Canceling credit card

**rennigade** · 02-04-2015, 10:25 AM

Theres probably only about 500 other credit cards without an annual fee. Cancel the amex with the annual fee and apply for one that doesnt charge you a fee per year. Consider it a lesson learned. It will ding your credit by 3 points...it'll be ok brother.

Also...sign up for a visa. Its pretty much accepted everywhere.

**JulieAlbright** · 02-04-2015, 10:33 AM

I'd likely cancel the card.

I've seen Credit Score simulator calculators before on some of the sites like Credit Karma. If you find one, you can input the changes you are considering and get an idea of what the effect will be. You'll basically have 2 areas you'll be looking at, utilization percentage and then a smaller length of history as that card ages off your reports.

But really as long as her score stays within the upper 700 there is no real damage - even if you do end up wanting credit for something a score over 750 or so will get the best rates.

And it will eventually climb again for her as her newer accounts build more history.

**thomasdan** · 02-04-2015, 10:34 AM

Thanks for replying,

We already have a visa that we use fulltime.

She doesn't want to lose her credit history and AMEX wont transfer her from a fee card to a non fee card so she can keep her history. Not sure if I'm even making sense. lol. Are we even allow to do that?

If her credit score is only going to go down a few points. Than I believe she will just cancel it.

**thomasdan** · 02-04-2015, 10:40 AM

Thank you julie for your input. Im on the same page as you

My wife just has a hard time letting it go since its her longest card with perfect history on it. Which by the way, I totally understand her. Thats why i don't pressure her. she wanted to do some research first before she does anything.

**MonkeyMama** · 02-04-2015, 11:04 AM

I would not keep an old card open for no real reason.

My spouse overly believes leaving his first card open is important, so he has like a 20-year-old credit card. I probably don't have any credit that is more than 3 years old. (When I am done with a credit card I close it. I probably closed my first credit card a few years after opening it).

Anyway, otherwise we are the same (we've applied together for the same loans for the past 15 years) and we both have 800+ FICO scores. We always have had fairly identical (high) FICO scores since owning a house.

Keep in mind that good credit stays on your report for *ten* years. She will still get some benefit for 10 years after the card is closed. & by then she will build up ten years of other good credit (I hope!). I think that is the long and the short of it.

**thomasdan** · 02-04-2015, 11:23 AM

Keep in mind that good credit stays on your report for *ten* years. She will still get some benefit for 10 years after the card is closed. & by then she will build up ten years of other good credit (I hope!). I think that is the long and the short of it.[/QUOTE]

Thank you for your reply, That is great information. I did not know this.

**sblatner** · 02-04-2015, 11:37 AM

I have cancelled plenty of credit cards and they are still on my report. They just show up as closed.

**snafu** · 02-04-2015, 03:05 PM

I don't see the point of paying $95. for a few points on a FICO score. A temporary drop won't affect DW in any noticeable way and this is expensive loyalty to AMEX since there is no discernable benefit. Having an AMEX card was a status symbol to some people last century, with so many vendors not accepting AMEX it's more an albatross.

Would DW consider seeking one of the 'earnings' cards that pay her a bonus for using 'X' credit in a defined time frame? May make up sums wasted on AMEX cost for a card not even used.

**HappySaver** · 02-04-2015, 06:02 PM

Cancel the card. See my recent post on the same topic:

Saving Advice Forums

http://www.savingadvice.com/forums/personal-finance/77865-perfect-credit-score-2.html

And that was for a card with no annual fee. With an annual fee, it's a no-brainer to cancel it.

If she's concerned, just have her open a new card before closing the old one.

**creditcardfree** · 02-04-2015, 07:09 PM

Yes, I would cancel it. It is definitely not worth the small ding that will happen as a result of closing it. I'm sure you both have better plans for the $90 you will save each year...put that into a savings calculator and see what the result would be if you invested it.

Her credit score will jump right back up in a few months of opening a new card. And if it is a no annual fee, she can keep that one for the rest of her life.

**thomasdan** · 02-05-2015, 06:24 AM

Thanks for everyones reply,

My Wife and I had a discussion about it yesterday and i did let her know what everyone on here stated. So she will go ahead and cancel the card. We don't plan on opening up another one since we use our visa for everything.. This was more of a "fine tuning" on where we are wasting money. so i've contacted our phone company, got our bill from $156 a month down to $100 from going from unlimited data to shared 2 GB. Contacted time warner cable and they sign us up for a new promotion which saved us $13 a monthy, which we were paying $82. We got our car insurance down from $147 to $130 total for 2 cars. buy using all the discount they give us without changing the actual deductible plan. Thats pretty much our monthly bills beside mortage and utilites. We try to do this at the beginning of every the new year. IT never hurts to call in and ask a rep.

**MKKShah** · 02-05-2015, 10:31 AM

OP, you may want to consider one other thing.

Call AMEX and tell them that you plan on cancelling the card. Now, once that is done, ask them to convert the card (i.e the exact same account) to a no fee AMEX card. AMEX blue cash for example is a no fee card with good benefits (like 3% cash back at groceries).

I opened an account with AMEX 12 years back. Closed the account 10 years back, and then after a gap of 7 years opened a Costco AMEX card. When opening the card I made a request to attach this card to my old account which they gladly did. So my credit report now shows the costco AMEX card as 12 years old, instead of the 5 years that I have actually had it. You will have to call AMEX customer service and specifically ask to do this. (Their call centers are typically offshore. If they say this cannot be done, ask to be transferred to a US center.)

**thomasdan** · 02-05-2015, 11:41 AM

Thank you MKK for your reply,

I think we're just going to cancel it and leave it like that. We've been using our sapphire visa card for everything for our travel points and we just pay that off at the end of each month.

**Green43** · 02-10-2015, 06:00 PM

Had a card with 17% interest on it for 6 years, called repeatedly to get my interest rate down with no success.. Finally paid it off and called to cancel it and went through 3 "retainers" all offering increasingly better deals to keep the card open with them. I told each retainer in turn why I was closing the card and stopping my business with them, they had plenty of time to lower my rates and help me when I needed it and chose not to, so they could pound sand. Closing that card was one of the most satisfying things I have recently done. You would be amazed how freeing it is to remove a burden that does nothing but detract from your peace of mind. Cancel the darn thing and live your life.

Canceling credit card