Redundancy

[RSX]

merican Express

Platinum - 550

Gold - 250

Delta Gold - 95

Hilton Honors - 0

Hilton Surpass - 95

Blue Cash Everyday - 95

Blue Business Plus - 0

total AF = $1085. (Some of them don’t charge for the first year, which is good)

based on the note above about not canceling for at least 1 year , I would cancel each one as they hit 13 months, keeping the Hilton Honors and Blue Business only

[ToxikPH]

I don't use my BBP as I don't want to risk Amex seeing personal spend on the card and shutting down my other accounts as the Hilton card is my main card. 

[Anonymous]

I’d honestly keep Surpass over the base card, even with the AF. $95 is trivial for the accelerated earnings of the Surpass, plus complimentary Gold status at Hilton. I have both and will be moving CL to the Surpass from the base card and closing the base card in month 14.

[CreditInspired]

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@ToxikPH wrote:

Discover - 4 months 2k 28%

Guitar - 17 months 3.8k 14%

Gold - 4 months 

HH - 4 months 1k 0%

Surpass - 1 month 5k 0%

Citi DC - 1 month 3.5k 0%

Citi Rewards + - 1 month 2.2k 45%

Chase - 7 months 2k 0%

Delta - 2 months 2k 0%

BCE - 9 months 1k 0%

BBP - 5 months 2k 50%

Capital One - 2 months 5k 0%

Platinum - < 1 month

Apple - < 1 month 5k 0%

I spend mostly on food and travel. That's why I was thinking the Hilton Aspire as most of my Amex points go to Hilton and the gold card is only earning 8x Hilton points while the HA earns 7x anyway. With the HA I could cancel both my Gold and Platinum as it would cover both of those categories for a lower AF. I keep fighting with myself on CB vs points and I feel like points is the better value but I'm also not sure my income is high enough to make up the AF on points cards.

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Wow! These accounts are so new. IMHO, I suggest not closing any. Yes, they will stay on your CR for 10 years after closing but then you will be only 30 when they drop off. I closed my Cap1 when it turned 8 years in 2010, and it is still on my CR with a 17.2 yr age, which will drop off any day now. I wish I had never closed it and just SD it because when it does drop off, it will affect my scores a little because my next oldest card is 11 years.

Also, think of how these cards aging together will make your credit profile look. Just my 2 cents.

[RSX]

I get your point, but that Cap1 AF was likely only $59.  So that price over the last 10years May or not have been worth it for age

but credit age should NoT cost you $800-$1085 / year.  No way that is worth it.  

He will be getting new cards at age 23-26 that will make up for the loss. and he will have the money in his pocket 

2 weeks pay, after tax, for the privilege of carrying a Plat and Gold, and they won’t help lower his Util.  I just can’t say that is good financial planning.  

[kdm31091]

Don’t pay annual fees for cards you aren’t going to use. Cancel them if they’re costing you unnecessary money. Just be careful with applications in the future and try to plan ahead. It’s easy to spread too thin and end up with redundant cards. You can only justify so many reward programs. You’ll find it’s hard to achieve any one goal if you’re spreading too thin.

Amex doesn’t prefer if someone downgrades or cancels their card before a year so I can understand the advice not to do so, but it’s also a waste of money to pay for cards you won’t benefit from.

[Anonymous]

Agreed in principle on the charge cards, unless OP can reap the value that those cards are designed for. His spend is primarily food and travel. Whether that’s enough travel to justify the Plat is debatable - that really necessitates a LOT of travel, and I’d venture to guess not enough to make paying $550/year wise. But Gold on the other hand has great earnings for restaurant and grocery spend, and good MR point usage for travel as well. Using that for airfare and his Hilton card for lodging can easily make travel significantly less costly via spending he’d normally be doing anyway, and at a much lower AF to boot.

[KLEXH25]

They don’t refund AF, do they? If you’ve already paid the AF and only recently opened the cards, leave them open for now, since the damage is already done. Let them age and see how your actual spending plays out. Chances are you’ll eventually close them but there’s no sense in pissing off AMEX. Plus you won’t ever get the bonus again if you close them now and open at a future date.

[Anonymous]

If you wait until after the first year and allow the AF to post, and then cancel within 30 days, they’ll credit the AF back.

[wasCB14]

11 cards in the last 5 months on $31k annual pretax...which bonuses are you actually able to hit?

Not much concern about clawbacks on bonuses you may fail to get.

OP has spoken in past threads about applying indiscriminately. Some closures/PCs may be advisable where there is no bonus and any AF is partly recoverable.

And find another hobby. Too often, closures just lead to future indiscriminate apps filling the "wallet void".