What credit cards should I keep?

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone.

I am fresh in the process of rebuildig my credit. Ive never missed a payment however I am young with plenty if student debt, a car loan, and up until yesterday several maxed out credir cards.

I consolidated all my credit card through a bank loan and got a much lower interest rate and monthly payment.

Now that these credit cards are paid off Id like to close a few accounts but I know I need to keep some open to build credit. Ill list the ones i have below. My current FICO is 616. Have consolidated all of this debt on a 7000 loan at 8%. Which I am not making payments on. Any advice is appreciated.

Discover Credit Card-started as student credit card
Credit Limit- $1700
APR- 20.99%
Fees-none
Rewards- cash back

Credit One Visa
Credit Limi- $400
APR- 22.40%
Fees- $75 yearly
Rewards- lame cash back

Citi double cash card
Credit Limit- $500
APR- 24.49%
Fees- none
Rewards- cash back

Capital One platinum master card
Credit limit- $2500
APR- 26.25%
Fees- none
Rewards- none

PayPal (synchrony bank)
Credit Limit- $530
APR- 28.24%
Fees- none
Rewards- cash back

Fingerhut
Credit Limit- $1000
APR- 26.15%
Fees- $30 yearly
Rewards none.

[Anonymous]

One consideration will be which card is the oldest, closing that will affect your AAoA down the road. Other than that, since you have some good cards with reputable lenders, I would ditch the Credit One and Fingerhut which are considered sub prime lenders and have annual fees. Nurture your credit carefully and the others should grow with you over time.

[K-in-Boston]

Welcome to the forums! 

I would agree with closing the Credit One and Fingerhut account, unless they are significantly older than any of your other cards.

Have you asked for credit line increases on Citi, Capital One, or Discover?  All of them have the ability to request this online, and as long as there's language to the effect of "a credit report will not be pulled," there is no risk at all in asking Citi or Discover.  CapOne is always a soft pull, which means there's no inquiry which could mildly hurt your credit score.

With Capital One you should check the link in this thread to see if you can possibly upgrade your card to a Venture or Quicksilver product to make it rewarding.

Finally, have all of your statements closed with the new balances reported to the credit bureaus?  If not, you may see a huge increase in credit scores once that happens if they were all maxed out.  Also important to know that if every revolving credit account you have is showing a $0 balance, that's actually worse for a FICO score than having a small balance, or even a handful of small balances.

[Adkins]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Hello everyone.

I am fresh in the process of rebuildig my credit. Ive never missed a payment however I am young with plenty if student debt, a car loan, and up until yesterday several maxed out credir cards.

I consolidated all my credit card through a bank loan and got a much lower interest rate and monthly payment.

Now that these credit cards are paid off Id like to close a few accounts but I know I need to keep some open to build credit. Ill list the ones i have below. My current FICO is 616. Have consolidated all of this debt on a 7000 loan at 8%. Which I am not making payments on. Any advice is appreciated.

Discover Credit Card-started as student credit card
Credit Limit- $1700
APR- 20.99%
Fees-none
Rewards- cash back

Credit One Visa
Credit Limi- $400
APR- 22.40%.              Get rid of it.
Fees- $75 yearly
Rewards- lame cash back

Citi double cash card
Credit Limit- $500
APR- 24.49%
Fees- none
Rewards- cash back

Capital One platinum master card
Credit limit- $2500
APR- 26.25%
Fees- none
Rewards- none

PayPal (synchrony bank)
Credit Limit- $530
APR- 28.24%
Fees- none
Rewards- cash back

Fingerhut
Credit Limit- $1000
APR- 26.15%.              Get rid of it.
Fees- $30 yearly
Rewards none.

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Get rid of the FingerHut and Credit one. No point paying fees to cards that give little, if any, value. As K said, if you report zero balances to the bureaus, that also hurts your score. And having a brand new loan, at 100% still owed, is also going to hurt your score. You'll get more points back as the loan gets paid down. 

[HeavenOhio]

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@K-in-Boston wrote:

With Capital One you should check the link in this thread to see if you can possibly upgrade your card to a Venture or Quicksilver product to make it rewarding.

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Or, if you're interested in the Savor, call in or chat as Savor offers haven't yet appeared via the link.

I'd close Credit One and Fingerhut. At your age, they're not likely to be significantly older than your other cards. And even if they are, they're not keeper cards. Consider cutting them to be part of your rebuilding.

[Anonymous]

Thank you all for your advice! I really appreciate it