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Finally paid off my credit cards...

T

thehstrybean

Diamond Member
So I FINALLY paid off the bulk of my credit cards. I have ~$200 left, but that was recently put on there.

1x AMEX with BofA ($1,500 limit)
2x Visa with Citi (together, about $3,500 limit)
1x Discover (closed)

I called to cancel the discover card, the and the guy just quoted a bunch of research telling me I was better off for my credit score to keep everything open. Yeah, that makes sense, since my score is calculated by debt / available line. But no one knows EXACLY how FICO scores work (according to one source). So here's my question. Should I close out all but my oldest account? It's the one with ~$200, all the other are debt-free. Will it kill my score short term AND long term? The discover guy made it sound like I was going to hell if I closed my card.

The Discover card was closed...
 
Don't cancel ANY of them. A large portion of your score is length of credit and revolving credit utilization.

Canceling the cards lowers both of those, lowering your credit score and it could be pretty significant.
 
Don't close them. Make sure you know where they are, and monitor them to make sure there's no fraud. If you're worried about your self-control in using them, there are a lot of suggestions like put them in water and freeze them, so that you have to work at getting access to them.

It's really hard to get new credit at the moment. You might need them for something important.

Congrats on paying them off, awesome!!
 
Well if you want another challenge, you could close them off and then work to bring your score back up.
 
Originally posted by: SagaLore
Will it hurt him much if he just closed 1 of the visa cards?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the congrats guys. That was my next question. Before I closed this, I closed the Discover Card.
 
Originally posted by: princess ida
Don't close them. Make sure you know where they are, and monitor them to make sure there's no fraud. If you're worried about your self-control in using them, there are a lot of suggestions like put them in water and freeze them, so that you have to work at getting access to them.
Click to expand...

LOL that's awesome. But also quite sad that some people need to resort to this.
 
It will hurt your credit as it did mine. You'll jump back but in this economy where everyone is out to stiff you and credit requirements for anything and everything are stringent, I wouldn't do anything to even nudge my credit score.
That said, if you have annual fee on a card that you don't want to pay, then it would make sense to close the card but you should still think long and hard before you do so.
 
Originally posted by: zoiks
It will hurt your credit as it did mine. You'll jump back but in this economy where everyone is out to stiff you and credit requirements for anything and everything are stringent, I wouldn't do anything to even nudge my credit score.
That said, if you have annual fee on a card that you don't want to pay, then it would make sense to close the card but you should still think long and hard before you do so.
Click to expand...

If your credit score is based on debt/available credit ratio would it be wise to request periodic credit limit increases on cards that you don't really use anymore?
 
Originally posted by: RaistlinZ
Originally posted by: zoiks
It will hurt your credit as it did mine. You'll jump back but in this economy where everyone is out to stiff you and credit requirements for anything and everything are stringent, I wouldn't do anything to even nudge my credit score.
That said, if you have annual fee on a card that you don't want to pay, then it would make sense to close the card but you should still think long and hard before you do so.
Click to expand...

If your credit score is based on debt/available credit ratio would it be wise to request periodic credit limit increases on cards that you don't really use anymore?
Click to expand...

You could ask. Most vendors tell you that they review your account every year and they increase credit lines accordingly. BofA has been good to me. I needed to purchase a car so I called them and they upped my credit line by 8k. Of course, I paid the car off the next day.
 
Originally posted by: spidey07
Don't cancel ANY of them. A large portion of your score is length of credit and revolving credit utilization.

Canceling the cards lowers both of those, lowering your credit score and it could be pretty significant.
Click to expand...

qft. i wish i had left one or two of mine open, instead i cancelled them and paid them off. not my best idea but at the time i didnt know any better

 
Originally posted by: thehstrybean
Originally posted by: SagaLore
Will it hurt him much if he just closed 1 of the visa cards?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the congrats guys. That was my next question. Before I closed this, I closed the Discover Card.
Click to expand...

Way to listen to everyone's advice.
 
Why bother?

If you can't control your spending without the need to cancel or cut up your cards, then you really shouldn't have a card to begin with.
 
I beg to differ with the common opinion given here...

Over the past 2 months:

i closed 1 card with a 7,000 credit limit. My remainging credit limit is $96,000 on my other cards. I opened no other accounts, my monthly expenditures are consistent, and rarely carry over a balance from month to month. After closing my card...my credit score jumped fomr 770 to 797.

So unfortunately, i do not trust the advice that closing card necessarily hurts your credit score. If you dont have sufficient credit, it may... but sometimes it can be helpful.
 
Originally posted by: zinfamous
Originally posted by: princess ida
Don't close them. Make sure you know where they are, and monitor them to make sure there's no fraud. If you're worried about your self-control in using them, there are a lot of suggestions like put them in water and freeze them, so that you have to work at getting access to them.
Click to expand...

LOL that's awesome. But also quite sad that some people need to resort to this.
Click to expand...

I don't understand how people think it's okay to spend money they don't have. CC's are all about convenience, not borrowing money.
 
Originally posted by: thehstrybean
Originally posted by: SagaLore
Will it hurt him much if he just closed 1 of the visa cards?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the congrats guys. That was my next question. Before I closed this, I closed the Discover Card.
Click to expand...
wut 😕

We said don't close any but you went and closed two?? Congrats??

sao123 may have a point, but he has a large amount of credit where closing out a $7000 one was only a small %. But with the credit you have available, closing out one is potentially a good % of your credit.

Hopefully you didn't close out an old one and/or one with a high limit.

It doesn't really benefit you to close them. If you feel you have too many, leave all but two in a drawer, and put on the calendar every few months to use them for one purchase (keep the accounts active).

Now, go and close another one.
 
Originally posted by: Capt Caveman
Originally posted by: thehstrybean
Originally posted by: SagaLore
Will it hurt him much if he just closed 1 of the visa cards?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the congrats guys. That was my next question. Before I closed this, I closed the Discover Card.
Click to expand...

Way to listen to everyone's advice.
Click to expand...

BEFORE I posted this. Thanks for the sarcasm, though...
 
What about when a CC company changes the terms? Chase did that with our visa, did a rate increase from 10 to 18%, so I told them to take a hike and declined the terms.
 
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