I've closed all my starter cards and it hasn't affected my score one bit (hovering around 700), since the mainstream cards I have now provide far higher credit lines. Utilization percentage was barely affected. In the last 30 days I closed:
First Access $350
Total $400
Credit One $900
Credit One $850
First Premier $700
Aspire $500
Indigo $300
Merrick $1,400
Capital One $600
Total $6,000
What I still have open is:
Amex $25,800 (AU)
Amex $25,000 (AU)
BofA $2,500 (AU)
Capital One $5,000 (AU)
Wells Fargo $22,000 (that was a shocker!)
Barclays $7,500
Discover $7,000
Apple $4,000
Capital One $1,650
Ollo $1,300
Wells Fargo Bob's Furniture $5,000
Total $106,750
The total outstanding balance across all cards is rarely more than $3,000; usually quite a bit lower.
I'd like to get rid of the Capital One and the Ollo as well. Bob's Furniture is nice free available credit but i don't like having an open store card in my profile. And I'd like to get rid of the AU accounts at some point as I don't fully control them. The two smaller AU accounts are for AAoA and AoOA purposes as they are over 20 years old, but my understanding is that they will likely not be removed from the calculations after they are closed.
For completeness, I had a Ch7 BK (and a bunch of related late payments) in late 2016.
I'd love to get some thoughts and suggestions from the experts! Thanks in advance.
@NYC_Fella wrote:I've closed all my starter cards and it hasn't affected my score one bit (hovering around 700), since the mainstream cards I have now provide far higher credit lines. Utilization percentage was barely affected. In the last 30 days I closed:
First Access $350
Total $400
Credit One $900
Credit One $850
First Premier $700
Aspire $500
Indigo $300
Merrick $1,400
Capital One $600
Total $6,000
What I still have open is:
Amex $25,800 (AU)
Amex $25,000 (AU)
BofA $2,500 (AU)
Capital One $5,000 (AU)
Wells Fargo $22,000 (that was a shocker!)
Barclays $7,500
Discover $7,000
Apple $4,000
Capital One $1,650
Ollo $1,300
Wells Fargo Bob's Furniture $5,000
Total $106,750
The total outstanding balance across all cards is rarely more than $3,000; usually quite a bit lower.
I'd like to get rid of the Capital One and the Ollo as well. Bob's Furniture is nice free available credit but i don't like having an open store card in my profile. And I'd like to get rid of the AU accounts at some point as I don't fully control them. The two smaller AU accounts are for AAoA and AoOA purposes as they are over 20 years old, but my understanding is that they will likely not be removed from the calculations after they are closed.
For completeness, I had a Ch7 BK (and a bunch of related late payments) in late 2016.
I'd love to get some thoughts and suggestions from the experts! Thanks in advance.
Nice work on getting past the need for the starter cards which you have jettisoned.
I don't see a problem with getting rid of Ollo, Capital One, and Bob's Furniture.
But let me mention that I think the AU cards -- once you close them -- are removed from your profile. Never having had an AU card, I have no personal experience with this, so if I'm wrong about that, I'm sure someone will correct me.
I was added on Capital One[10yr history] as AU when I started my rebuild. After a year or so I closed it and it still shows on EQ, TU, but not EX; its status shows closed but still has remained on the list of open accounts for 4yrs, seems like it will stay on report another 6, I hope.
I can see closing the Capital One and Ollo due to the lower credit limits compared to your other cards.
I use the Ollo I have for my gas card with 2 percent cash back. You may have better cb options.
What type of Capital One card is it? Could you try for a product change and request CLI? I had a Cap One Quicksilver that was increased from $1000 CL to $4000 recently with some heavy spending put on it. I also had a QS one they did not increase
I'm holding onto these cards for now bc I'm holding off on applying until after a mortgage later this year.
