Which credit cards to close?

[jrubedjmp311]

I started my journey in 2017 with a 524 score. Im now at 816. However I have a ton of credit cards and want to know which to close.

Please help me decide. I used chatGPT but I dont know if I trust the answer.

Here is my lineup with balance, age and limit.

1. Capital One - 8 years 6 months - $0 balance - $2,900 limit.

2. Capital One - 7 years 7 months - $0 balance - $12,500 limit.

3. Target Mastercard - 7 years 7 months - $0 balance - $5,500 limit.

4. Discover - 7 years - $0 balance - $12,500 limit.

5. PayPal Mastercard - 6 years 6 months - $0 balance - $20,000 limit.

6. Bank of America - 4 years 3 months - $0 balance - $6,000 limit.

7. Bank of America - 4 years 3 months - $0 balance - $9,000 limit.

8. Care Credit - 3 years 5 months - $0 balance - $20,000 limit.

9. Discover - 3 years 5 months- $0 balance - $7,500 limit.

10. AMEX - 3 years 1 month - $0 balance - $50,000 limit.

11. Chase - 1 year 1 month - $0 balance - $20,000 limit.

[ElvisCaprice]

Close the ones you don't use, don't see any future use for and don't have a better PC option for.   Balance, age(under 10 years) and limit are not factors.

[jrubedjmp311]

I really want to drop the capital ones but they are the oldest.

I am an AU on a 25 year old citi card my wife has so that's been my anchor

[Dcowboy08]

If they have an AF and you don't use, I would close them. If not, the only reason to close are ones that you never use and don't need to use in the future.

[BrutalBodyShots]

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@jrubedjmp311 wrote:

I really want to drop the capital ones but they are the oldest.

I am an AU on a 25 year old citi card my wife has so that's been my anchor

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Hey there @jrubedjmp311! This is a pretty common question regarding the closure of cards. The reply above from @ElvisCaprice was a good one. Go ahead an close any cards that you don't use, don't see value in and simply don't want to have to think about again. The strongest credit profiles are built upon 3+ bank cards. You could literally close 2/3 of your cards and still satisfy that metric, so it's not about number.

Your "oldest" doesn't matter. It's a huge credit myth that you lose credit history and/or your aging metrics change when you close accounts. They don't. It doesn't matter if a card you close is 30 days old or 30 years old. When that account reports closed on your credit reports, absolutely nothing changes with respect to your age of accounts.

Also, the AU account is doing absolutely nothing for your credit profile at this time. Could it be grabbing you a couple more FICO points than if it wasn't there? Sure... but AU accounts are not your accounts. They are credit history that you are borrowing from someone else. Anyone looking at your credit reports knows that / lenders will even disregard them. The main benefit of an AU account is to brand new credit profiles where someone is looking to get their foot in the door with a new issuer and grab their first card. Beyond that, the ship sails very early on wit the main benefit of an AU account. For you with a sufficiently thick/aged file, I see zero reason to keep the AU account around in terms of your credit profile.

[Thomas_Thumb]

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@jrubedjmp311 wrote:

I started my journey in 2017 with a 524 score. Im now at 816. However I have a ton of credit cards and want to know which to close.

Here is my lineup with balance, age and limit.

1. Capital One - 8 years 6 months - $2,900 limit.

2. Capital One - 7 years 7 months - $12,500 limit.

3. Target Mastercard - 7 years 7 months - $5,500 limit.

4. Discover - 7 years - $12,500 limit.

5. PayPal Mastercard - 6 years 6 months - $20,000 limit.

6. Bank of America - 4 years 3 months - $6,000 limit.

7. Bank of America - 4 years 3 months - $9,000 limit.

8. Care Credit - 3 years 5 months - $20,000 limit.

9. Discover - 3 years 5 monthsn- $7,500 limit.

10. AMEX - 3 years 1 month - $50,000 limit.

11. Chase - 1 year 1 month - $20,000 limit.

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Diversity of issuers is good. I'd start by shedding 1 card where you have 2 each with the issuer. Perhaps close 1, 6 and 9. Try to transfer & consolidate credit limits before closing the 2nd card. Generous card and aggregate CLs are nice to have.

Given your line-up of 4 cards in the 6-8 year range, close cards which are an annoyance to maintain due to lack of use. However, I would keep 2 of those cards. Credit age is important as are maintaining some older cards.

That being said, the difference between oldest at 7 vs 8 years is not significant.

For those who PIF, apr is not a consideration. If you feel a credit reserve is needed for potential hard times, having a low apr card is a consideration.

[FicoMike0]

I mostly agree with @ElvisCaprice , except anything that's important to you is a factor. As far as age, closed accounts usually don't age out for 10 years. If you get no value from cap1, close, or sock drawer them. Modebly close any fee cards with no value.

You don't say what your goal is. Fewer cards? Fewer banks? 

[Patient957]

@jrubedjmp311 

You didn't mention what your motivation is for wanting to close cards.  People close cards for different reasons.  Your personal reasons will guide the decision.  Without that we're kind of shooting in the dark.  

So why do you want to close cards?

Also you didn't mention annual fees.  What are the annual fees on those cards?

You said you're wanting to close the Capital One cards, but you didn't state if there are any you are certain you want to keep or if they're all on the chopping block.  Are there any keepers?

If you answer these questions, you'll get much better advice.  I have a feeling it's going to end with just closing the Capital One cards, but it's hard to say for sure without more info.

[GZG]

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@jrubedjmp311 wrote:

I started my journey in 2017 with a 524 score. Im now at 816. However I have a ton of credit cards and want to know which to close.

1. Capital One - 8 years 6 months - $0 balance - $2,900 limit.

2. Capital One - 7 years 7 months - $0 balance - $12,500 limit.

3. Target Mastercard - 7 years 7 months - $0 balance - $5,500 limit.

4. Discover - 7 years - $0 balance - $12,500 limit.

5. PayPal Mastercard - 6 years 6 months - $0 balance - $20,000 limit.

6. Bank of America - 4 years 3 months - $0 balance - $6,000 limit.

7. Bank of America - 4 years 3 months - $0 balance - $9,000 limit.

8. Care Credit - 3 years 5 months - $0 balance - $20,000 limit.

9. Discover - 3 years 5 months- $0 balance - $7,500 limit.

10. AMEX - 3 years 1 month - $0 balance - $50,000 limit.

11. Chase - 1 year 1 month - $0 balance - $20,000 limit.

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don't think I would close any of these tbh, if there's cards with annual fees or cards you know you'll never use, you can consider closing them, but you don't need to close any of these.

the biggest thing I would take stock of is your high amount of credit with Synchrony, if you want future synchrony products and don't intend to use your current Synch products, I might close one of those. 

[Aim_High]

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@jrubedjmp311 wrote:

I started my journey in 2017 with a 524 score. Im now at 816. However I have a ton of credit cards and want to know which to close.  Please help me decide. I used chatGPT but I dont know if I trust the answer.

Here is my lineup with balance, age and limit.

1. Capital One - 8 years 6 months - $0 balance - $2,900 limit.

2. Capital One - 7 years 7 months - $0 balance - $12,500 limit.

3. Target Mastercard - 7 years 7 months - $0 balance - $5,500 limit.

4. Discover - 7 years - $0 balance - $12,500 limit.

5. PayPal Mastercard - 6 years 6 months - $0 balance - $20,000 limit.

6. Bank of America - 4 years 3 months - $0 balance - $6,000 limit.

7. Bank of America - 4 years 3 months - $0 balance - $9,000 limit.

8. Care Credit - 3 years 5 months - $0 balance - $20,000 limit.

9. Discover - 3 years 5 months- $0 balance - $7,500 limit.

10. AMEX - 3 years 1 month - $0 balance - $50,000 limit.

11. Chase - 1 year 1 month - $0 balance - $20,000 limit.

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Some good advice to start above to start with, @jrubedjmp311.  But yes, we would need to know what the goal is with the closures among other things.  Just to simplify, I assume?  Are there AFs on any cards?   One of the most important factors that you didn't mention is which cards some of these are (instead of just a lender name) and how useful the rewards (if any) are to your spending habits.  I agree with @Thomas_Thumb that maintaining diversity of lenders during the process would be a consideration.  Also, preserving credit limits by combining where possible would help maintain a high TCL for aggregate utilization calculations, even though you aren't currently carrying balances.  

Are both the Discover cards the 5% rotating categories, and did you do that to double-dip on rewards?  Care Credit is one I would probably close if I didn't see a need to use it in the coming year or so.  If you shop frequently at Target, that one would probably be a keeper due to the high rewards.  Again, more information would be helpful.

The final aspect would be your personal opinion about retaining lenders for other reasons.  For example, do you already bank with Chase or Bank of America and would consolidating deposit and credit cards be easier to manage?  Do you enjoy the great customer service from certain lenders like AMEX, Chase, or Discover?  Are there perks on any of these cards that you value and that you would miss?  Do you think you might benefit from balance transfer offers that come frequently from some lenders?  (I get a lot from several of these lenders.)