to me to close my store cards. Will keeping store cards that your not using and having one major credit card for credit building keep me from being approved in the future for the cards I want? If so how? If not why close? right now I have a whole bunch of store cards I don’t really plan to use (Lane Bryant, Target, fingerhut, JCPenney) and I am using my cap 1 qckslver only to build credit (maximizing rewards as I can afford but pay off to show 1% utilization by post date and zero balance by due date) . I have a few credit cards on my wishlist and just wondering if having these random store cards will hurt me? My credit wise app through capital one says it’s good to show available credit of atleast 16000. Granted it’s a low impact on my score it says but doesn’t the additional cards contribute to that. Now utilization which I believe is a bigger impact isn’t hard to achieve without them cause I plan to show only 1% on the one card and all other cards stay at zero using enough only to keep active anyway but why lower available credit or is there some other big reason I am missing on getting rid of these cards?

[Anonymous]

Also let me add I plan to tackle my wishlist applying for 1 card every six months to keep inquires low and time for my one credit card to show good history....the cards on my wishlist is amazon 5%, discover it, PayPal, American Express blue, usbank, USAA Amex, Capital one savor, and Uber. Will having these store cards hurt theses ones when I get ready to pursue?

[Anonymous]

I closed a bunch of cards just to simplify my life. Doesn't help your score. In fact, lowering the total limit you have available will slightly hurt your utilization, but it won't make a huge difference unless you close your oldest card.

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

It'll rarely matter that you have store cards. When you get to the point when it does, you'll have better bank cards and will have probably closed the store ones.

[blindambition]

I would cancel over time. That way any hit is minimal. Watch opening store cards in the future. I would tell you to reconsider keeping the Target.

[Anonymous]

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@blindambition wrote:
I would cancel over time. That way any hit is minimal. Watch opening store cards in the future. I would tell you to reconsider keeping the Target.

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+1

Keep Target. You always get 5% off your purchases. Your other cards don't offer anything to write home about. 

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

Don't need the Target. Just get the Target Debit card for the 5%, unless you hope to get upgraded to the visa one day.

[Anonymous]

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

Don't need the Target. Just get the Target Debit card for the 5%, unless you hope to get upgraded to the visa one day.

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OP, although this is the better route, I'd say that if you are re-building (I can't tell from your post), the card can helpful in adding positive data to your payment history, especially if you frequent Target a lot. But if you are not re-building, close the card and open the debit version. You will still get the same benefits as you do with the credit version and not accumulate more debt.

[Anonymous]

Great responses thank you guys so much for answering! Yea the cashback rewards cards I want to aim for making store cards useless for use. So If I understand you guys correctly having large amounts of total available credit does nothing for my score and it only hurts my overall utilization if I have a high enough balance on any one of my cards and closing credit lines could make the percentage bigger on the cards with a balance I have left because total credit lines decreased. Well the 1% utilization Is based on the credit line I’m using which is the cap 1 quicksilver and the store cards are kept at zero balance so lowering my total credit lines won’t hurt my score then since I’m not basing 1% off total credit line in first place. So my follow up question is what is the purpose of having large amounts of total available credit? Does having large total available credit help me or hurt me as far as how issuers look at my report? Does having those store cards hurt me from getting the cards I want?

[AverageJoesCredit]

Having store cards doesnt hurt your chances at getting other cards. If all you have right now is a bank card and store cards i wouldnt close just yet. Keep building history and as you add other cards you will use, you can close cards you dont want to keep. 3 cards is usually best to maximize fico. If a store card works for your spend, dont be afraid to have one.