I would like to close some of my accounts I opened my accounts to build credit to buy a house?

Question

I would like to close some of my accounts I opened my accounts to build credit to buy a house and now that I bought my house I would like to close some of my account. Would closing my credit cards and store cards hurt my score and if it does for how long .
and which credit card should i keep I have
2 amex cards gold card and other 1hsn 1ikea 2bank of america 2 chase 3 hsbc bank 1 capitol one and 1target visa
my bank of america are my oldest card and I only want to keep 5 cards
and buying my first home at 23 a mistake or I should of waited because i am still a college student info please thanks

Answer 1

First of all I'd like to ask you to calm down. I'd really like to help you out here. You are in a great position! It's never a mistake to buy a home, even if you are a student, as long as you can afford the payments. As for the credit cards, why close accts and lose unsecured credit??? My best advice is - everything that is popular is wrong. Including credit cards.

Who said it is bad to have a lot of credit cards? I don't know of anybody who's rich that said it. I know a guy who has become a multimillionaire during the last few years through investing money from credit cards. I know of another one, a real estate investor, with 103. And guess what, he had a credit score good enough to keep buying property. A rich investor once told me that an 800 score means one thing to him - a waste. It means you are not taking it to the limit and using all the debt you can to make more money.

This is why I'd like to advise you to not close the unsecured credit cards you have already managed to open. If you really want to close some - consider this scenario. Don't close'em. Instead, consolidate your credit limits from the same bank into your best card from that bank. You can consolidate the 2 Bank Am, 2 Chase, and 3 HSBC into a single card from each bank. Into the card you like best - the one with the lowest interest rate for instance. This way, you keep your credit limits, but you reduce the number of open accounts. But your total credit limit stays the same.

I do this all the time, and it could be really beneficial. Credit cards are fun, when you learn to manage them effectively. Then, they really pay off. As for the shopping cards, you can get rid of some. Keep the one that brings you the most benefits. Yeah, and the AmEx - it's always good to have two. But if they both are charge cards, you could close one if you wish. One would do.

And one more piece of advice, a friend of mine gave me. He is on a vacation somewhere all the time, and he uses his Capital One card abroad. Why? Because this is the only card out there with no international transaction fee! That's right, it's 0%! The other significant benefit is, that with a credit card you get a better exchange rate than in foreign banks or exchange offices. So keep your Capital One! It's a good one!

All the best!!!

Answer 2

Keep the two oldest major credit cards that do not have annual fees. You don't want to carry balances on credit cards so the interest rate shouldn't matter so much.

Close all the store and gas credit cards unless you have some special reason to keep them.

Make sure the account is paid in full before closing. Send a letter to close the account and request verification that the account is close and the balance is 0. Keep the letter and verification with your important financial papers. Sometimes credit cards come back to bit you.

When you close these accounts, your credit score will take a hit as the available credit limit will drop, increasing the percent used. But your score should rebound quickly.

Answer 3

I would definitely close most of those cards. I would start with the store specific cards. They typically have a very low limits and won't help your score out much if any. The way credit cards are calculated on your credit score is based on the ratio of available credit to the amount of credit used. For example, if you have a total available credit of $50,000 and have $10,000 in outstanding balance, you would have 80% available. That would help your score out some because of the high percent available. I believe that there is also a function that looks at the number of cards you have. 23 is too high. After cutting out the store cards, get rid of the low limit cards that you have barely used. Keep the BofA card and any other cards that you have had balances on and have paid off in a timely manner; the more positive history on your accounts the better the scoring will be. As far as I know, closing the accounts will not have any effect on your score unless you drastically change the ratio of available credit. All that said, if you have cards with an outstanding balance, pay them off. That is the quickest way to build your score up. Good Luck!

Answer 4

I don't understand why everyone thinks having so many credit cards is a great thing, it doesn't mean you are successful, or you somehow are worth more. As a credit analyst, too many cards means you likely have too much available credit, and potentially could have way to much debt in relation to your income. I reject so many credit applications for this reason. The people with the best credit scores, over 800 have limited credit because they realize this. People with moderate scores are the ones with too many cards, banks know they will get into trouble and they will make money. It's that simple.

Close the store cards, the interest is always too high. I always advise people to carry two cards. One, to be used daily and paid off every month in full, and other with a great interest rate to carry any balances that can't be paid in full.

For the paid in full card, look for a points card with no annual fee. By putting everything on it, you not only avoid a ton of bank fees associated with a debt card, you also get points for stuff you buy everyday. I do this and redeem my points for anything from gas to best buy gift certificates - last year getting $500 worth and not paying anything for them.

The low interest card is great for when you can't pay in full. Points cards typically have high interest rates, so before being slapped with high interest, transfer the balance at a low rate and try to get the fee waived. So long as you make 2-3 times the minimum payment before the due date you will be in good standing.

Look for those things with the banks you already deal with. It's very easy to check their websites then get a rep over the phone to change over the type of card you already have - you have the same history, same credit line, differen benefits.

P.S A mortgage is the best debt you could ever have. A house never depreciates in value. You were very smart to buy early.

Answer 5

You should keep two of your oldest credit cards that have the lowest interest rates.Pay off the other credit cards and close them.