When to close store cards?

[jetsfan2013]

I have two store cards (Walmart opened 1/17 and Amazon opened 7/17) that I do not use at all, and have not seen any CLI love. I am afraid if I close these small cards (900 and 1k limits) they could hurt my AAoA more than a CLI could help.

Any suggestions now that I have added a few Amex cards into my wallet? Goal for this year is to decrease util to 10% (will happen by July) and get FICO8 scores all above 720, and then go after a better daily card (Chase, Cap1 Venture)

[SouthJamaica]

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@jetsfan2013 wrote:

I have two store cards (Walmart opened 1/17 and Amazon opened 7/17) that I do not use at all, and have not seen any CLI love. I am afraid if I close these small cards (900 and 1k limits) they could hurt my AAoA more than a CLI could help.

Any suggestions now that I have added a few Amex cards into my wallet? Goal for this year is to decrease util to 10% (will happen by July) and get FICO8 scores all above 720, and then go after a better daily card (Chase, Cap1 Venture)

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Usually closing a card doesn't affect your average age of accounts for years. As long as it stays on your reports, a closed account counts.

[AverageJoesCredit]

Closing your cards will not hurt your aaol as they will be factored in for up to 10 years or more once closed. Only affect it could have would be on your overall utilization of you are carrying balances etc.

[jetsfan2013]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Am I ok to close now? Do you forsee any other potential neg impacts?

[jetsfan2013]

Just a quick update - logged on this morning to both my store cards and did one final luv button to see what would happen. My Amazon card was approved from 1K to 3K, my Walmart Card was denied (go figure). Since that is the smallest limit card I have anyway, that will likely be the next to go.

[Anonymous]

Only negative from closing would be in utilization. If you have the room to not effect it, or don’t mind taking a small hit for a little while, close what you don’t use

[UpperNwGuy]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Only negative from closing would be in utilization. If you have the room to not effect it, or don’t mind taking a small hit for a little while, close what you don’t use

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The credit limits on those two store cards are so low compared to the other cards, that there will be no impact on utilization.

[AverageJoesCredit]

Just a thought, with time those 2 cards can reach 10k easy. If you ever plan to shop these two places might be worthwhile to keep . If not , lol, I think your 20k Navy card has you covered

[jetsfan2013]

Thanks - I honestly can't remember when I last used the Walmart card. I used Amazon pretty consistently until February, now I run all purchases there through my Amex cards.

[Anonymous]

If you shop with Amazon on a regular basis why not make use of the 5% back on that card? Unless of course if you're trying to hit a SUB.

With Sync the general consensus is that when your TU score reaches the neighborhood of 670-ish the gates really open up. I've had the Amazon card since about August or so of 2017 with a SL of $800. It's now sitting at 5K so it does in fact grow rather quickly.