Should I close sub prime accounts

[Danfriscia3]

Hi everyone , my first post here. I'm 24 and had a lot of issues being a young college kid. Long story short, at the age of 19 I got my hands on three sub prime credit cards with small limits. FPB at 250 orchard bank at 300 and credit one bank at 400. I also have a walmart card for 800 that started at only 250. After five years of use and with two late payments on my report, I figured I would try applying for a discover it and chase freedom. I was approved for discover at 6000 and chase for only 700. Now my question is should I go and cancel the three sub prime cards and take the hit to avoid paying the ridiculous fees that came attached with these cards? Would it benefit me in the long run although they are the oldest aged credit in my history? I understand orchard bank changed to capital one should I keep it, they did piss me off with a 59.99 member fee just recently.

All help and advice is greatly appreciated thanks a lot

Dan

[Larkfield]

I would first try and waive the AF.  I had success with Orchard doing that.  If you can get the annual fee waived, there is no reason to close the account as your AAoA will only go up and make you look better.

[09Lexie]

First try to have your fees waived. If not close them. You have 2 'prime' cards now and paying for those cc is a waste of money IMO. Keep the Walmart because there's no AF, ability to have sp clis and you get a free CS!

Closed accounts may stay on your cr for up to 10 years. Your AAOA will not be affected now but years later may when they drop off. Now that you have higher limits, the loss of CLI's will not harm your util.

[Danfriscia3]

Has anyone been successful in getting the fees waived by these companies ?

[daybreakgonesXe]

I did on my Orchard Bank, now Cap One. Had an issue recently with them charging me the annual fee in June, even though I talked to them in March about it.

Actually today, one of the fellas who I guess handles the annual fee waivers called me up to apologize for the glitch, and let me know he was the one who personally handled the situation to refund me! He assured me that the account has since been officially coded as a no annual fee account, and that there should be no problems in the future!

[09Lexie]

My DH got his AF waived with Orchard/Cap 1. I don't have any personal experience with the other cc's

[myjourney]

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@09Lexie wrote:
First try to have your fees waived. If not close them. You have 2 'prime' cards now and paying for those cc is a waste of money IMO. Keep the Walmart because there's no AF, ability to have sp clis and you get a free CS!

Closed accounts may stay on your cr for up to 10 years. Your AAOA will not be affected now but years later may when they drop off. Now that you have higher limits, the loss of CLI's will not harm your util.

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+1

[Azumi1]

I recently had sucess contacting Cap 1 EO.  They upgraded my Orchard Bank Platinum to a Quicksilver Rewards.  

[CredUp]

Personally, as soon as I hit that transition phase in my credit repair where I started getting approved for "prime" cards, I closed all my low limit, sub prime cards and I have only seen positive results since doing so.

[Open123]

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@Danfriscia3 wrote:
FPB at 250 orchard bank at 300 and credit one bank at 400. I also have a walmart card for 800 that started at only 250. After five years of use and with two late payments on my report, I figured I would try applying for a discover it and chase freedom. I was approved for discover at 6000 and chase for only 700.

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In my estimation, once you have Discover and Chase, there is absolutely *NO* reason to keep First Premier, Orchard (unless it's the old Household 2% with no fee), or Credit One.  At 24, annual fee waived or not, I'd purge them, since the effects on your AAOA will be non-existent.

The sooner you close the uber subprime cards and escape "toy limit" hell, the better off you will be.  You don't want FP or Credit One on your reports, if you can help it.

Good luck!