From ZERO to 700 club across the board in 10 months! Thank you guys!

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:
personally i think if your over it and want to close it then do it.. i closed a couple of store cards cause i was spending money i didnt need to be spending just to try for cli..

i dont understand how people manage 25+ cards lol..

---

Of the 22 cards I have, five are in my wallet and have a purpose.  Only two of them are used on the regular.  The other three of those five are kept for just in case for specific spending at specific places I go to a lot.  

The other 17 are rubber banded inside of a folded up envelope in my safe.  Each one has been used at least once, but I do not keep them on me or even near me.

Every account that can be has autopay for double the minimum payment enabled, is electronic billing, and is linked to my email.  My budget software also tells me 3-5 days in advance of when each payment is due or if it has been made.

It was a lot of work to set up, and any changes are a pain in the buttocks, but with 22 cards, a car payment, 3 utility bills, a housing payment, and everything else, I have never missed a single payment since I started the system.

---

impressive! lol

[Anonymous]

The decision to close a card should involve an understanding of how FICO treats open cards versus closed cards.  Here's my go-to thought process of when to close a card:

1. FICO gives you basically "free" FICO points for your first 3 cards without a massive age penalty for 6 months.  After 3 cards have all aged over 6 months, you get an little bit extra boost for no "new account penalty".
2. FICO's best boost comes from having 5 credit cards, but they all have to be over 2 years old to get that boost.  So you never want to close accounts if you're at exactly 5 cards and they're all over 2 years old.  If you have MORE than 5 cards over 2 years old, you are safe to close cards as long as you stay at 5 or more cards.
3. If a card has an annual fee and it isn't useful for rewards/cashback better than other cards, you should close it before another annual fee, but if it drops you below 5 cards, expect to have a FICO ding until you can replace it and age the replacement card to 2 years.
4. If you close a card that is your oldest account by more than 1 year, in 10 years you might see a small ding until the next oldest card ages some more.  You'd have to do the math or post your account ages for us to help you there but I wouldn't stress it if all your cards are under 2 years.

Basically, getting to 5 cards and letting them age over 2 years gets you into the best FICO profile.  If you close a card with an AF, you will at some point want to get to 5 cards again and let them all age to 2+ years.