1st Credit Card nearing expiration. Close it or leave it open?

[Stillmatic]

Hi everyone,

My very first credit card ever (Cap1 Quicksilver One) is nearing it's expiration (9 years old/1k limit).  I've renewed in the past.  What would be the pros/cons of closing it?  I have 1 other CC the CSP with an 8k limit.  Is Cap1 card holding me back in anyway.  I would kind of like to close it, but am afraid it might drop my scores.  

Thanks in advance

[Anonymous]

I always assumed the cards auto-renewed? 

Have you tried asking them for a credit limit increase?

[HeavenOhio]

How old is your CSP?

There are a bunch of things to consider here. Two cards are better than one, both from a scoring standpoint and from a convenience standpoint. The convenience is that you have a backup.

On the other side of the coin, you're paying a fee on the QS1 that unlike the fee on the CSP, doesn't give you much value. Have you ever asked that this card be product-changed into a no-fee Quicksilver? If you're able to do that, you'd be eliminating the main reason for possibly getting rid of this card.

[HeavenOhio]

To follow up, Quicksilver One cards are hard to product-change (PC), but it can be done. To PC a Capital One card, an offer has to be available to you. Step one would be to call and see if you have an offer to change to a no-fee card. If an offer is available, do the PC, and you're set. It's a no-brainer to keep the card.

If there's no offer available now, I think it's worth it to spend some time trying. Call each and every month to see if an offer has appeared. During that time, use the card for something each month, and pay it off each month. If you'd like, you can pay the charges as soon as they post. Because we don't have a lot of data points on this, I can't prove that it works. But I was able to PC two QS1 cards after 12 or 13 consecutive months of usage and payments.

From a scoring standpoint, the advantages of keeping the card are twofold. First, FICO likes old cards. Second, FICO likes two cards better than one (and three cards better than two).

[Anonymous]

And indeed FICO likes three cards better than two.  So I would therefore suggest a few things:

(1)  Do not close the CapOne card and instead follow CapOne's excellent advice on trying to PC it to a no-annual-fee card.  You may be successful quite quickly, but even if not, I would persevere for the next 26 months if it were me.

(2)  Begin looking for a third card that you think you could really like for the long haul.  Take your time.  Strongly prefer a no-annual-fee card.

(3)  Do some careful analysis of the rewards you got from the CSP last year.  Look at the rewards generated minus the annual fee.  Then compare that to the same spending on an imaginary card that gave you 3% cashback and which had no annual fee.  My guess is that you will see that the CSP gives you less rewards in dollars than the no annual fee card did.  If so, call Chase to PC that to a no annual fee card -- the 5% cashback Freedom (quarterly categories) would be a nice choice.

[Anonymous]

How old is the CSP? I would not close it, but try to PC instead. Even when closed, a card can stay on your report for up to 10 years before it falls off. Unfortunately for you, there is/will be a huge gap when it falls off due to only having two accounts. Your score will probably drop when it is closed now and again when it falls off of your reports some years in the future.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Stillmatic wrote:

Hi everyone,

My very first credit card ever (Cap1 Quicksilver One) is nearing it's expiration (9 years old/1k limit).  I've renewed in the past.  What would be the pros/cons of closing it?  I have 1 other CC the CSP with an 8k limit.  Is Cap1 card holding me back in anyway.  I would kind of like to close it, but am afraid it might drop my scores.  

Thanks in advance

---

I don't see any upside to closing it, unless it has an annual fee. But even then I wouldn't close it, would just try to upgrade it to a no-annual-fee version.

From a scoring standpoint you would lose points by closing it.

[Fico82]

I would recommend you keep it open. 9 years is long time and closing will hurt your score. I would product change it , i just did that to mine and my wifes card last night with no hassle to avoid the annual fee. Keep it and make small charges to keep it active or set up netflix auto pay etc with auto pay link to your checking account.