Re: Closing Oldest Credit Line, Unsure.

Anonymous · ‎10-16-2018

I want to close my oldest account with my Credit Union. The reason I want to close it is because I haven't been able to get a CLI. I feel like it's a dead weight CC. No rewards, I got it with my checkings and savings account. Do you guys have any advice? I really want to build my credit score.
MyFico says I have EQ 684 TU 710 EX 702.
I have 10 credit cards.
Here's what my open credit lines looks like:
Company Age Limit / Usage
CU 2 yr, 9 mos $1,000 / $0.00
Capital One 2 yr, 3 mos $7,800 / $0.00
Care Card 2 yr, 2 mos $5,000 / $500
Old Navy 2 yr $5,000 / $0.00
Kohls 1 yr, 9 mos $2,500 / $0.00
Best Buy 1yr, 5 mos $4,100 / $0.00
Chase 1yr, 3 mos $4,200 / $1,000
Sam's Club 9 mos $9,400 / $0.00
Children's Place 3 mos $1,000 / $0.00
Discover It 0 mos $11,500 / $3,200 BT
I don't believe any of these have an annual fee.
*Auto Loan 8 mos $25,700

Anonymous · ‎10-16-2018

It's only the oldest by 6 months, it will continue to report and age as a close account for up to 10 year and by then, it will make little difference if you decide to close it now. That said, you said that your goal is to build your score, closing it won't help you there even with low CL, sounds like you just want to close it because you're mad at CLI denial.

Anonymous · ‎10-16-2018

What do you mean it will continue to report as a closed account? Will it continue to play a part in my AAoA? In honesty I felt horrible with the denial but then I realized I do have high balances on my other accounts. I now understand why they said no.

Anonymous · ‎10-16-2018

@Anonymous wrote:
What do you mean it will continue to report as a closed account? Will it continue to play a part in my AAoA? In honesty I felt horrible with the denial but then I realized I do have high balances on my other accounts. I now understand why they said no.

Yes, it will continue to play a part in your AAoA and AoOA until it completely drops off in about 10 years after closing.

Anonymous · ‎10-16-2018

If your goal is to build your credit score, I encourage you to (a) stop opening credit cards and (b) pay off all your CC debt. After your CC debt is paid off you should make sure that exactly one card is reporting a small positive balance, and then a month later pull your scores (I recommend the $1 trial at Credit Check Total) to see what they are.

After 13 months of not applying for anything (or any hard-pull CLIs) you might choose to apply for one major credit card that you like. Doing so won't help your score, but it looks like you have a strong emotional need to apply for cards and perhaps one per year is a reasonable compromise.

Down the road you may wish to explore closing your store cards, unless you see that a particular store card gives you you some huge value not met by any major card.

SouthJamaica · ‎10-16-2018

@Anonymous wrote:
I want to close my oldest account with my Credit Union. The reason I want to close it is because I haven't been able to get a CLI. I feel like it's a dead weight CC. No rewards, I got it with my checkings and savings account. Do you guys have any advice? I really want to build my credit score.
MyFico says I have EQ 684 TU 710 EX 702.
I have 10 credit cards.
Here's what my open credit lines looks like:
Company Age Limit / Usage
CU 2 yr, 9 mos $1,000 / $0.00
Capital One 2 yr, 3 mos $7,800 / $0.00
Care Card 2 yr, 2 mos $5,000 / $500
Old Navy 2 yr $5,000 / $0.00
Kohls 1 yr, 9 mos $2,500 / $0.00
Best Buy 1yr, 5 mos $4,100 / $0.00
Chase 1yr, 3 mos $4,200 / $1,000
Sam's Club 9 mos $9,400 / $0.00
Children's Place 3 mos $1,000 / $0.00
Discover It 0 mos $11,500 / $3,200 BT
I don't believe any of these have an annual fee.
*Auto Loan 8 mos $25,700

It won't make much difference to your score, now or down the road, since it's only 6 months older than your next oldest card, but if I were you I would hold on to it. I consider credit union relationships to be precious, and some day I'm sure you will get a CLI if you keep everything good.