Sock Drawer

[unc0mm0n1]

Ok so I currently have way more cards than I need my current lineup is:

Chase Freedom

Chase Sapphire Preferred

Chase Priority Club

AMEX BCE

Discover It

USAA Platinum Master Card

NFCU nRewards

USAA Secured Visa 

USAA Visa

USAA AMEX

I hear a lot of people talking about sock drawering cards, but I don't truly understand it. I don't think I'm going to use the bottom 3 cards ever again. The secured Visa will go away in a couple of months when my CD matures and I don't Re-up. The other two I want to sock drawer. Can I just not use them anymore? Will that hurt my credit? My utility is currently 1% and I always PIF for all of my cards. The credit limits on those cards are pretty low anyway (1k, 1k and 1.5K) so it won't affect my utility at all. I don't think they would reduce my credit limits since they are already so low but I'm afraid of a lender initiated closing if I never use them. Do they do this? Does this hurt your CS?  Thanks in advance guys.

[Tommy5746]

If you dont use your credit cards for an extended period of time, they will usually send you a notice that if you dont use it they will close it out.. so use them all but for small purchases just to keep them active.. also, if you dont use the card or use it very sparingly they may slash your CL.. So, if the CL is 5k and you rarely use it they may cut it down to 2.5K or lower.. this is one reason why you should only apply for credit you need.. So, my suggestion is to use the cards and let them grow with you.. Good Luck!!

[unc0mm0n1]

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@Tommy5746 wrote:

If you dont use your credit cards for an extended period of time, they will usually send you a notice that if you dont use it they will close it out.. so use them all but for small purchases just to keep them active.. also, if you dont use the card or use it very sparingly they may slash your CL.. So, if the CL is 5k and you rarely use it they may cut it down to 2.5K or lower.. this is one reason why you should only apply for credit you need.. So, my suggestion is to use the cards and let them grow with you.. Good Luck!!

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Thankss for the info Tommy. maybe my post wasn't clear.  I did apply for this credit to use it.  I was building my credit when I attained the bottom three cards. Now I have better cards and want to use those for the bulk of my purchases going forward. Is there a specific reason why you think I should keep the accounts open? It won't effect my Fico score if I close them now and the accounts will still report for ten years. I'm just not sure why you think I should keep the cards when I now qualify for much better rewards and rates with other cards and it won't affect mmy Util or AAoA. Am i missing something?

[Anonymous]

Generally speaking, the most popular reasons to close cards are fees (AF/monthly/etc) and most people don't recommend closing cards without fees because keeping them open really doesn't hurt you.  Hence the popularity of the sock drawer.

If you don't want to keep them open though, it's certainly a personal choice.

There are a few things you should consider though:

If there's an emergency would having the extra credit available (either to use, or to offset your util on your other cards) be useful?

You say that closing them won't effect your util, but unless you always carry a 0 balance across the board, closing them will indeed effect your util at least a little bit.

I don't worry much about AAoA changes when closed accounts drop off personally, because I figure at that point everything else on my report will be significantly older anyway lol

[unc0mm0n1]

Yeah I always intentionally let one balance register just so that I have some utility. I always PIF. But you make a good point.  maybe I will keep them open. I just think it would be easier to close them instead of constantly using them and then paying them off. It seems like most people are saying keep them open. Would it make any difference if I mention that I have about 50K worth of credit and I'm talking about closing a total of 3.5K lines of low rewards credit while spending more on high reward credit cards? I also don't plan to app for a CC for a long time (at least for a year or two, probably more).   

[RhubarbPie]

I have a few cards that I dont use for anything and I try to just buy one thing on them ever 2 months or so. Or if they have some kind of promo, I'll use it then (like Gap had a promo a few months ago that if you used the card 4 times outside of Gap brands, you'd get a $10 certificate or something like that, so I bought 4 packs of gum seperately, kept the card active and got money to use at Gap). No reason to close an no-AF card, especially if you've had them for awhile. But the issuer may choose to close it if you don't use it.

[unc0mm0n1]

I would agree if this was a store card. But USAA is stingy, I get no CLIs and I get no special bonuses that out do my current cards. Maybe I will keep them open because of everything you guys have said but I just don't see how it really helps and it just seems like an extra hassle. 

[Anonymous]

Honestly, i wouldn't be too shy about closing cards that dont really offer anything and are to never be seriously used again in the instance that they aren't like 10 years older than everything else on your profile, and all your other cards are like under 3-4 years of age. 

But if were talking about closing a 10 year old tradeline when i've got a few other accounts in the 7-9 year range, screw it, its gone if doesn't do anything for me.

[Anonymous]

I think that given your relatively strong feelings on the issue, and the additional info of having 50K credit with 3 of 10 cards making up less than 10% of your available credit - that you should probably worry less about how we feel and do what you want  

[somnipotent]

SD the ones that you don't intend on using and/or have high APRs / low limits.  You can use them sparingly just to keep them "open" if you'd like.  I have "active" cards, each with a MR charge on them, with auto-pay set for the minimum payment amount.  Just in case I forget.