What to do with these 'legacy' high-rate CC's?

xtdefy · ‎10-20-2014

Thanks for the replies!

I will sockdrawer the Chase cards for now since they have no AF

The Cap One cards do both have a $39 AF.. should I ask for a PC first or a CLI?

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NASA FCU Platinum Advantage Rewards: $15,000

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Anonymous · ‎10-20-2014

@xtdefy wrote:
Thanks for the replies!

I will sockdrawer the Chase cards for now since they have no AF

The Cap One cards do both have a $39 AF.. should I ask for a PC first or a CLI?

PC First.

Anonymous · ‎10-20-2014

try hit two birds with one stone, ask about credit line increase while asking for pc. that's what I would do.

CreditDunce · ‎10-20-2014

For at least one of the Chase cards ask for it to be converted (or PC'd) to the Freedom. The credit limits are fine with 5% $1500 cap each quarter. You will miss out on the sign up bonus, but you can't have everything.

For the Cap1 cards ask for the annual fee to be waived and the card converted to a 1.5% CB cards. You may have to escalate with Cap1 to the EO office/contact via FB, etc. But you should be able to get both converted. The cards may not end up as a QS, but they will be a QS in all but name.

As far as the APR's go, hopefully you are close to not carrying a balance. Almost all reward cards are going to have a high APR. You should never carry a balance with a reward card. Hence, the APR's are not important.

Ok, they may offer a 0% promo period. But those 0% promo periods are designed to get you to carry a balance. If you carry a balance, you will be very profitable for the CCC.

Anonymous · ‎10-20-2014

@CreditDunce wrote:
For at least one of the Chase cards ask for it to be converted (or PC'd) to the Freedom.   The credit limits are fine with 5% $1500 cap each quarter. You will miss out on the sign up bonus, but you can't have everything.

For the Cap1 cards ask for the annual fee to be waived and the card converted to a 1.5% CB cards. You may have to escalate with Cap1 to the EO office/contact via FB, etc. But you should be able to get both converted.   The cards may not end up as a QS, but they will be a QS in all but name.

As far as the APR's go, hopefully you are close to not carrying a balance. Almost all reward cards are going to have a high APR. You should never carry a balance with a reward card. Hence, the APR's are not important.

Ok, they may offer a 0% promo period. But those 0% promo periods are designed to get you to carry a balance. If you carry a balance, you will be very profitable for the CCC.

I would definitely NOT PC to a Freedom and miss out on the sign up bonus.

Not unless you have a crisp $100 bill or two in your wallet right now that you can afford to take out and burn.

WLRK11 · ‎10-20-2014

@xtdefy wrote:
Thanks for the replies!

I will sockdrawer the Chase cards for now since they have no AF

The Cap One cards do both have a $39 AF.. should I ask for a PC first or a CLI?

I would call Chase and tell them you'd like to PC from the legacy cards to something you might find more rewarding. Just don't miss out on any sign-up bonus. Worse case senario with Chase, apply for a new card with decent benefits and then move the exisitng credit limits to your new card.

Remember, when you close a card, the credit history continues to report for another decade (10 years), so you won't see any immediate impacts.

Best of luck with Cap One!

Age: 20s | AAoA: 2 yrs | FICO Scores: 700s | Inq: EX: ?, EQ: ?, TR: ? | GARDENING AS OF 06/2014

CL: $2,500 APR: x% - WF College Cash Back VISA

CL: $750 APR: x% - Captial One Secured MC

CL: $3,000 APR: 9.90% - NASA FCU Unsecured LOC

chwebb1 · ‎10-20-2014

@xtdefy wrote:
What can I do with these cards? They all have a high APR and low limits but are my oldest tradlines so I am not sure where to go from here.

7 yrs old - Chase - $1100 limit.Legacy student rewards that got converted into some 'flexible rewards' card 26.9% APR
7 yrs old Chase - $1500 ex WaMu card with no identifiable product or features 26.9% APR
6 yrs old Cap One - $1000 generic platinum MC 29.99% APR
4 yrs old Cap One - $750 generic platinum MC 29.99% APR

I didn't start my credit journey in an optimal way so these are what's left of irresponsible younger time... They are all at 0 balance now.

My AAoA is 3yrs 10 mo

My only other card is a 7 month old NFCU CashRewards with a $10k limit, currently $1.8k balance that I'm paying down quickly so I'm happy with that.

I'd personally see if you could combine the CLs of your two Chase cards, and if Chase won't allow you to PC into a Freedom (or whatever you want) with a reasonable APR, I'd SD the combined card. I am not sure what "Flexible Rewards" are, but if you find those usable, you could put Netflix, Spotify, Pandora, your cell phone bill, or some other charge on the card every month to keep it open, and set it to auto-pay the full amount.

As far as the Cap One is concerned, as others have said, I'd PC the 6 year old CapOne into a QS if they'll allow it. I think I'd personally close the 4 year old card since that's approximately your AAoA, and I doubt that you really need a $750 CL at 29.99%.

photo bankamericard-better-balance-rewards-credit-card-small.png

$15000 ........... $12500 ............ $11750 ............ $10000 ........... $9400 ............ $5000 ............. $5000
In the Garden until at least November 2015

CreditDunce · ‎10-21-2014

@Anonymous wrote:
@CreditDunce wrote:
For at least one of the Chase cards ask for it to be converted (or PC'd) to the Freedom.   The credit limits are fine with 5% $1500 cap each quarter. You will miss out on the sign up bonus, but you can't have everything.

For the Cap1 cards ask for the annual fee to be waived and the card converted to a 1.5% CB cards. You may have to escalate with Cap1 to the EO office/contact via FB, etc. But you should be able to get both converted.   The cards may not end up as a QS, but they will be a QS in all but name.

As far as the APR's go, hopefully you are close to not carrying a balance. Almost all reward cards are going to have a high APR. You should never carry a balance with a reward card. Hence, the APR's are not important.

Ok, they may offer a 0% promo period. But those 0% promo periods are designed to get you to carry a balance. If you carry a balance, you will be very profitable for the CCC.
I would definitely NOT PC to a Freedom and miss out on the sign up bonus.
Not unless you have a crisp $100 bill or two in your wallet right now that you can afford to take out and burn.

There are plenty of $100 sign up bonuses floating around. You just have to be willing to burn a HP. The OP could always app for a Freedom before PC'g the cards if he was willing to burn 2 HP for one freedom. But why would you want 3 freedoms? Assuming Chase would let you have so many.

However, if I was looking for a sign up bonus from Chase, I would app for the CSP. But the sign up bonus game should only be played once you have gold plated credit.

joltdude · ‎10-21-2014

Chase will probably not play with your APRs..... But.. if your in a position to app .. (your FICO scores and inquiries support it)... The best way to deal with the chase is app for a new card. then ask them to combine your limits and get rid of the other cards... Theres a very good chance if your scores have improved, the new approval will have a much more enticing APR... (someone recently closed their Freedom and reopened it a week later..and got a good rate but since these are legacy cards. your best getting a current product...)

As for Crap One... EO and PC...at least get the rewards and the AF waived... ideally if your scores are good/great and you have had no issues with cap1 o asked for a CLI this year, should be able to get a QS with no AF...