Now that i have finished my clean up , and I have 2 really decent prime Credit cards Disney VIsa & AMEX blue , Im kinda wondering what i should do with my old sub prime Cap 1 Visa. It has a 2200 dollar limit. but is gouging me for 3 bucks a month. fee, for a card i never use anymore, and if i do use it, boasts a 19.99 % interest rate, However this is my oldest TL. 6/2000 . would closing my oldest TL hurt my FICO, or would it help to close it, seeing as how in a few months were gonna be mortgage shopping. (in the half mil neighborhood). and need all the FICO pts we can get.
PFB or call on the phone and ask for them to change to a "NO ANNUAL FEE" card...and it would be nice if they could bump the credit limit and lower the interest rate at the same time...(IT MIGHT BE EASIER TO ISSUE A DIFFERENT CARD...ONE WITH A $5,000 MIN. LIMIT AND NO ANNUAL FEE AND 9.90%) PFB = www.planetfeedback.com IF THEY SAY NO TELL THEM TO CLOSE IT!!! DON'T EVER SOCK DRAWER AN ANNUAL FEE CARD!!!
If I remember correctly, on FICO's website it says the average age of a credit card tradeline in the united states is a little over 4 years. I'd keep it open and let it age some more. As long as the card has a zero balance, you shouldn't be taking any utilization ratio hits on your score. Crapital One is $3 a month. Good credit is priceless.
If you've never PFB'd before,you might as well do that. Mr cooke lowered my rate from I think.. 16% (?) to 12.49% (still high compared to my prime cards). So write and see if you can get a lower rate and also remove the fee. by the way, Mr Cooke suggested to me that since my credit is now on the prime side, I should apply for a better card with them and transfer my stuff. Reason I havent done it yet is because I've heard that Cap One pulls all 3 reports. I don't want new hards on all 3 right now.
My situation, as expressed in a previous post, is about the same as sahlegian's. I also got my capitalone in 2000. However, I do have a firstUSA card (which they switched to platinum for me, and lowered my rate after pulling my credit) which I've had from 1996. So I basically have one card from 1996, one card from 2000, and the rest are all either december 2002, or january 2003 (because this is when I got my credit clean). I'm just apprehensive about closing the capitalone being that it's one of the 2 "older" ones.
I have 2 Cap1 cards and when the time comes to pay the annual fee of $39, I call and ask if they can waive the fee. For the past 3 years, Cap1 has waived 50% of the fee, so I pay 20 bucks for the privilege of re-building my credit. I have a BK discharge from 10/98 Cap1 CC#1 (regular): est. 1/2000, limit $2,600, APR 9.9% fixed Cap1 CC#2 (platinum): est 6/2002, limit $7,500, APR 12.9% If your Cap1 card is one of your oldest TLs, I wouldn't close it out as it balances out the new prime cards and improves the average years of your credit history. I don't belive one sub-prime card on your report will affect your application; reducing your average credit history might... Another suggestion: How about becoming an AU (authorized user) on someone else's perfect credit card account that is older than 5 years? By becoming an AU, all the accumulated benefits of this seasoned TL will also be applied to your account. Just my opinion. Let us know how it all turns out!
