Cards with no AF, as most store cards seem to be, can be left open with no issues. They will help your file thicken and age. If there is any remote possibility you will use the store in the next year, it makes sense to keep the card open, because often there are extra savings opportunities. You already have the cards, might as well keep them for a while.
One step to take is to ensure all the cards are set up for autopayment, of at least the minimum payment. Then when some obscure charge shows up, or you use the card and forget to check, the CCC takes care of the minimum payment for you, keeping your payment history pristine. Just ensure you always have a buffer of cash in that main checking account that the autopayments will look to.
As you get further along, and it becomes more obvious you aren't going back to a particular store, then it certainly makes sense to close the card. By that time, it is possible the store closes it for you, but #shrug.
The Credit One account, unless you can dance carefully and avoid all the landmines of fees, that one should be closed sooner rather than later. Yesterday would be a good day to close Credit One.
@Joecooltech wrote:
Hi guys I have a long but short story I'm gonna tell and hopefully it makes sense. So about 2 years ago I went ahead and drastically started to rebuild my credit. I got the capital one platinum card which I turned into the capital 1 quicksilver. I opened several shopping card tick cards with comenity bank All of them have pretty low limits I have Merrick bank and credit one bank. I also have opened and paid off 3 auto loans in the past 2 and a 1/2 years. One personal loan paid. My utilization currently sits at 2% I owe almost no debt other than 18k on a auto loan. Now I'm in the position where I want to sit for at least 2 years and let my age build my question is is do I start closing low limit cards to open up bigger Opportunities down the road once I'm out of 5/24 ? Or do I keep all the card for open positive trade lines?
I think it's best to keep them, unless they have an annual fee, in which case it's a toss-up.
Until those derogs are off, they will stay impacting your scores. As others have mentioned, I would definitely close the Credit1 account as it's a known predatory lender. The risk with having so many store cards is that they can all be closed at any given time by either Comenity or Synchrony. They have been known to do that. To be on the safe side, I would (if not already), add another lender or 2 to your profile (Discover and Amex come to mind). At that point, if you keep or close your store cards, atleast you'll have other lenders available. One thing I do wanna mention is the derogs. Are they charge offs? Collections? late payments? There are different processes for the above so maybe listing them would help. This way we may be able to guide you on what to do about them.
I have to Agree about the discover and amex even if you dont get approved for unsecured the Discover secured is the way to go I started with 300$ it went unsecured after about 10 months to 3600
