What a journey

[joeyv1985]

Hello All,

Somewhere around 2010-2011, I hit wall financially. Work(I'm in sales) changed my commission pay structure, I lost several"Big Accounts", ran into some health issues, etc. You know the story. Credit One was the only CC Company willing to give me anything($500 CL). Fast forward to 2020: I now have a Mortage and Car Loan with Wells Fargo, a healthy 401(k), about 6 credit cards(2 Credit One, 2 Citi, 1 Cap One and 1 Chas SP). Currently the balances are at about $8K($31.5K CL's), but they'll be at $0 or so in about a week. The question I have, should I close the 2 Credit One cards now or wait until the balances hit zero so it shows on my credit reports? If I do the latter, how much of a hit should I expect to my score? One of he cards is 71 months old(My Oldest Account) and while the other is less than 5 months. I plan on using the AZEO method going forwardI(If I can help it). I surmise this will push my score to about 750 or so. 

[donkort]

Congratulations on getting to this point.

I don't see the use in closing the cards you mentioned.  Just "put them in the sock drawer," so to speak.

You should get a decent score bump once you bring down that utilization to AZE0 level.  Make sure the card showing the small balance is a "big-time" sort of card, rather than a "Credit One" sort of card.  

I  understand you feel  sentimental about Credit One for giving you a chance 9 years ago....but it's a "rebuilding" sort of card.

[joeyv1985]

Congratulations on getting to this point.

I don't see the use in closing the cards you mentioned.  Just "put them in the sock drawer," so to speak.

You should get a decent score bump once you bring down that utilization to AZE0 level.  Make sure the card showing the small balance is a "big-time" sort of card, rather than a "Credit One" sort of card.  

I  understand you feel  sentimental about Credit One for giving you a chance 9 years ago....but it's a "rebuilding" sort of card.

Thanks donkort,

The the older of the 2 cards(71 months old) has a about a $100 a year AF. I just don't see why I should keep it open. My second oldest card is a Cap One that is about 4.5 years old. 

[AverageJoesCredit]

No need to keep Credit One cards open, you are way past the need for those kind of cards. You can always try getting a prime card that fits your current spending needs and remember, closing cards is notcwnd of the world as most will report up to 10 years or more. 

[donkort]

You're right. If it has a $100 fee, I would close it.

[joeyv1985]

Just paid all the cards, $8,500. Only my Citi AAdvantage has a balance($200.87). I'm expecting a credit from a mattress store any day now to cover that. 

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@donkort wrote:

Congratulations on getting to this point.

I don't see the use in closing the cards you mentioned.  Just "put them in the sock drawer," so to speak.

You should get a decent score bump once you bring down that utilization to AZE0 level.  Make sure the card showing the small balance is a "big-time" sort of card, rather than a "Credit One" sort of card.  

I  understand you feel  sentimental about Credit One for giving you a chance 9 years ago....but it's a "rebuilding" sort of card.

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@donkort wrote:

Congratulations on getting to this point.

I don't see the use in closing the cards you mentioned.  Just "put them in the sock drawer," so to speak.

You should get a decent score bump once you bring down that utilization to AZE0 level.  Make sure the card showing the small balance is a "big-time" sort of card, rather than a "Credit One" sort of card.  

I  understand you feel  sentimental about Credit One for giving you a chance 9 years ago....but it's a "rebuilding" sort of card.

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[joeyv1985]

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@donkort wrote:

You're right. If it has a $100 fee, I would close it.

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I went ahead and cancelled both Credit One cards. I'm sure my CS will get dinged for it, but it will be more than offset by the payments I made earlier today of $8500 for the rest of my CC's. A small balance of $200.87 on my Citi AAvantage, which I'm expecting a refund any day now, is the only balance I have on my credit cards. AZEO all the way. 

[Anonymous]

Your utilization is essentially zero, so closing those cards will not hurt you. Even closed, they stay on your reports up to ten more years, factoring into the age portion of your scores. 

Closing them was the right move. You no longer need Credit One.