How Many Cards To Close?

[Anonymous]

How many cards can I safely close without it negatively affecting my credit score? I recently closed my Cap1 secured card after I got approved for a Quicksilver 1 card. I'll be apping for the Platinum at the end of the month (have to wait 30 days now because I app'd too soon after closing the secured at the end of April). However, I'd like to close the Marisota and SimplyBe store cards. They were the very first cards I ever got approved for when I started rebuilding last year, and I got them with the SCT. However, I will never use them, they are tiny limits and refuse to do any sort of CLI (if they did, I'd keep them to help with utilization, but they refuse). However, if I close both of them, that will be 3 cards closed in a month, including the Cap1 card. Is that too many? 

I recently applied for a Visa card through my local credit union, and they denied me and the lady told me on the phone the only reason for the denial was too many new accounts open, and that she recommended I close a few that I wasn't using, and try again in 6 months.

Thoughts on how I should proceed?

[Anonymous]

How many cards would you have if you closed them?
What will UTI be after closing them?
Closing cards if you still can maintain the 3 reporting and UTI at 9% and below for maxing scores won't hurt your credit as they will still report as positive for 10 years.

[Anonymous]

What you should be looking at is AAoA.  Total age of all accounts combined divided by number of accounts.  If the age of the card you're considering closing is older than your AAoA, don't close it.  Keep it in a safe place in your house, or "sock drawer" as the guys around here call it since you said you have no use for it/them and once every 2-3 months take it out for a minor purchase just to show usage on it and keep it active.  This will keep the card from getting cancelled and will keep it postively impacting your AAoA.  Don't worry too much about "number" of cards.  FICO doesn't care about number the way it does about age.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

What you should be looking at is AAoA.  Total age of all accounts combined divided by number of accounts.  If the age of the card you're considering closing is older than your AAoA, don't close it.  Keep it in a safe place in your house, or "sock drawer" as the guys around here call it since you said you have no use for it/them and once every 2-3 months take it out for a minor purchase just to show usage on it and keep it active.  This will keep the card from getting cancelled and will keep it postively impacting your AAoA.  Don't worry too much about "number" of cards.  FICO doesn't care about number the way it does about age.

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closed or open they all count towards AAoA. So it will still be averaged into his AAoA for atleast 10 more years. I have one i closed 14 years ago still reporting and it still adds to my AAoA. if they aren't service a purpose and will never grow, close em down.

and yes you need 3 cards reporting for max reporting and you try to keep only 1 reporting a balance, small balance to maintain that 1-9%. This would be "ideal"

[Anonymous]

I agree with what the guy above said EXCEPT for "if they don't serve a purpose, close em down."  If they are older than your AAoA, they ARE serving a purpose and IMO shouldn't be closed.  Yes, if they're closed they will still positiviely impact your AAoA for 10 years, but 10.1 years from now they'll be irrelevant unless you keep them open now.  There is no benefit whatsoever of closing them right now if you can keep them open longer further helping your AAoA now and in the future.  The guy above that closed a card and still has it reporting 14 years later is the exception not the norm, so definitely don't plan on any card you cancel reporting/adding to your AAoA for more than 10 years.

[Anonymous]

I just don't consider a card open last year an "old" trade line. Lol. So every card approved now will be 10 years old by the time they fall off. So it will be 10.5 years old? Lol. Each to their own I guess.
Now if it was 10 years old I'd say keep it.

[Anonymous]

Who said anything about a card open last year?

I said a card opened at his AAoA.  If his AAoA is 5 years and he's got a card that's 5 years old but doesn't use it... there's not harm but actually some benefit in keeping it open.  Sure if he zaps it now it'll still help him for the next 10 years, but 10 years from now it falls off and could potentially drop his AAoA a bit, a year, whatever.  If he can keep that card open, throw a charge on it a couple of times a year and have that account continue to age and help his AAoA, why not do so?  If it's a card that's only been open a year or two that's less than his current AAoA, in that case I don't see a purpose to keep it open.  Just my opinion.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I just don't consider a card open last year an "old" trade line. Lol. So every card approved now will be 10 years old by the time they fall off. So it will be 10.5 years old? Lol. Each to their own I guess.
Now if it was 10 years old I'd say keep it.

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IMHO the only considerations are 1) Is this card of any use to me, 2) Is this card costing me money to keep open, and 3) Is this card tying up money better used elsewhere? Other oft stated considerations such as AAoA, and UTI are simply not relevant when rebuilding. Those things will take care of themselves over time as long as you are charting your course wisely and not overspending.

[Anonymous]

Pretty much norm. Out of my 60+ cards 50 will be closed in a year or 2. Some less. I should ( in theory) have better cards by then, establish a well AAoA with prime lenders with time.
For every card I get approved for I.E When my discover got approved I shut down that much in cards that had no more use. Store cards being the first to go. Time will be my friend on AAoA.

[Anonymous]

The decision of one to close one of their 60 cards is far less impactful than one closing one of say 5 cards.  It's different for everyone.