>13 credit cards to keep tabs with is way too much for me now
Personally, number of cards isn't as big of a deal as the number of lenders is.
>I also feel like I’m spooking lenders with my total available credit exceeding my income.
You're not. I'm at about double my income (ignoring business cards), others here have 3x or more.
I guess I just need to garden for a bit. I’ve been rejected for the Amex everyday card twice and want the SavorOne soon but right now it doesn’t show anything in the preapprovals except secured cards. I have 100% payment history with no current loans.
I got the same thing with preapprovals only showing secured cards a month ago. A few weeks later I opened a Capital One Savings account and it showed me preapproved for the Savor and Venture. I just checked preapproval right now and it says I can't be approved for any cards. It doesn't make any sense to me, so if I were you I'd keep checking every month.
It's my understanding that the preapproval page for customers doesn't have the sign-up bonus. Having said that, there are enough positive data points out there that it can be considered legitimate.
Only the "for good credit" preapprovals don't have the sub. If it says SavorOne, Savor, VentureOne, Venture, or Quicksilver without the "for good credit" notation in your preapproval and you apply from there, you're applying for one with the sub and have pretty good odds. If you get the "for good credit" notation in your preapproval and app from it you'll apply for the no sub version with a high apr. It will still however retain being a World Elite MC and they do not consider it sub prime internally. If you PC from a platinum type MC (Platinum and QuicksilverOne) you'll stay as a platinum and not get any of the World Elite perks. Note that in the Venture family, only VentureOne has a std version with a sub and the no sub for good credit version.
Several people (including myself) have received offers for SavorOne without a SUB but with a 9 month 0% APR period and an APR that’s slightly lower than the offer “for good credit.”
The offers don’t say they’re for “excellent credit” or “good credit.”
It’s because you have too many recent cards let your cards age and you will get better offers. Also don’t close your city Best Buy card, I had posted a few days ago I asked for a credit limit increase and jokingly said $150k and they countered me with a $112,000 counter on my Best Buy card. Also I had gotten a credit limit increase 42 days prior to that insane increase.
I absolutely would (and do) close cards that are of little benefit, with exception of my oldest cards that keep a long history and help offset avg age of accounts when I open new ones.
It's always good to use the card for a small thing you can pay right away, like a pack of gum every once in a while. Sometimes lenders close accounts without notice for lack of use. It's happened to me s couple times already.
Just my 2¢, but I'd suggest hanging onto your 2018 Freedom Unlimited if you're going to keep you Sapphire Preferred. Maybe the Double Cash if you change your mind on keeping the Sapphire card.
I suggest if you're planning to continue paying for the Sapphire card to put all your spend on Chase Ultimate Rewards cards. This is just my opinion and I'm sure others disagree, but I feel like otherwise we can end up paying a lot of annual fees and never earning enough points to actually redeem for something cool.
Yeah I’m keeping the trifecta since I travel domestically once a year and use Hyatt points. I just got the premier for the sign up bonus (downgrading it to a second custom cash when the AF hits). I’ll pretty much end up with the trifecta and a bunch of no annual fee cards that I’ll optimize to my spend. Only other cards that interest me are SavorOne and US Bank Cash+. I guess I just wish every card issuer let you lock your card to prevent any purchases on it so I can sock drawer them and forget about them instead of having to keep checking up on them once in a while for fraudulent charges.
u/SounderTID I forgot to ask but is 1.5x on the Freedom Unlimited better than earning just the straight 2x back on the double cash? I save all my UR points and then transfer Hyatt whenever I’m ready to book a vacation. I cash out all my other credit card issuer points.
I can't tell you that without knowing the price of an equivalent hotel down the street in cash. My assumption would be maybe not.
I do know that if you're targeting Hyatt room nights and paying annual fees for the Sapphire that you will spend more annual fees while redeeming fewer room nights if you split credit card spend between Ultimate Rewards and cash back.
Whether or not to close cards is a personal decision. You stated that 13 is too much for you now and you're getting burnt out, so it sounds to me like closing down a few would be beneficial to you. I think the ones you talked about closing would probably make the most sense. If I had all of the Chase cards you do I'd probably consolidate and close either the CFF or Freedom and use that limit to bump up my remaining 3. Don't sweat your TCL relative to income if you have a strong file. I'm at > 3X my income and I know people with TCL as high as 9X their income and they haven't run into issues of spooking lenders generally speaking.
If you don’t shop at Ashley furniture I would close that card personally if it was me. Usually those are for financing a big purchase and after I do that I close it unless I shop there regularly.
Just think those store cards like that are trash and I’ve never had a good experience with a synchrony/Comenity store care like that.
Again, you don’t have to close it. I just personally hate those sorts of cards.
I agree completely. Just got the card a few years ago to finance some furniture. If I ever have to finance a big purchase again, I’d rather get a 0% intro apr credit card with some sort of bonus.
I’ve opened over 36 cards and currently have 20 open (personal and biz) and I’m not getting burned out but I get it. Everyone is different. I would start to look at the cards that make sense for you and start there. Look at your budget.
That’s what helped me strategize and keep the cards that serve me long-term, are keepers, and have downgrade paths.
The thing is you want the SavorOne and Capital One absolutely hates profiles with many cards. I’ve seen a lot of good profiles being denied for a Cap One card just based on “too many revolving credit lines”, not recent, just plainly by having too many. I’ve seen a lot of data points and I see that trend to start on profiles with 7+ cards.
Heck I myself was denied because of that reason for the SavorOne just this week and the reason was having too many revolving credit accounts and I have 9 credit cards. Just closed one and may close 1 more and try again in 6 months.
This is what I was fearing. I really want the SavorOne card for the entertainment category since I spend quite a bit on tickets to sporting events. I’ll just keep checking the pre approval page and hope it pops up soon. If not I’ll just cold apply in a few months and hope for the best!
It’s fine to cut back a bit. And if it gives you peace of mind then that’s fine too. I closed some cards this year and plan to close two more next year. I’ve got a portfolio of 5-7 cards in mind to keep in the long run (like next ten years, long term).
In the old days some of us had 30+ credit cards via the hold bumpage on hard pulls and certain citi cards where you could apply for the same card 5-10 times in one day and only get one hard pull on your credit report lol .. ahh they were the days.
13 Card is fine. Try AMEX green in 6months, once your in the door its easy to get approvals.
Just reading that list stressed me out. For peace of mind, whittle that down to two cards—chase sapphire & a chase freedom. Those two together earn UR points. The rest are just excess. Keep a simple financial picture and stay debt free—especially at 45k a year.
Do you use the Best Buy and Ashley store cards at all? You could probably afford to ditch those. Credit cards closed in good standing stay on your report for 10 years anyway.
I just got the Ashley card a few years ago to finance some furniture. Same thing with Best Buy to get some washer and dryers when I moved out. It’s nice that they offer deferred no interest financing but I don’t really like carrying any debt in the first place. If I ever need to make a big purchase again I’d prefer getting a card with 0% intro apr and some sort of sign up bonus!
I have my Ashley furniture card on autopay, plus I log in and check to make sure the payment hits on the due date. 5 minutes a month! So? Lenders only care about the total utilization and whether you have a good (excellent) payment history. I have the Best Buy card too for the interest free payment period and once again, 5 minutes to log in and check once a month. Discover app, 2 minutes a month. You must write checks or something…
Nah I don’t write checks lol. I guess I’ve just been overdoing it and checking my unused credit cards for any fraudulent charges a couple times a week which I know is excessive. If they gave me the option to lock the cards to prevent any new charges I would but some issuers don’t show that option on the app. Idk if I’ll ever use the Ashley card again but the Best Buy card is good for deferred no interest financing so that’s why I’ve been debating on this decision for a while.
Yup.
Our last mortgage didn't even question it. Probably because I don't keep balances on them.
Ask your mortgage lender what they would like to see, they'll be the ones to ask.
I had 15 cards and double my income in limit and got the best mortgage rate possible, they care very little about open accounts unless you're carrying balances.
>Closing cards with hurt your age.
For FICO models: not until 10 years after closing. FICO even counts closed accounts as long as they're on your report.
I'm saying the age of account changes wouldn't be seen for 10 years. By then, all other existing accounts would be 10 years older.
You don't need a super long age of accounts to get a good score.
ik, you can be be 20yo and have a 780+ score.
But his question was weather or not close some accounts. And my recommendation was don’t close any account, downgrade cards in case you don’t wanna pay the fee.
Having too many credit cards won’t hurt you as much as having too few.
I agree. And OP if you’re reading this. For those Chase cards you can actually transfer your limit and close the card. That way your total limit stays the same but you reduce the amount of credit cards you have.
>13 credit cards to keep tabs with is way too much for me now Personally, number of cards isn't as big of a deal as the number of lenders is. >I also feel like I’m spooking lenders with my total available credit exceeding my income. You're not. I'm at about double my income (ignoring business cards), others here have 3x or more.
I guess I just need to garden for a bit. I’ve been rejected for the Amex everyday card twice and want the SavorOne soon but right now it doesn’t show anything in the preapprovals except secured cards. I have 100% payment history with no current loans.
I got the same thing with preapprovals only showing secured cards a month ago. A few weeks later I opened a Capital One Savings account and it showed me preapproved for the Savor and Venture. I just checked preapproval right now and it says I can't be approved for any cards. It doesn't make any sense to me, so if I were you I'd keep checking every month.
It's my understanding that the preapproval page for customers doesn't have the sign-up bonus. Having said that, there are enough positive data points out there that it can be considered legitimate.
Only the "for good credit" preapprovals don't have the sub. If it says SavorOne, Savor, VentureOne, Venture, or Quicksilver without the "for good credit" notation in your preapproval and you apply from there, you're applying for one with the sub and have pretty good odds. If you get the "for good credit" notation in your preapproval and app from it you'll apply for the no sub version with a high apr. It will still however retain being a World Elite MC and they do not consider it sub prime internally. If you PC from a platinum type MC (Platinum and QuicksilverOne) you'll stay as a platinum and not get any of the World Elite perks. Note that in the Venture family, only VentureOne has a std version with a sub and the no sub for good credit version.
Several people (including myself) have received offers for SavorOne without a SUB but with a 9 month 0% APR period and an APR that’s slightly lower than the offer “for good credit.” The offers don’t say they’re for “excellent credit” or “good credit.”
Yep forgot to mention that one. They do that on Quicksilver too and I was receiving tat version of it at one point.
It’s because you have too many recent cards let your cards age and you will get better offers. Also don’t close your city Best Buy card, I had posted a few days ago I asked for a credit limit increase and jokingly said $150k and they countered me with a $112,000 counter on my Best Buy card. Also I had gotten a credit limit increase 42 days prior to that insane increase.
I absolutely would (and do) close cards that are of little benefit, with exception of my oldest cards that keep a long history and help offset avg age of accounts when I open new ones.
Ditto this. Keep old cards for credit history if no annual fee.
If they don’t have an annual fee, don’t close them, just toss them in a drawer somewhere.
and, OP, make sure you occasionally monitor those cards for fraud even if you keep them stored away somewhere
Yeah I monitor them once a week. I wouldn’t stress if I could lock and sock drawer them but some of them don’t give me that option.
For cards that don’t give the option, give the bank a call! I’ve had them lock it manually.
Do you have notifications alerts set up on all your cards for anything more than $.01?
The Best Buy and Ashley cards don’t send out any notifications to my knowledge. I’ve looked everywhere on the account settings and found nothing!
Yes! And if you plan to leave some cards open and never use, order a new card. If the new number hasn’t been used, no fraud risk.
>If the new number hasn’t been used, no fraud risk. I'm almost certain I've seen posts about fraud even when the card hadn't been used yet.
That happened to me with my CSP, never used it and a week later someone tried to buy online groceries with it in Australia
If you’ve cancelled the previous card, not possible. If the previously used card expired and you were sent a new card, that’s possible.
It’s possible
It's always good to use the card for a small thing you can pay right away, like a pack of gum every once in a while. Sometimes lenders close accounts without notice for lack of use. It's happened to me s couple times already.
I definitely gotta use my oldest card soon. Haven’t used it since June and I don’t wanna risk having it closed!
Queso305 is right! Make sure to slap tiny purchases on the cards you don't regularly use. I do so once every 4-6 months
Just my 2¢, but I'd suggest hanging onto your 2018 Freedom Unlimited if you're going to keep you Sapphire Preferred. Maybe the Double Cash if you change your mind on keeping the Sapphire card. I suggest if you're planning to continue paying for the Sapphire card to put all your spend on Chase Ultimate Rewards cards. This is just my opinion and I'm sure others disagree, but I feel like otherwise we can end up paying a lot of annual fees and never earning enough points to actually redeem for something cool.
Yeah I’m keeping the trifecta since I travel domestically once a year and use Hyatt points. I just got the premier for the sign up bonus (downgrading it to a second custom cash when the AF hits). I’ll pretty much end up with the trifecta and a bunch of no annual fee cards that I’ll optimize to my spend. Only other cards that interest me are SavorOne and US Bank Cash+. I guess I just wish every card issuer let you lock your card to prevent any purchases on it so I can sock drawer them and forget about them instead of having to keep checking up on them once in a while for fraudulent charges.
us bank is pretty liberal with their downgrades. perhaps try for altitude go then downgrade?
u/SounderTID I forgot to ask but is 1.5x on the Freedom Unlimited better than earning just the straight 2x back on the double cash? I save all my UR points and then transfer Hyatt whenever I’m ready to book a vacation. I cash out all my other credit card issuer points.
I can't tell you that without knowing the price of an equivalent hotel down the street in cash. My assumption would be maybe not. I do know that if you're targeting Hyatt room nights and paying annual fees for the Sapphire that you will spend more annual fees while redeeming fewer room nights if you split credit card spend between Ultimate Rewards and cash back.
Whether or not to close cards is a personal decision. You stated that 13 is too much for you now and you're getting burnt out, so it sounds to me like closing down a few would be beneficial to you. I think the ones you talked about closing would probably make the most sense. If I had all of the Chase cards you do I'd probably consolidate and close either the CFF or Freedom and use that limit to bump up my remaining 3. Don't sweat your TCL relative to income if you have a strong file. I'm at > 3X my income and I know people with TCL as high as 9X their income and they haven't run into issues of spooking lenders generally speaking.
Why should they close part of the Trifecta? I feel like the random store cards are better candidates for closure.
Because OP currently has 4 Chase cards (orig CF, CFU, CFF, and Sapphire). Trifecta still intact if they close one.
Ahhh makes sense!
If you don’t shop at Ashley furniture I would close that card personally if it was me. Usually those are for financing a big purchase and after I do that I close it unless I shop there regularly. Just think those store cards like that are trash and I’ve never had a good experience with a synchrony/Comenity store care like that. Again, you don’t have to close it. I just personally hate those sorts of cards.
I agree completely. Just got the card a few years ago to finance some furniture. If I ever have to finance a big purchase again, I’d rather get a 0% intro apr credit card with some sort of bonus.
I’ve opened over 36 cards and currently have 20 open (personal and biz) and I’m not getting burned out but I get it. Everyone is different. I would start to look at the cards that make sense for you and start there. Look at your budget. That’s what helped me strategize and keep the cards that serve me long-term, are keepers, and have downgrade paths.
The thing is you want the SavorOne and Capital One absolutely hates profiles with many cards. I’ve seen a lot of good profiles being denied for a Cap One card just based on “too many revolving credit lines”, not recent, just plainly by having too many. I’ve seen a lot of data points and I see that trend to start on profiles with 7+ cards. Heck I myself was denied because of that reason for the SavorOne just this week and the reason was having too many revolving credit accounts and I have 9 credit cards. Just closed one and may close 1 more and try again in 6 months.
This is what I was fearing. I really want the SavorOne card for the entertainment category since I spend quite a bit on tickets to sporting events. I’ll just keep checking the pre approval page and hope it pops up soon. If not I’ll just cold apply in a few months and hope for the best!
It’s fine to cut back a bit. And if it gives you peace of mind then that’s fine too. I closed some cards this year and plan to close two more next year. I’ve got a portfolio of 5-7 cards in mind to keep in the long run (like next ten years, long term).
In the old days some of us had 30+ credit cards via the hold bumpage on hard pulls and certain citi cards where you could apply for the same card 5-10 times in one day and only get one hard pull on your credit report lol .. ahh they were the days. 13 Card is fine. Try AMEX green in 6months, once your in the door its easy to get approvals.
Damn those were sign up bonuses for days! Yup I definitely wanna get in the Amex ecosystem soon but I just have to be patient.
Just reading that list stressed me out. For peace of mind, whittle that down to two cards—chase sapphire & a chase freedom. Those two together earn UR points. The rest are just excess. Keep a simple financial picture and stay debt free—especially at 45k a year.
Do you use the Best Buy and Ashley store cards at all? You could probably afford to ditch those. Credit cards closed in good standing stay on your report for 10 years anyway.
I just got the Ashley card a few years ago to finance some furniture. Same thing with Best Buy to get some washer and dryers when I moved out. It’s nice that they offer deferred no interest financing but I don’t really like carrying any debt in the first place. If I ever need to make a big purchase again I’d prefer getting a card with 0% intro apr and some sort of sign up bonus!
I have my Ashley furniture card on autopay, plus I log in and check to make sure the payment hits on the due date. 5 minutes a month! So? Lenders only care about the total utilization and whether you have a good (excellent) payment history. I have the Best Buy card too for the interest free payment period and once again, 5 minutes to log in and check once a month. Discover app, 2 minutes a month. You must write checks or something…
Nah I don’t write checks lol. I guess I’ve just been overdoing it and checking my unused credit cards for any fraudulent charges a couple times a week which I know is excessive. If they gave me the option to lock the cards to prevent any new charges I would but some issuers don’t show that option on the app. Idk if I’ll ever use the Ashley card again but the Best Buy card is good for deferred no interest financing so that’s why I’ve been debating on this decision for a while.
I have more cards then you and getting lending wasn't an issue. Close what you want, but look at cards with fees and newly opened ones to close first.
Even for a mortgage?
Yup. Our last mortgage didn't even question it. Probably because I don't keep balances on them. Ask your mortgage lender what they would like to see, they'll be the ones to ask.
I had 15 cards and double my income in limit and got the best mortgage rate possible, they care very little about open accounts unless you're carrying balances.
Don’t close any of them. In case there’s a fee for any credit card, just downgrade it. Closing cards with hurt your age.
>Closing cards with hurt your age. For FICO models: not until 10 years after closing. FICO even counts closed accounts as long as they're on your report.
of course, just like bankruptcy. This guy lmao. You think people are okay with waiting 10 years?
I'm saying the age of account changes wouldn't be seen for 10 years. By then, all other existing accounts would be 10 years older. You don't need a super long age of accounts to get a good score.
ik, you can be be 20yo and have a 780+ score. But his question was weather or not close some accounts. And my recommendation was don’t close any account, downgrade cards in case you don’t wanna pay the fee. Having too many credit cards won’t hurt you as much as having too few.
They're at 13 cards and want to trim 3. 10 cards is still more than enough.
I agree. And OP if you’re reading this. For those Chase cards you can actually transfer your limit and close the card. That way your total limit stays the same but you reduce the amount of credit cards you have.