My comments in blue below.
@Anonymous wrote:
Can you explain why I should close the store cards?
You might have missed it earlier when I wrote this:
The insurance industry uses a non-FICO model which penalizes you for having store cards. If you get a huge value from having a store card, then keep it open, but the default should be to consider closing any particular store card.
Since it is a non-FICO model it won't hurt your your FICO score to have store cards. But it could hurt your insurance score, which could in turn cause your insurance premiums to be more costly.
If you live in Massachusetts, Hawaii, or California, then insurance companies cannot pull your credit report.
These are stores I truly shop at & I enjoy the extra perks I get from having their card. I can see closing MattressFirm since I only got it to take advantage of zero financing. I shop a Pier 1 & VS all the time.
What extra perks are you thinking of? Those stores also take major credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, etc.). And it is not hard to get no annual fee major credit cards with good rewards.
I could give up J Crew & Kohl’s but wouldn’t that be bad since I just opened them?
No, it would not be bad. Bear in mind that my advice was to begin thinking about getting rid of store cards in six months (but in my opinion there was no need to think about it now). And I just suggested it was something to consider, not a definite thing to do. I also mentioned that a particular store card might give you a huge benefit, in which case you might decide to keep it. (An example might be a Target card with a 5% cash back rewards package.)
All cards are at zero with the exception of Chase United (my main card) & mattress firm which is where my 30% UT falls.
If they are truly hurting me then I’ll let them go, but I don’t understand why they are hurting if they are PIF.
