My oldest sub-prime will be 2 yrs old in April of '04. I have other sub-primes as well, all about 14 months old. I've recently been approved for some nice prime cards, GM, BofA, Citibank. I know I need to keep my oldest account(s), but how many? Would my very oldest one be enough? I'd really like to get rid of the other sub primes - but don't want to ruin the score I've worked so hard to improve.
Why get rid of them? If it's about fees, assuming things are in good shape, call and ask to have the fees waived. If they don't, perhaps then close the account. And yes, keep the oldest but I'd try to keep them all until it really is a problem.
Hmmm...that's a toughie. I'm gonna go out on the limb and say that you don't have to keep any of them. The reason being, if you're oldest subprime will be 2 yrs old in April, then I guess it's only a year and a half old now? That's not very long. If you'd had it for 3 or 4 years, then that'd be another story. If it doesnt have an annual fee or other fees, then I might would hang on to it. Or if you're planning on getting a mortgage soon, I might would hold onto it for history. But in your mind, you don't want a subprime at all, then don't. You've just received several nice cards and in 6 months time with good pay history, you're score will more than recover from any points you might lose from canceling out a card that's only a year and a half old. FYI, I recently canceled an almost 2 year old Providian card I wasn't happy with and didn't notice any decline in my 3 scores.
