OK, this is the deal: I opened an account with Penfed this week and applied for an auto loan. My score w/ EQ when they opened the account was 745. They said no. The reasons I got were, too many new accounts and income. Since October of '03, i've opened these accounts: HH Gold MC: 2000.00 Best Buy: 2200.00 Gateway: 2500.00 Dell (only shows on EX): 1500.00 Blue: 2000.00 Blue Cash: 2000.00 B of A: 3000.00 US Bank Worldperks Signature: 8000.00 (opened January '04, but not showing on reports yet) I also have a Providian Paypal card opened in March of '03 with a 1000.00 cl, and a Capital One card opened like 3 years ago with a cl of 1100.00. (Disclaimer: All of these cards have 0.00 balances on them, and the only one I use is my B of A card, these were primarily opened for mix and utilization purposes). (And also I wanted to try out my new scores, I know, dumb ). So my question is, in retrospect as well, what kind of hit would I take on my scores? They are still relatively new, and I know that it is going to reduce my available credit, but that's ok. The average time shouldn't be that affected, I would think? I don't have any intentions of EVER using most of these cards. Due to the fact that they are as new as they are, would it be extremely unwise to close these out? The reason I am concerned is because I am also looking at possibly getting a mortgage in the next 6 months to a year. I also don't carry balances either.
CLOSING AT THIS POINT WILL PROBABLY HURT MORE THAN KEEPING THEM OPEN... You might want to COMBINE THE BLUE ACCOUNTS... Just use them once or twice a year if you can and PAY IN FULL...even if it is only $10 or $20
YOU ALREADY TOOK THE "HIT" FOR THE INQUIRES... "THEY" say that you get a BUMP in scores at 1-2-3 years...
I know, but i'm concerned with what kind of "hit" I would take closing them. I guess what i'm asking is, due to the short age of the accounts, is your opinion that I would take a huge knock on the scores, or no?
If you decided to close things out, I'd keep Blue, Blue Cash(probably even combine them), BofA, and the World Perks card, plus your oldest TL. Even though you have taken the hit, if you're one of the one's who gets a little *b* every now and then, the inq will be gone shortly anyway.
All of them are already gone I'm just concerned with the fact that a lender feels I have too many new accounts, and if I close them, my score is going to take a huge dive because of it.
Also, having a couple of new accts with closed out accts(except the oldest) won't hurt anything or not much. I have a 8 year old sears and 3 year old cap 1 and my other 4 cards are less than 6 months old and one of my positives is average age of accts. I closed out a few of my 2-3 year old cards and didn't notice a decrease. I don't think you would either with the accts being relatively new. But as George would say...YMMV.
Re: Re: Closing credit cards YOU TAKE A HIT FOR THE NEW ACCOUNTS... YOU TAKE A HIT FOR THE INQUIRES... YOU TAKE A HIT IF YOU CLOSE NEW ACCOUNTS... How much is hard to say...YMMV
fatzcobra, I appreciate the feedback. I am going to call tomorrow to close the above mentioned accounts out. I wonder if I can close both the HH and BB at the same time. Thanks again everyone.
Re: Re: Closing credit cards EVEN THOUGH I CAN'T SAY YOU WILL TAKE A BIG "HIT"...IF IT WAS ME...I WOULD GO SLOWER ON THIS!!!! IT IS ALWAYS YMMV
Re: Re: Re: Closing credit cards Why not do it all at once and get it out of the way? Please elaborate?
Re: Re: Re: Re: Closing credit cards There have been people who get SCARRED of FRAUD and close everything at once and just keep a card or two AND THEN REGRET IT BIG TIME!!! I am NOT an expert on closing accounts BIG TIME (I WOULD NEVER DO IT)... I have closed only 5 or 6 in 3 years... ....AND THAT WAS 2 INTO 1 (BDD) FOR THE MOST PART EXCEPT THE CHASE I DUMPED
If he keeps Blue, Blue Cash, World Perks, BofA, and Cap 1, he'd have 5 cards. Isn't that 'optimal' in FICO's eyes? I believe so. Once they aged, he'd be golden assuming all else is clean.
Actually, I would merge my cl from Blue over to Blue cash, and keep the Providian card, because that is older than all except Capital One. I got my trigger finger on the phone right now, it's just I want to be sure this would be the best thing to do.
Re: Re: Closing credit cards YOU CAN DO WHAT F.I.C.O. WANTS...I do what is BEST for me!!! MONEY WISE!!! I have a few BACK-UP CARDS ($0.00 BALANCE)...SOME PURCHASE ONLY CARDS (PAID IN FULL EVERY MONTH)...AND I GET MILES...AND THEN LAST IS THE BT CARDS...0.00% TO 4.90% AS OF TODAY. JUST PAID OFF THE 5.90% CARD AND IT WENT TO THE SOCK DRAWER...
