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Hey Guys,
It may be time to do some credit cleanup. I'm really wondering if I should close any accounts or keep them all open for the history.
Here's the personal credit mix:
Amex Green Card - PIF each month - opened 8/2008
BOA/Amex Accelerated Rewards - opened 9/2008
BOA World Visa - opened 4/2006
Juniper - opened 2/2007
Cap One - opened 8/2005
Cap One - opened 5/2008
CIT Dell - opened 8/2007
Household - opened 1/2005
HSBC - opened 6/2003
HSBC - opened 5/2006
Lexus Visa - opened 11/2008
The best card here is my BOA/Amex Accelerated Rewards card. It has a $10,000+ limit with an APR of 6.24% while Household is 29.40!!! Can you believe that? What crooks, legalized loansharks! The problem is, I have history dating back to 2004.
Opinions welcomed...
Thanks,
- UM
Personal: American Express Platinum - NPSL | American Express Blue Cash Preferred - $15,000 | Chase Sapphire Reserve - $38,500 | Chase Amazon Prime Visa - $7,200 | Chase Freedom - $500 | Barclaycard Arrival+ - $18,600 | PenFed Platinum Rewards - $25,000 | PenFed LOC - $10,000 | Navy Federal Credit Union Platinum Visa - $25,000 | Navy Federal Credit Union LOC - $10,000 | Citi Double Cash - $12,170 | Citizens Cash Back+ - $8,650 | Citizens LOC Overdraft - $8,000 | Discover - $10,000 | Capital One Quicksilver One - $3,600 | Capital One Platinum - $750 | Valero - $600 | Dell - $3,000 | Lowes Advantage - $30,000 | Macys Amex - $25,000 | The Home Depot - $7,500 | Tourneau - $15,000
Business: American Express Business Platinum Card - NPSL | American Express Plum Card - NPSL | American Express SimplyCash Plus - $10,000 | American Express Gold Card - NPSL | Bank of America Cash Rewards - $100,000 | Capital One Spark Business - $54,000 | Chase Business Preferred - $34,000 | Chase Business Ink - $15,000 | PNC Bank Cash Rewards Visa Signature - $19,000 | PNC LOC $100,000 | BP Business Solutions - $1,500 | KeyBank Mastercard - $6,000 | Staples More Account - $3,500
@DI wrote:
I thought I had too many cards, but I'm about to catch up with you. Keep them all open. Use one card for each month in the year. Give your best card a bonus and use it twice per year.
Recipe for closure these days. Use it or lose it.
Yup, it is difficult keeping up lol. I actually didn't even count my CITI Professional card. Although it's for business use, they STILL report in on my personal.
I like your plan of rotation.
Cap One & HSBC...Is this even possible?
Personal: American Express Platinum - NPSL | American Express Blue Cash Preferred - $15,000 | Chase Sapphire Reserve - $38,500 | Chase Amazon Prime Visa - $7,200 | Chase Freedom - $500 | Barclaycard Arrival+ - $18,600 | PenFed Platinum Rewards - $25,000 | PenFed LOC - $10,000 | Navy Federal Credit Union Platinum Visa - $25,000 | Navy Federal Credit Union LOC - $10,000 | Citi Double Cash - $12,170 | Citizens Cash Back+ - $8,650 | Citizens LOC Overdraft - $8,000 | Discover - $10,000 | Capital One Quicksilver One - $3,600 | Capital One Platinum - $750 | Valero - $600 | Dell - $3,000 | Lowes Advantage - $30,000 | Macys Amex - $25,000 | The Home Depot - $7,500 | Tourneau - $15,000
Business: American Express Business Platinum Card - NPSL | American Express Plum Card - NPSL | American Express SimplyCash Plus - $10,000 | American Express Gold Card - NPSL | Bank of America Cash Rewards - $100,000 | Capital One Spark Business - $54,000 | Chase Business Preferred - $34,000 | Chase Business Ink - $15,000 | PNC Bank Cash Rewards Visa Signature - $19,000 | PNC LOC $100,000 | BP Business Solutions - $1,500 | KeyBank Mastercard - $6,000 | Staples More Account - $3,500
Not knowing what your utilization is makes it tough to give an opinion. You may need every penny of these credit lines to show low utilization. If you don't...then I would consider cutting down.
Do any of your cards have annual fees? If so, for me, they would be the first to go.
I would then consider gradually closing any rebuilder cards that have very low limits. People are getting denied for credit and for credit line increases based on already having "enough" open credit. You may want to eliminate rebuilder low-limit cards in order to grow the credit lines on the cards you like.
I say that I would close smaller cards gradually because we are in an era of credit difficulties that make credit tougher to get. That said, I look at my reports at the number of small-limit cards we used to have that are now closed. It comes time to move on from those, but you are the only one who will know when the time is right.