Closing Accounts?

[dtran14]

My Average Age of Accounts is 11 months. 

Score is EQ: 706 TU: 710 EX: 698

I have about 11-12 accounts.

BoA Rewards : $1K

Freedom: $500

WF College : $600

Capital 1 Plat : $500

HelpCard Credit: $3000

Walmart: $1000

Target: $800

Amazon: $700

Barclay: $1300

PayPal Credit: $500 (Not on any of my credit bureaus

AMEX PRG: NPSL

Chase Marriott: $5000

Discover It: $1000

I want to keep my BOA, WF, Amazon, PRG, PayPal Credit, Chase Marriott and Discover It.

I want to close my Freedom, Cap1, Walmart, Target, Barclay, and HCC. 

Will I take a big hit for this? Started with a secured card in 2012, closed it in 2013, started building credit in 2013. Freedoom/Barclay/BoA are back dated opened in 2013.

Was reading around and saw some posters going to close old accounts because they got in a new one so I was just curious if I can close these accounts, since I guess they're bad for you and your credit. 

[juggalo9er]

Only immediate hit is utilization the cats will stay on report for 7 years

[wacdenney]

I for one am a big fan of closing cards that no longer suit your needs.  However...  In your case I would recommend being a little cautious about it.  The lower limits seem to indicate you may be newer to the credit game.

If anything maybe hold on to Barclay it seems to have a higher limit than the others.  And...  If you do decide to close Freedom, move the limit over to Marriott first.

[chalupaman]

Get some CLIs on those Synchrony cards. Call Credit Solutions or use the chat and go big and ask for $10k and they will counter those. Having a few Sync cards can be really valuable if you want utilization padding as well as having some higher limits to show up on your CR to show lenders that you can manage them properly. I was able to get my Sams Club up from $937 to $8k and coincidentally had my Wells Fargo Propel 365 card match that limit.

I think Wells Fargo College you should also try for a CLI. BoA is generous with CLIs a lot of the time but it will be a HP for those. They do SPs for that one and if not, you can definitely close that card out. 

[bigblue7722]

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@dtran14 wrote:

My Average Age of Accounts is 11 months. 

Score is EQ: 706 TU: 710 EX: 698

I have about 11-12 accounts.

BoA Rewards : $1K

Freedom: $500

WF College : $600

Capital 1 Plat : $500

HelpCard Credit: $3000

Walmart: $1000

Target: $800

Amazon: $700

Barclay: $1300

PayPal Credit: $500 (Not on any of my credit bureaus

AMEX PRG: NPSL

Chase Marriott: $5000

Discover It: $1000

I want to keep my BOA, WF, Amazon, PRG, PayPal Credit, Chase Marriott and Discover It.

I want to close my Freedom, Cap1, Walmart, Target, Barclay, and HCC. 

Will I take a big hit for this? Started with a secured card in 2012, closed it in 2013, started building credit in 2013. Freedoom/Barclay/BoA are back dated opened in 2013.

Was reading around and saw some posters going to close old accounts because they got in a new one so I was just curious if I can close these accounts, since I guess they're bad for you and your credit. 

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im really confused. Why would you want to close a chase freedom card? It has no AF and 5% cash back quaters? I would try to change the cap one plat to a 1.5% cashback qs card via capital one EO office. Just google capital one CEO. I would get rid of the help card credit and walmart. I would look into keeping the target card 5% off instanly is a very solid deal unless you have the red debit card

[taxi818]

I kind of agree. Reason your limits so low. You are new. Don't close so many. They are not bad for you as you are saying. Keep strong cards. But tester rid of a couple store cards. But. In your case. Best action. Instead of closing. Put in sd. Pif. And don't use. Let's get some time under your credit. 

[takeshi74]

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@dtran14 wrote:

Will I take a big hit for this?

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See:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=creditcard&thread.id=117125&jump=true

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@bigblue7722 wrote:

im really confused. Why would you want to close a chase freedom card? It has no AF and 5% cash back quaters?

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Not sure why you're confused.  That isn't a justification for everyone.  No card is one-size-fits-all and it's certainly possible for anyone to find any given card to be of no use.

[dtran14]

wacdenney; same reason I want to close these cards. They don't suit my needs anymore and I got the two cards I've always wanted. I am still pretty new about 2 years ago since I've opened my actual solid accounts, Chase Freedom, Barclay, BOA. I'm keeping BOA forsure since I bank with them, same with Chase but I have a Marriotts now. I just don't want cards sitting around being unused then closed. Wouldn't that look bad? I mean for now I have something small on these small cards, whether it's a netflix, hulu, gym membership etc. And they're on AutoPay. The one's I'm really checking up on always is my PRG (charge) and Marriotts (sleek metal card! woot!)

popamode72; good idea, Amazon and Walmart are via Synchrony going to go ahead and go for a CLI and see what happens. I've already request a CLI w/my BOA asked for 1K from 500 and to make it unsecure, they did it with no hesitation but unfortunatley gave me a HP. NP though.

bigblue7722; I want to close the cards that I have no use for.

takeshi74; Thanks for the link. Guess in the end I am more worried about my fico going to poo then anything else, but that doesn't seem to be the case. It would be just be on my account. For now I'll just keep the cards I have.

[bigblue7722]

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@dtran14 wrote:

wacdenney; same reason I want to close these cards. They don't suit my needs anymore and I got the two cards I've always wanted. I am still pretty new about 2 years ago since I've opened my actual solid accounts, Chase Freedom, Barclay, BOA. I'm keeping BOA forsure since I bank with them, same with Chase but I have a Marriotts now. I just don't want cards sitting around being unused then closed. Wouldn't that look bad? I mean for now I have something small on these small cards, whether it's a netflix, hulu, gym membership etc. And they're on AutoPay. The one's I'm really checking up on always is my PRG (charge) and Marriotts (sleek metal card! woot!)

popamode72; good idea, Amazon and Walmart are via Synchrony going to go ahead and go for a CLI and see what happens. I've already request a CLI w/my BOA asked for 1K from 500 and to make it unsecure, they did it with no hesitation but unfortunatley gave me a HP. NP though.

bigblue7722; I want to close the cards that I have no use for.

takeshi74; Thanks for the link. Guess in the end I am more worried about my fico going to poo then anything else, but that doesn't seem to be the case. It would be just be on my account. For now I'll just keep the cards I have.

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I understand but you never go out to eat, need gas or need to do any home improvments? How about shop on amazon? 

[red259]

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@dtran14 wrote:

My Average Age of Accounts is 11 months. 

Score is EQ: 706 TU: 710 EX: 698

I have about 11-12 accounts.

BoA Rewards : $1K

Freedom: $500

WF College : $600

Capital 1 Plat : $500

HelpCard Credit: $3000

Walmart: $1000

Target: $800

Amazon: $700

Barclay: $1300

PayPal Credit: $500 (Not on any of my credit bureaus

AMEX PRG: NPSL

Chase Marriott: $5000

Discover It: $1000

I want to keep my BOA, WF, Amazon, PRG, PayPal Credit, Chase Marriott and Discover It.

I want to close my Freedom, Cap1, Walmart, Target, Barclay, and HCC. 

Will I take a big hit for this? Started with a secured card in 2012, closed it in 2013, started building credit in 2013. Freedoom/Barclay/BoA are back dated opened in 2013.

Was reading around and saw some posters going to close old accounts because they got in a new one so I was just curious if I can close these accounts, since I guess they're bad for you and your credit. 

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Everyone has their own theroies on what you should do. I would close any cards that have an AF AND are of no use to you. I'm not a big fan of store cards, unless it is a store you use a lot and the card provides a real benefit. Given your limited credit history I would not be moving to close cards like the Freedom or Barclays (assuming there is no AF). The reason being is that you want a diversity of lenders. I understand you have a chase marriott card and I also understand that the freedom is only $500, but I find it difficult to imagine that you would have no use for at least some of the 5x categories. Also, with heavy use on that card chase may give you an auto cli. Besides what if down the line you decide you dont want to pay the AF on Marriott card, if you keep the Freedom open you can dump the marriott credit line into there.

Also, I noticed you mentioned what other posters said about closing their accounts. These accounts are not bad for your credit. If anything by closing a lot of accounts you are reducing your overall available credit for utilization purposes, which could have a negative impact when you go to apply for cards next if you do not monitor your credit closely. The bottom line is do not worry about what other people are doing. Sure in some instances it makes sense to close cards, for example when a card has an AF and it isn't worth it or you are hitting a credit ceiling with a lender which is preventing you from getting a product you want. I do not believe these apply in your case.