Okay to close old credit cards?

how old is your 2nd oldest card?

I wouldn't close it as there isn't any real reason to, but if you want to minimize it you can ask them to lower your limit to like $100 or something

sometimes if you ask they will convert the card into another card, but keep the history/limits from the old card, that wouldn't hurt to try either

Lowering your limit will hurt you as well, as it will lower your debt-to-credit ratio. Leave it open, it won't hurt.

Most major cards will let you set up notifications when your card gets used, so you get a text if there's any activity on the card. Set that up if you're worried about theft, but otherwise leave it open.

In terms of what hurts/helps your score, you want the average amount of time you've had a card open to be as long as possible. Closing a card (especially your oldest) lowers that average age.

Also, check out here [blogspot.com] for some more info on credit, as it's good to know.

Also, even though you're already paying loans, increasing your credit score will let you refinance to better rates, saving you significant amounts of money (especially with current mortgage rates so low).

Hope that helps .



Edit: Almost forgot. The reason your company card doesn't count toward your credit score is because it's the company that pays the bill. It's up to them to pay the bills, so the credit score affects them. This is because credit score is a measure of how likely you are to pay back a loan on time, so the company's credit score gets affected if they miss payments.

Leave it open.

My longest revolving account gets used once every 3 years or so. I rather show an extended length of solid borrowing/repaying history and worry about fraud.

Besides, who's going to hack it if it's not revolving in the system? Odds are the most frequently used card will is most susceptible, at least that's always been the case for me.

Okay, guess I'll leave it open. My other 2 credit cards are only 2 years old, so this one is far older than them. I actually have to pay my government credit card off when I travel. They reimburse to my checking account and I manually pay my travel card off. So that's why I'm confused why it's not showing up under my credit.

What's the normal amount of credit cards people have open? When does it start to adversely affect your credit score, when you have 5,6 etc. cards?

Surprisingly enough, more credit cards open actually helps your credit score (as does the improvement to the ratio of debt to available credit).

According to some source, people with the highest credit scores have an average of around 25 or more cards open. Seems counter-intuitive, but maybe the credit bureaus think that if you can pay off 25 cards on time, you'll be ok with 1 more loan, or 1 more card. Average number of cards is probably around 5 though if I had to guess, but the average number of cards doesn't really help you.

See here [blogspot.com] for more info, and some tips/tricks on other ways to improve your credit score.

generally speaking, it'll hurt for a few months, but it'll bounce right back in probably about a year.

of course it's all a mystery, but as long as you're not dramatically decreasing your overall credit limit (and thereby increasing your % of the credit you're using), you should be fine.

if you're thinking about a large purchase within the next year, maybe hold onto it. but otherwise, just close it. don't obsess too much about the actual number unless you're trying to get new credit.

Quote from attgig : generally speaking, it'll hurt for a few months, but it'll bounce right back in probably about a year. of course it's all a mystery, but as long as you're not dramatically decreasing your overall credit limit (and thereby increasing your % of the credit you're using), you should be fine. if you're thinking about a large purchase within the next year, maybe hold onto it. but otherwise, just close it. don't obsess too much about the actual number unless you're trying to get new credit.

I don't see the point of closing the card.. Holding onto it will keep your credit score higher, and will help improve your score over time (it will improve the average age of your cards). Also, opening new credit cards won't hurt your score as much in the future (as it won't decrease the average age of your cards as much).

If you actually have a real reason to close it, then don't stress about the credit score aspect, but otherwise just cut up the physical card and pretend the account doesn't exist anymore .

Quote from DWad : I don't see the point of closing the card.. Holding onto it will keep your credit score higher, and will help improve your score over time (it will improve the average age of your cards). Also, opening new credit cards won't hurt your score as much in the future (as it won't decrease the average age of your cards as much). If you actually have a real reason to close it, then don't stress about the credit score aspect, but otherwise just cut up the physical card and pretend the account doesn't exist anymore .

two reasons to close an unused card:
1) possibility of fraud on the account. close the account = no more fraud on that account. granted, if you don't use it, the chances are lower that there would be fraud.
2) lower your over-all available credit limit, so that if you want to take advantage of a new credit card offer that is offering a sweet sign up bonus, the company will recognize that they can give you a credit card with a decent credit limit. (eg, if my income dictates that i only get 100k of credit, and all of that available credit is tied up to other accounts, a new cc may decline me. if i close a cc account of 10k avial credit, a new cc can give me a card for that amount). if you have good credit and good income, it shouldn't be a big deal, but you never know.

from personal experience, i do have a few cards that are cut up and i haven't closed (simply because they are my oldest cards), but I have closed a few of my newer ones that i took advantage of a sign up bonus, and closed.

Sweet, thanks for the info guys, repped you. I thought that I'd heard that the max allowable credit limit for most people is ~25k total credit limit, is that true at all?

Quote from jordanz12 : Sweet, thanks for the info guys, repped you. I thought that I'd heard that the max allowable credit limit for most people is ~25k total credit limit, is that true at all?

No. There is no hard cap, especially a generic one for all banks/issuers. It all comes down to the individual and their income, credit score, account history, address (yes this matters!), etc. Each bank/issuer has it's own set of criteria to determine how much credit to give a person. Granted, most credit accounts are going to have limits <=$25k, but that's more likely due to the fact that the vast majority of people don't need that much credit.

It's one thing to have higher limits on charge cards, which are paid off every month, since some people do spend tens of thousands of dollars on things, and then pay it off right away. But to actually carry tens of thousands in high interest lines of credit is just asking for trouble. Not only for the consumer, but for the bank/issuer as well. Sure there might be some exceptions, where people buy $25k in goods and plan on paying it off when they get the funds in a month or two, but if people have that much of debt, they are a huge credit risk. Issuing these people even more credit will just sink them into an even deeper hole, making it less likely for them to pay any of it back.

This is why banks don't only look at how much you owe, but how much credit you have. If someone has $50k in available credit, with none of it utilized, and is asking for another line, the bank is going to ask themselves 'why?'.

[QUOTE=jordanz12;46668038].... I actually have to pay my government credit card off when I travel. They reimburse to my checking account and I manually pay my travel card off. .../QUOTE]


Unrelated note-What's the point of the govt charge card then in the first place if you have to pay it off with your own $$? Seems counterproductive. Wait, it's the Govt. Never Mind...


I know for my job, Citi is the provider and they exclusively charge my company for all the business expenses charged on the card. Of course these charges get audited and have to be pre-approved at multiple hierarchies.

Quote from jordanz12 : Sweet, thanks for the info guys, repped you. I thought that I'd heard that the max allowable credit limit for most people is ~25k total credit limit, is that true at all?

Nope.

Wife and I have about 550k right now.

[QUOTE=SANDY2424;46686748]

Quote from jordanz12 : .... I actually have to pay my government credit card off when I travel. They reimburse to my checking account and I manually pay my travel card off. .../QUOTE] Unrelated note-What's the point of the govt charge card then in the first place if you have to pay it off with your own $$? Seems counterproductive. Wait, it's the Govt. Never Mind... I know for my job, Citi is the provider and they exclusively charge my company for all the business expenses charged on the card. Of course these charges get audited and have to be pre-approved at multiple hierarchies.

A "corporate card", whether charge or credit, can be setup in either way. Some companies have the bill for the individual card go to the employee (and reimburse them), others have a master bill for all cards go directly to the company. I've had the latter, but not the former, however I've known people who did have to pay off their cards as well. However, I do believe that the company still bares total liability for the account, regardless of where the bill is sent. If this is the case, while the employee may be responsible from the companies perspective for paying off the account, the line of credit is still issued directly to the company, so it wouldn't appear on the individual CR.