It is easy to
keep the card open year after year and increase the average history of your accounts, which improves your credit score, without paying anything.
Keith: Thanks, Daraius!When you call a bank to cancel a credit card, they'll sometimes offer bonus points or a statement credit as an incentive to
keep the card open another year.
Not exact matches
I would
keep the
card open and make sure you are spending enough money per
year to make the rewards worth the annual fee.
Try to
open up a few credit
cards early in your credit history, and then
keep them for a while without
opening new accounts after a couple of
years.
If your
card carries an annual fee, it is important to decide each
year if you are getting enough value for the fee to
keep the
card open.
If you go this route, try to
keep one credit line that you've had for a few
years (like a store credit
card)
open... this will make things easier later on.
It's usually best to
keep a
card open for about a
year or more.
I am not
opening any
cards but that lease restart every three
years keeps bringing the avg down.
Note that a closed account in good standing remains in your credit history for 10
years, so you'll benefit from your track record; however,
keeping no - fee credit
cards open (and using them now and then) is smart to help your utilization ratio stay low.
I would
keep the
card open and make sure you are spending enough money per
year to make the rewards worth the annual fee.
For example, they may want you to continue using the
card (or may ask you to
keep the account
open), and in return, they may promise to waive the annual fee for one more
year.
A rule of thumb is to
keep no more than four credit
cards open at any one time, and cancel any credit
card that you haven't used in over a
year.
A study last
year from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia found that those who
kept a secured credit
card open for two
years saw their credit score increase by 24 points.
One of the big mistakes that people make is that they
keep open their
cards for, let's say, two
years.
You'll want to
keep your eyes
open for new Hilton
card offers this
year, but for now, direct your attention to a new Hilton business
card offer fresh off the presses from our partner American Express.
I have 3 credit
cards I use, two with no balance, one I
opened last
year with a low balance (they actually increased my limit a few months ago) and
keep getting pre-approved offers from Discover.
At the same time, are there negative consequences to
opening too many
cards, as in two a
year and then canceling one or both or
keeping them with no activity?
After applying for over fifteen credit
cards a
year for four
years, my credit score improved (and I've only
kept a handful
open).
We would recommend Brenda opt for the AmEx given its waived first
year annual fee in order to minimize the cost of the trip, but Frontier's
card offers tremendous value for its $ 69 annual fee in this case, should she prefer to
keep open the AmEx as a possibility to help fund future adventures.
The annual fee is simply a fee paid once per
year just to
keep the
card open — whether you've been using the
card or not.
Sometimes if you just threaten to close, the
card will
keep it
open for another
year without an annual fee, which is a great bonus but sometimes if they don't offer anything, I just close the
card.
If you are worried about Chase's 5/24 Rule and are trying to
keep under that number so you can get their Ink or Southwest...
cards, the good news is the business version of this
card will not count against the 5/24 because most business
cards don't show up on your personal credit report (which is what Chase looks at to determine the number of accounts you've
opened in the last 2
years).
I
keep a spreadsheet with all credit
cards I
open, including the date that they are
open, the minimum spend amount required, the last date the spend is due, the day the airline miles bank in my account, and when the annual membership fee is charged (most reward credit
cards will charge a yearly fee, but waive it for the first
year.
The Starwood
card offers an incentive for sticking around and paying the annual fee: a Starwood credit for two stays and five nights toward elite status, upon
opening the account and each
year you
keep it
open.
If ur only using for airline miles is Starwood's
card basically not worth
keeping open for a second
year and paying annual fee?
Like I would
keep my 2
cards open for 24 months and then close them for 2
years while my husband applied and did the same thing for 24 months.
However, if you target a sign - up bonus to reach a travel goal, and show yourself to be a responsible and creditworthy customer by using the
card (even for small purchases), paying all your bills on time, and
keeping the
card open for at least a
year, it's not bad for your credit.
MBNA / Bank of America University of Pittsburgh No Annual Fee
Card:
Keep since I've had the account
open for almost 10
years.
That's part of the reason I
keep both the personal and business versions of the Starwood Preferred Guest Amex in my wallet since each of them gets me 2 stays or 5 nights closer to requalifying for elite status each
year, and if you've been considering them, from now until September 3, 2013, the sign - up bonus has been raised to 30,000 points when you spend $ 5,000 within 6 months of account
opening — which is 20 % higher than the usual bonus on this
card.
Depending on whether or not the benefits outweigh the annual fee, I
keep them
open (I.e. my US Airways
card gives me free checked bags for me + up to 3 fellow travelers on domestic flights which if I use on one family trip a
year surpasses the $ 95 annual fee!).
I like to
keep all new
cards open for a full
year.
20,000 MR plus the 200 $ airline fee credit gave me enough incentive to
keep the Platinum
Card open for one more
year