My Fico score is 816...should I close these two credit cards? Would my score go down?

[Skooby]

I have 5 credit cards, all with balances of zero.
One american express, one visa, two mastercards and one circuit city card. I've had all of them since 2000/2001 except the circuit city card which I got about 3 years ago.

My credit limit on the cards is as follows:

American Express - $8,300
Providian Visa - $8,500
Citibank Mastercard - $11,300
Chase Mastercard - $2,000
Circuit City - $5,500

I want to close my circuit city and chase credit cards. First, I don't even go to circuit city lol, I go to best buy and just use my debit card. My chase mastercard I think i've had the longest...but don't use it because they never raised my credit limit.

My goal is to have only three credit cards. One american express, one visa and one mastercard. That's it...for life. I will get no more!

But I want my Fico score to remain at 800 or above. Last I checked, it was at 816 as of March 1st. If I close the circuit city and chase cards...how will it effect my fico score?

This is a far from where I use to be: http://www.savingadvice.com/forums/p...rd-advice.html

[disneysteve]

If your score is 816, why do anything? You've got an excellent score.

If you want to close them, I wouldn't do them at the same time. Close one and wait 6 months or so before closing the other. You might see your score dip slightly each time but it will recover.

[Broken Arrow]

[disneysteve]

By the way, GREAT JOB getting all of that debt repaid!! I just went back and reviewed the other thread. I hadn't remembered it when I posted above.

[Pitman]

Congrats on getting out of that much CC debt in only a year.

To answer your ?, I wouldn't close the the two CCs, if they have no annual fee, they are doing no harm.

[Hypersion]

Consolidate the circuit city card and the chase MC.

[Seeker]

I have 5 credit cards, all with balances of zero.
One american express, one visa, two mastercards and one circuit city card. I've had all of them since 2000/2001 except the circuit city card which I got about 3 years ago.

My credit limit on the cards is as follows:

American Express - $8,300
Providian Visa - $8,500
Citibank Mastercard - $11,300
Chase Mastercard - $2,000
Circuit City - $5,500

I want to close my circuit city and chase credit cards. First, I don't even go to circuit city lol, I go to best buy and just use my debit card. My chase mastercard I think i've had the longest...but don't use it because they never raised my credit limit.

My goal is to have only three credit cards. One american express, one visa and one mastercard. That's it...for life. I will get no more!

But I want my Fico score to remain at 800 or above. Last I checked, it was at 816 as of March 1st. If I close the circuit city and chase cards...how will it effect my fico score?

This is a far from where I use to be: http://www.savingadvice.com/forums/p...rd-advice.html

My FICO is 829 -- I have never ever closed any CC account although they have been closed on me; due to company mergings, or company no longer in business or even sometimes due to lack of use.

When I look at my free reports, they are listed as closed and the history remains throughtout. I throw the unused cards in our safe and don't even worry about them.

For you, there's nothing wrong with keeping the Circuit City CC even if you do not use it. There's nothing wrong with keeping the others open either. Just make it a practice (my bill paying computer program tells me when) to go to https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp and get a free credit report from one of the companies there. If you do this every 4 months, you can verify that nothing surprising has come up under your name and you can dispute any errors.

Once you have the three main cards that you are intending to keep, you can "freeze" your credit. This way nobody can apply for new credit in your name without having to go through the reversal process.

Congratulations on getting to a point where you can pay-in-full each and every month. Job well-done!

[Skooby]

Thanks for the congrats.

I think ya'll are right, i'll just put them away somewhere. I guess it wouldn't hurt to leave them open and just never use them.

lol

By the way, GREAT JOB getting all of that debt repaid!! I just went back and reviewed the other thread. I hadn't remembered it when I posted above.

This website/forum changed everything. I'm glad I found my way here.

Congratulations on getting to a point where you can pay-in-full each and every month. Job well-done!

Yup...now that money is going to investments. A year ago I wasn't even thinking about Roth IRAs and stocks etc, etc.

Now I have a Roth with T Rowe Price, i'm looking at a couple of stocks. Alot have changed in a year.

[76Chick]

Fico Envy...

Great job!

[vsjhoc]

Keep them open. They keep your score high because they help keep your overall utilization low (provided the balances on the other cards are low).

Congrats on a great score. Did you check all three 3 FICO scores? Sometimes they vary a bit. Anything over 760 puts you at the head of the class!

[pearlieq]

Will you be "needing" your credit score anytime soon? Do you plan to shop for a mortgage, loan, or insurance in the near future or is all of that set?

I don't think closing them is necessarily a bad idea. One extra credit line open is one more target for an identity thief, one extra account to keep track of, one more potential headache is there's a bank error, etc.

I've been thinking of closing down a few of mine too, just to simplify.

[Brokemofo]

If you do decide to close any of them "Don't" close the Chase card. Always close the newest ones and keep the cards you've had the longest.

[Slug]

Keep'em open. Put the unused cards someplace theft and fire-proof or just cut'em up. I usually just cut'em up. I keep track of all usage through Yodlee so if anyone somehow go the number and started using it, I'd know immediately.

PS Because Sweeps would be dissappointed if I didn't mention it, I have written about Yodlee on my blog :-)