AAoA - Want to close oldest card

[CleanCredit]

Hey guys, I'm looking at closing two of my oldest cards. I currently have the following cards:

- UW Credit Union Student Visa ($1,000, opened 9/2011)
- TCM Bank Visa Platinum ($2,500, opened 1/2014)
- Chase Freedom ($7,000, opened 6/2015)
- Chase CSP ($10,600, opened 11/2015)
- Citi DC ($5,200, opened 11/2015)

I really want to close my two oldest cards because I never used them anymore. They just sit in the sock drawer and I'd like to free up some space for better cards. I know that if I close them they will report on my credit for 10 years but my question is when does AAoA length start to even out?

For example, if I drop from 13 years to 10 years, will that be a huge change in score? Or as long as I am over 10 years it won't really matter?

Some people on the board say close your cards if you don't use them and others say might as well keep them open if there are no AF's. These cards don't have any fee's so it wouldn't hurt to keep them open, but I'd rather close and make room.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

[SouthJamaica]

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@CleanCredit wrote:
Hey guys, I'm looking at closing two of my oldest cards. I currently have the following cards:

- UW Credit Union Student Visa ($1,000, opened 9/2011)
- TCM Bank Visa Platinum ($2,500, opened 1/2014)
- Chase Freedom ($7,000, opened 6/2015)
- Chase CSP ($10,600, opened 11/2015)
- Citi DC ($5,200, opened 11/2015)

I really want to close my two oldest cards because I never used them anymore. They just sit in the sock drawer and I'd like to free up some space for better cards. I know that if I close them they will report on my credit for 10 years but my question is when does AAoA length start to even out?

For example, if I drop from 13 years to 10 years, will that be a huge change in score? Or as long as I am over 10 years it won't really matter?

Some people on the board say close your cards if you don't use them and others say might as well keep them open if there are no AF's. These cards don't have any fee's so it wouldn't hurt to keep them open, but I'd rather close and make room.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

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No it would not be a huge change in score. The whole component for age of accounts isn't that large. Also,  where all cards are 11-15 years old, the dropping off of one 15 year old card wouldn't be that big a deal.

Nevertheless, I'm of the school that says you might as well keep them, and use them occasionally, especially if there are no annual fees.

BTW, there's another credit factor, called 'oldest account'. By closing out that card, you lose that 2011 date as the date for 'oldest account'.

[Anonymous]

SJ is right.  To give you a concrete example, there was a guy here who achieved an 850 with an AAoA of 8.  There's still a scoring advantahge for AAoA >10 but it is very small. 

Can you expand a little bit about what you mean by "free up some space"?  It sounds like you feel as though somebody (you, FICO, etc.) will only allow you to have (say) six open cards, so you have to close a couple if you want to open a couple more.  But, as Mark Twain used to say, "that weren't so."  You don't have to free up any space.  You could have thirty open cards if you wanted.

SJ is right about the factor called "age of oldest account" and right that it is different from AAoA.  If you close your UWCU card (currently your oldest) then it will still act as your oldest account, even though it is closed.  But when it drops off in ten years, you will lose it as your oldest account. 

If you really feel like closing a card, I would close the second oldest.  That way you wil always hold on to the full value of that factor, even 15 years from now or more.

[Anonymous]

Is it "age of oldest account" or age of oldest open account"?? I can't keep it all straight in my head?

Regardless, I agree with above posts, keep the oldest card, especially if there is no annual fee. Use it couple of times a year to keep them from closing. 

[Anonymous]

Nothing to really lose by keeping an old card open with no fees.

[CleanCredit]

Thanks for all the advice guys! I really want to apply for an AMEX BCP and feel guilty about doing it with the amount of cards I already have. It's a mental thing and I will feel better if I were to close the cards I don't need. However, I think I will just leave them open and enter the garden....or possibly app for BCP then enter the garden. Can't decide!

[Anonymous]

I think the Amex BCP is da bomb.  Do you use Amazon much?  You can buy a huge Amazon gift card at Kroger and get the 6% cash back on it (as a grocery purchase).  Load it onto your Amazon account and now you are (in effect) getting a 6% discount on your Amazon purchases.

I think it is good that you feel guilty over having "too many" open credit cards.  That's not strictly rational, but that feeling will stand you in good stead in the long run, preventing you from going on "app sprees" and so on.

If you think you might feel better about closing at least one card, I encourage you to compromise and cancel the 2nd oldest one (but keep the oldest open).

[CleanCredit]

Thanks for all the advice guys! I decided to close out my second oldest account and I will leave open the oldest one. Just called to close it out and feeling happy about it.

[SouthJamaica]

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@CleanCredit wrote:
Thanks for all the advice guys! I decided to close out my second oldest account and I will leave open the oldest one. Just called to close it out and feeling happy about it.

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If you're happy about it, you made the right call

Besides we don't want your alma mater's student union to lose the huge revenue stream they get from your use of the card

[CleanCredit]

You're right, I need to keep my fellow Badgers happy! I just wish they would PC me to a better card without a pull, but that won't happen. Oh well, I'm happy with the mix of cards I have right now.