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Hey Everyone,
I thought I'd reach out for some advice. I've been lurking here for a year or so and am SOOOO grateful for the wealth of knowledge here. My wife and I began rebuilding about 18 months ago after a losing roughly $500,000 (and our shirts) :-) to some unscrupulous business partners. Its all over now, and thanks to you guys we're on our way. So here's my timeline:
12/14: Scores in the 520's across the board
2/15: Got wifey and I each a secured First Progress card
6/15: Bought a new Honda with 5% interest (Wells Fargo) (scores at 580's)
11/15: Approved for a WalMart store card $200 limit.
1/16: Approved for Credit One ($550, raised to $650 in 1 month), Merrick Bank ($550, will double by 7th statement), and Milestone $300 (sucks I know)
5/16: Anniversary, browsed Overstock, bought wifey jewelry, approved for a $2500 limit via SCT.
Decided to chat with Walmart, received a CLI from $200 to $2500.
6/16: Negotiated a PFD with a creditor, scores went to: EXP - 677, TU - 668, EQ - 661
Went on a strategic app spree: AMEX Everyday $1000, Lowe's $1500, Total Rewards $1000, Cabelas $2000, Paypal Credit $2,000
All of these are cards I use. I do heavy usage and PIF all the time. Never show more than 15% Utilization. I'm happy, in the garden for 2 years (except for soft pull CLI). My question is: When do I cancel the First Progress, Credit One, and Milestone? All of the new ones have no annual fee. I'll keep the Merrick because the limit can increase, however, are all these others now useless to me? Just got my updated 3B report and it has me getting over 700 by the spring by just standing pat. Should I even wait for them to turn 1 year old?
Any advice appreciated... I love you guys!!!
Good credit will remain on your credit history for 10 years. You can close the cards.
Realistically, you only need 3 open, 1 showing ~10% and an installment loan reporting to continue to garden effectively. You've definitely got that without the subprimes that you're paying fees for.
Congrats on all your hard work.
@Anonymous wrote:
If you close them your AAoA will take an even bigger hit than it did adding all of the accounts. Before closing anything I'd see if you can get the annual fees waived. After a year the inquiries will drop and your accounts will all be over a year old so you're AAoA will look a little better. If they are willing to waive the annual fee's it would look good to have a few older accounts reporting 0 with a long history. your accounts were opened in Jan and Feb so I'd wait till December and ask about the Annual fees. Congrats on the approvals!
No, it will not. This is a common credit myth. FICO includes all closed accounts in your AAoA calculation. If the accounts are under a year old, then closing them will NOT hurt you in the least. Just make sure you have at least three open accounts.
I want to be SURE I understand this....
So if I get say a comenity store card for $500/let's say...Gander Mountain. This reports on one or more bureaus. I can then close that account and the card along with it's high limit will just hang on my account for 10 years? And that amount will add to my total available credit?
I ask because I know I went a little overboard with the SCt....definitely don't need all these cards.
Yes. It stays as a positive account, but the credit limit doesn't factor into your open balances or available credit.