At this particular stage in the game, I think that I am ready to close out at least one account as I know that they are all no longer necessary.
The question is which account(s) and why?!
I'm hoping to have some of the more active and experienced folk chime-in with their Pearls of Wisdom! Anyone is invited to comment though as I'm eager to hear different viewpoints and stories!
I had the Aspire card recently closed because of no use in 3+ months! [sic] I don't want to have to remember to intentionally use accounts just to keep them open. My utilization is right around 9%, and continues to steadily decrease, so it won't hurt me (long-term) to close anything out. I'd like to keep the store cards, namely Target & Kohl's, as they do get used. I'm using the Tomo Card for the complimentary cell phone insurance! I recently used the Upgrade card to show non-revolving credit use, but the interest on it is sky high at 29.99%, hence why I paid down my recent charge in 3 or 4-months instead of 12-months! My rebuild started almost exactly 24-months ago. I had no cards in many years prior to that!
As signatures update over time, here's a copy of my current cards w/ CL:
- AMEX Gold Card: NPSL
- Discover it (Cashback): $6.5K
- Bread 2% Cashback AMEX: $5K
- Dell Preferred Account: $4K
- NFCU cashRewards MasterCard: $4K
- NFCU More Rewards AMEX: $3.6K
- NFCU Platinum Visa: $2.8K
- Amazon Prime Store Card: $2.5K
- Merrick Bank Double Your Line MasterCard: $2.5K
- Mercury MasterCard: $1.9K
- PayPal Credit (Synchrony Bank): $1.8K
- GS Apple Card: $1.5K
- Ollo Platinum MasterCard: $1.3K
- AMEX Delta SkyMiles Gold Card: $1K
- Tomo Visa Signature Card: $1K
- Upgrade Visa Signature Card: $1K
- Walmart Rewards Mastercard: $1K
- Capital One Quicksilver: $900
- Kohl’s Card: $700
- Target RedCard: $500
Thanks in advance to anyone offing any advice!
@SuperFlyEDSguy my advice - close any subprime cards that carry a)annual fees and/or b) cards that give u no rewards - i assume the cards that have no rewards your not using at all - my guess the subprime cards like mercury & merrick - subprime cards are usually capped at low limits and have no chance of growing
as always this is just a suggestion in what i would do - ur nfcu amazon apple etc those cards all will all grow overtime
Thanks for the advice! I figured as much, but needed the confirmation.
My last round of closures was with Capital One. I started off with their Platinum like most do, added on a QS a few months later, and after about a year applied for the QS for "good credit," which was approved instantly, but only given a $300 SL! When I called to complain, they claimed they couldn't do anything to help me, no increase or anything like that. So, I closed it on the spot before even getting the card in the mail! They told me that they could upgrade my Platinum to a QS for "good credit" and I was baffled how or why they would even think I needed three QS cards!!! I asked if they could PC my QS or QS One to a Savor or SavorOne, and nope! They don't do PCs anymore! I finally told them to just "upgrade" the Platinum and close the other two QS cards. So, aside from the Walmart MC, the QS w/ no annual fee is my only other Cap One card.
Actually, the QS One was the ONLY "subprime" card that I had with a an annual fee, but $39 was pretty standard for the 1.5% at the time. I ended up moving onto the NFCU cashRewards with 1.75% and now the Bread AMEX with 2%. I tried to get my paws on the PayPal MC with 3%, but too many applications which is expected and was my official start of gardening.
You are correct as I only put a charge on most of my starter cards every so often just to keep the accounts open.
I don't want to kill my utilization, so Mercury will probably be the card that offers the least back with a 29.24% APR. The Upgrade card also served its purpose to show a paid off Loan/LOC, and I really don't need it with $1K at 29.99%. Merrick is actually right around 20% and I have $2.5K with them so it may be worth hanging onto for the time being.
I figure even if I close $3K in cards now, it's only a temporary bump in utilization of about 7%. I got my CLIs with NFCU just a couple months back, but if they continue to double it'll be over $10K in CLIs all around when the next time rolls around! Hopefully, AMEX will do the 3x CLI on my Delta Gold in a couple of weeks. They recently changed policies and the wait is now reported between 90 and 100 days for the first CLI.
Thanks again!
Many thanks! I can't believe the progress in just two short years! I was never able to get approvals for such cards, and my own AMEX Gold was something that I wanted for a very long time. It only took 43 years! 😂
It sounds good, but will have to stagger the plan out a bit to not hurt my utilization. I am more than happy to kill off the Upgrade card being that it's just $1K, not growing, served it's purpose as a paid off loan/LOC, and 29.99% APR!
Ollo is probably another good one to close being it's only $1.3K.
It may be worth hanging onto Merrick a while longer as I got my line doubled as planned and have $2.5K at right about 20%. Closing Mercury will impact my utilization the most, but it's 29.24%! I want to close Cap One, but it was my first card since rebuilding. So, these will likely be in the next round after first closing Upgrade and Ollo!
You're totally right, I do have a great lineup right now, so eventhough I have no more "subprime" cards with annual fees (the QS One was the ONLY card that did have an annual fee!), I can be way more selective. The growth has been good so far and yes, will only get better!
Thanks again!
Many thanks for the detailed reply as it's most definitely appreciated!
First up, my utilization is around 9% as of today. It's generally been quite lower, but went a bit higher in the past couple of months. Not too much higher though, just a couple of points. Since rebuilding, I don't think that I've ever went above 20% total, and no where near 30%! I would say my average is about 6% to 10% on any given month. I've been paying down cards obsessively recently, so I only expect it to get better. Still, I will stagger those account closures out as not to have too profound of an impact on my utilization. I'll likely close one or two accounts this round, and close an additional account each month going forward until I'm happy with the results.
Next up, here's what I want to keep and why (subject to change):
- Apple — We really do use it on all things Apple.
- Dell — Primarily for the $4K bump towards utilization, but my family is also notoriously hard on their computers!
- Kohl's & Target — We use them for the discounts which are quite nice.
- Merrick — The interest is oddly relatively low (~20%) and with $2.5K available I'll keep it a while longer.
- Tomo — Using it for the cell phone insurance perk.
These no longer serve any practical purpose and for the most part are used only to keep those accounts open:
- Upgrade — Will likely be the next to go!!!
- Ollo — They had some OK-ish balance transfers, but no longer needed with the NFCU Platinum!
- Mercury — Only closing after Ollo as I want to get my utilization down more before sacrificing $1.9K!
I will likely reevaluate after these three accounts are closed and/or in 6-months once I can hopefully get another round of CLIs with NFCU. If I can get double CLIs again, that alone will be $10K+! I'm also hoping to PC and get the Flagship card around that time. If all goes well, that's when I could easily close out Merrick and/or Tomo.
It feels like a solid plan and I'm feeling way more comfortable with it now that the community has chimed-in. That said, thank you again for taking the time to offer such detailed advice, and a hearty thanks to everyone else who has been so very helpful with this next step!
@SuperFlyEDSguy19 accounts in 2 yrs is a bit massive. Outside of Discover. You have a bunch of 1000 low limit cards. Many start with Cap1 buckets. I did. I am thankful they gave me a shot out of BK. Without them who knows where I'd be. The ole saying. How easy they forget. They gave you a shot. It helped to get where your at. You were approved for where your scores were at. No reason to bite the hand that fed you. Yes close down any AF or Monthly fee cards. No more cards for now. I'd even say until the end of 2023. You applied so much. No time was given to rebound. Garden time. Work on SP CLI's would be best for now. See below RIP.
@FireMedic1 Yeah! Tell me about it, LOL! I knew that my only way to get my paws on proper credit cards again, but with the goal of getting rapidly out of subprime, is that I would need to push hard. I did just that while making payments two or three times a month, keeping my utilization way down, and pretty much doing all of those things that are expected of me to move up the credit ladder. My BK7 was 5.5 years ago, haven't paid anything late in over 6-years, and the only remaining history of that will be falling off my credit report in about a year (the lates, not the BK of course)!
The 19 accounts was basically me going "all in," but as I learned more and saw that I could get higher SLs, I worked towards those. I just got to a point recently where I realized that it's just not practical for me to manage all of those accounts as I don't need them all. The first 6 to 12-months of those two years of recent history was just getting my foot in the door. Yes, Discover started me at $5K eight months into my rebuild, they also bumped me up instantly after asking for my first CLI when the card was just about eight months old. I think that NFCU probably helped get my foot in the door with Discover's $5K limit, not to mention having a handful of cards with a $1K-ish limit and like 1% utilization. I also just paid off a student loan after 17-years right around the time too!
Believe it or not, I'm still bucketed with Cap1! The QS for Good Credit approval was this summer, and after I accepted I get a $300 SL! Every card I've have or had with Cap1 since rebuilding was bucketed except maybe for the Walmart Rewards MC as it started with $1K! I was gobsmacked that they still would only extend me a $300 SL, mind you I have an AMEX Gold in my wallet! 😂 I told them when I called exactly how I felt, that I am extremely grateful that they gave me a real Mastercard when nobody else would remotely consider it, and that I want a Savor or a SavorOne as I really wanted to PC one of my existing cards (something they no longer do), but I think it was crappy of them to waste a HP like that as we must define "good credit" differently in terms of a SL! I told the rep that I am keeping my first card as I do want to still show my appreciation, but am just not happy with the current offerings. So, I'm definitely not wanting to bite the hand that feeds me.
So, being that my QS One was my only AF card since rebuilding and have nothing else subprime with fees, this only leaves me with cutting out a couple of the subprime cards that I'm not using except for those occasional charges just to keep the accounts open. Having Aspire recently shut me down for not using their card in 90-days was a wake-up call to get rid of those 29% cards that I'm likely to never again use for anything more than some gas or something.
I definitely committed to myself to start gardening hard this time as I had my first "No!" In about a year, or in maybe 10 "Yes!" replies, and sure enough too many inquiries, but I was half-expecting that when I hit "Submit." I agree, a solid year should do me good. In the meantime, I'll work on CLIs every 3 to 6-months on what I do have. I think it's all about streamlining at this point. My foot is pretty much in the door now, it's just getting my CLs and my scores up now.
Many thanks for keeping it real, that's exactly what I need right now!
@SuperFlyEDSguyIn 2015/16 Cap1 was very giving in CLI's. I started with the Plat/QS @1200 out of BK. Then QS1 @2000. They both went to 3000. It ended. They were bucketed. I had a car loan reaffirmed with Cap at the time. Then PIF. Next 3 cards were QS, Venture, and Savor. All approved @10,000. Always got a CLI on the 3. Then being a newb. I passed my yearly income. Got scared. I turned in 14,000 of my limit on the 3. I posted it here and everyone thought I lost my mind. You can have more credit than your salary. Ooops. Unheard of today the way it used to be. Times have changed.
So yes we all had those starter cards. Would they help us today after a successful rebuild? No. Like your siggy. "Capital One QuicksilverOne ($800 CL not worth the $39/year anymore!) • Capital One Quicksilver ($300 SL was a joke being the “Good Credit” version!)" They gave you what your file revealed on a HP. Just like me I had to start somewhere. So happens it was with Cap1. I stayed for kick starting my journey. Take care of me. I'll do the same.
Its hind sight now. If your list was 1/2 the number of cards. May have had the same total CL but on less cards. I saw the pattern of 1000 and the number of accounts in a certain time frame. Looks great! Glad you agree to garden for a while. No harm at all asking for CLI's when its a SP on what you got. Let them age. Time does wonders. You'll get there.