Hello Board, I wanted to get everyones opinion in regards to closing all of my credit cards except for my oldest trade line. Here is a bit of history surrounding my accounts: Army Air Force Credit Card: opened: 11/1996 Limit: 1000 Balance: 45 Citibank plat. Select: opened: 10/2000 Limit: 1000 Balance: 200 USAA Mastercard: opened: 04/2000 Limit: 2500 Balance: 2000 Discover: opened: 08/2000 Limit: 1000 Balance: 500 Credit Union Visa: opened: 07/2000 Limit: 750 Balance: 600 Auto Loan: Opened: 07/2000 Original Balance: 20k Balance: 18600 Student Loans: Payment Deferrred I also have several accounts (12) that are closed, no lates, no collections (except Transunion (1)) My reasoning for closing all of my accounts is to pay off some reaccurring debt. What do you guys think? Thanks, Reshod
Re: Closing All Credit Card Ac Closing a card won't change your spending habits. Close the cards that charge an annual fee. Let the other idle. You need 3-4 cards to be near the perfect credit score. Having only one will hurt you. Also your available balances will be high. If you have 10 cards with $1k balances or 1 card with 10K balance, the problem is not the # of the cards, but the spending habits I'd keep the non-annual fee cards in case of emergency imo.
Re: Closing All Credit Card Ac I wouldn't close any of those accounts, unless there are membership fees. You definetly don't want to close your oldest trade line. The other ones are just recent accounts that should mature (at least 2 yrs). Then, if you don't get any increases or reduction on APR you should consider closing them. I beleive it is not on your best interest to close accounts that are open only a few months. Let them age a bit! You can pay them off if you wish. It is good to have accounts with small balances. Even if your balance is zero, use your cards from time to time, charging small amounts and paying them off. Don't use your credit to a max just because you have it. Also try to negotiate with your credit card companies. Although we just hear people negotiating with Providian, Aria and Citi on this board, you can do that with any card issuer. Try to get a line increase on your oldest trade line at least. Good luck!
Re: Closing All Credit Card Ac What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Im confused. Do you want more credit? Better Terms? Higher Credit score?
Re: Closing All Credit Card Ac SAm, I want all of the above? So how do i go about getting those things that you have listed? Reshod
