Wallet Decluttering please help!!!

[jordanen]

I'll take all advice and all criticisms, harsh or no.  One thing I absolutely love about your forums is that you guys tell it exactly how it is -- just straight no chaser!!!   I need to declutter my wallet, badly.  I just have too many toy cards.  I am willing to completely close most of these things!!!  My long-range goal is to get a creditstrong magnum 10K loan and just let the cards sit there and age for like 7-8 years with useage of course.  I'll list all cards I have below.   I also don't mind going full Dave Ramsey and just closing down every single card i have and going cash.  I can't get a limit increase to save my life.  Its all computer algorythms  now, so chances "seem" to be low.  my thought process is ... I'd rather have 3/4/5 good cards with super super limits instead of having 50 cards that are like the below.   To all those who read this, yes, I am on a second chance rebuild after 2007 when I had big problems going on in my personal life.  

I edited this message to sort out the list from the oldest account to the newest ... 

Discover 2K: opened 03/10/2016 (started off as secured at 1K then unsecured in year 2020 with automatic 2K bump-up, no growth since.)

USAA Secured $250 limit: Opened 05/23/2017 (This card doesn't even exist anymore. Very low limit with no growth in the cards future, ever!)

Capital one secured 500: opened 09/18/2018 (no growth, just secured with 200 Dep, no AF.)

Citi secured card 200 limit: opened 05/06/2018 (no return of deposit or graduation, these folks still think I'm gonna beat them out of $200.00. I'm jsut ready to close this one out too.)

Capital one QuickSilver One 500 (just increased to 600 last month): opened 01/16/2019 (This card does have an annual fee, hence why I wish to close this one entirely.)

Apple Card GS bank 500: Opened 12/12/2019 (no growth, very little spend. Just another toy i don't mind getting rid of ...)

Capital one Walmart 1K: opened 02/07/2020 (decent card, no AF.)

American Airlines retail card $1,500: opened 06/18/2020 (only can be used for flying american airlines, just helps Utilization ... non-existant spend now.)

Bank of America secured $500 limit: opened 04/01/2021 (It was a 99/500 offer, so I took it.)

Capital one Venture One card 1K: Opened a week ago, so soon I don't have the card in hand yet.

[jordanen]

Other notes and datapoints: sorry ... My scores are steady 615-610 across all bureaus,  vantage score, not MyFico.  My util is like 50-60 percent, mainly due to Covid-19 and my own personal dumb financial decisions.  I know closing accounts makes your score tank, but my goals are long-range anyway.  I want to get the 10K credit builder loan from CreditStrong and wait 6-7-8 years to get steller credit and prime cards, 10K limits plus.  Any advice and questions are welcomed, I will answer them!

[rostrow416]

Pay down utilization, find out your actual FICO, and go from there.  Closing cards before paying down your existing balances will hurt you score, so at least wait until they're paid first.  What negatives are on your CRs?

[jordanen]

The only negative  is a collection from Credit One, slated to fall off in early 2024 or late 2023.    I just have too darn many pieces of plastic in my wallet, time to minimize.  That QS1 annual fee will be billed on 01/31/2022, so I intend on closing at least, this account in the near future.  The QS1 is paid off entirely.  Most other cards have balances, but aren't maxed out. 

[jordanen]

Here's my long-term thought process ... I intend on starting a CreditStrong account for 10K starting on 01/01/2022.   I know it'll take me 5-6-7 years to see any fruit, but my goal is prime credit, 10K plus limits.  I also was kicking around the idea of maybe, closing the citi secured with a  200.00 limit and opening a  new one at the maximum line ... same with Bank of America.  The max on Bofa is a  4900.00 limit.  I don't mind putting some cash down to support my  longer-term strategy.  I'll be closing a ton of smaller toys for just a few bigger limits.    I'd appreciate any thoughts / replies as to a short-term or long-term strategy or goals.

[MileHigh96]

If you would like to get all your actual FICO scores, credit.com offers a one month free trial of their premium plan so you can 'test drive' it. That's what I did and you can get quite a lot of info from them. I canceled before the end so I wouldn't get charged, but it's a very good resource to take advantage of their free month trial.

As for what cards to close? Any of them with an annual fee and low limit are no brainers. Also, any of the cards with no chance of future growth would be good candidates as well.

[FireMedic1]

All the secured cards were for low limits. So a trend was started. Once you got a few unsecured. They looked at you CL's and didnt give out a lot when you applied because you havent shown any history with higher limit cards as of yet. Need you to list balances on the cards. As you say most have a balance. List them out as:

Creditor/Credit  Line/Balance.

As mentioned before dont close any until $0 balance. Have a feeling you util is to high and on too many cards. As is there any more baddies outside of the collections at all?

[jordanen]

OK, you guys got me pegged.  Too many cards, too many balances and now I've got myself into a hole.  This is the true reason I wanna close most of these cards.  My balances are listed below.  I could still use advice as to which cards just won't grow for me anymore and i should just close them anyway ... on to the balances.  Please HEEELLLPPPP???????  Yes, I know I  have to pay these off and that I have  behaved completely  irresponsibly.

Discover: Credit line 2,000.00: Balance 1,487.46

Bank of America: credit line 500: Balance 426.04

Apple Card: Credit line 500: Balance 316.21

USAA secured: Credit line 250.00: Balance 172.22

Citi Secured: Credit Line 200.00 Balance: 81.29

Capital One Walmart: Credit Line 1,000.00: Balance 953.82

Capital one Platinum Secured: Credit line 500: Balance 476.21

Capital one QS1: Credit line 600.00: Balance 0.00

Citi American Airlines Retail Card: Credit line 1,500.00: Balance 0.00

Capital one Venture one: Credit line 1,000.00: Balance 0.00

[calyx]

Honestly, I wouldn't close any of them if you can manage not to use them once they're 0.

The ones that are down to 0 balance or that you would like to never use again - throw them into the proverbial sock drawer (a fire safe in my case).    Lock them if they have that capability and pay down the rest.   Leave only one to use/report until you get a better handle on your finances.   But if you need to shut them down - go for it.  I would choose whichever card gets you the most cashback or points overall (I don't know your spending pattern).   Definitely delete any saved payment methods as well, so you don't overspend online with an easy click.  Make yourself enter your card number EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.    It's not 100% foolproof, but it is annoying and might be a deterrent.

You need a budget and you need to stick to it so that all of your cards are PIF every month (barring 0% extended financing for something critical).
I know Citi can be fussy with graduating, but I would definitely not shut it down and reopen a new one.   My Citi Secured is now a 9k Diamond Preferred.  If you have enough money to throw at a new secured card, you have enough money to pay off your balances.

There are three ways that people tend to pay off their cards, so use whatever one you think will be most meaningful/compelling to you:

1)  Pay minimums and then any extra cash to your largest APR card (minimizing interest paid).   As you pay off your higher interest card, roll that money/payment into your next highest interest card, etc.   This is the avalanche method.   It is the most efficient way to pay off debt and spending the minimum amount in interest.

2)   Same as above, but start with your lowest balances and work your way to the larger balances (snowball method) - this takes longer, but some people find it more satisfying since 0 balances are reported

3)   Work your way down the utilization rung by getting them all paid to 68% utilization, 48% utilization, 28% utilization, 8% utilization < those are near the utilization brackets we see that impact FICO scoring (I like to leave wiggle room for interest charges to report if you're carrying balances).  It's not the most efficient (bang for your buck), but some people like the FICO bumps as incentives.

I'm a Finances > FICO person, so I prefer avalanche, but whatever works to get your cards under control is fine. 
I know there are people who pay some of the balance before reporting so that their utilization stays under 9% (or go full AZEO with a small balance on one card).  If that kind of control helps you, you might find that useful, too.

[jordanen]

Thanks for your advice.  I like your ideas of avalanche method and sock-drawering.  I thought about cutting the physical cards up with scizzors so they won't get used either, but maybe that's a bad idea too????  Can you also please elaborate on AZEO?  Before Covid, I tried to always PIF one or two cards, but now i've broken all my personal rules.  I usually purchase food (Doordash, PizzaHut, Mcdonalds, Etc)  Transportation, and travel.  I'm not a person whose into buying needless stuff, like the latest phone, computer, or item of clothing.  Posessions never really mattered much to me, experiences do.  I love going on cruises and want a Carnival card through Barclays.  So ... which is the best card to use for AZEO, or one reporting  less-than  9%?  People have said my Discover is NOT good for this at all, but its my highest limit card.  Should I switch my strategy to Cap1 Venture one, since I enjoy food and travel?  I would buy a concert ticket as opposed to a new X-box or some useless thing ... your thoughts???