Comments on: AMEX Blue and the disappearing promo APR http://cheapencounters.com/2007/05/01/amex-blue-and-the-disappearing-promo-apr/ Thu, 14 Apr 2011 14:45:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: billyoceanseleven http://cheapencounters.com/2007/05/01/amex-blue-and-the-disappearing-promo-apr/#comment-76 billyoceanseleven Tue, 08 May 2007 14:08:50 +0000 http://www.cheapencounters.com/CECK_Blog/wordpress/?p=46#comment-76 Very good point, ERM. You are correct in that having the outstanding line is a benefit to the FICO, even if not used. I had considered this before and based on the number of cards I have outstanding and the size of those lines the effect would likely be very minimal. My thought is to use this more as a bargaining chip to get my money back, but if they don't bite oh well. However, one card (Business Gold Rewards) will be cancelled at some point either way because of the annual fee. Very good point, ERM. You are correct in that having the outstanding line is a benefit to the FICO, even if not used. I had considered this before and based on the number of cards I have outstanding and the size of those lines the effect would likely be very minimal. My thought is to use this more as a bargaining chip to get my money back, but if they don’t bite oh well. However, one card (Business Gold Rewards) will be cancelled at some point either way because of the annual fee.

]]> By: ERM http://cheapencounters.com/2007/05/01/amex-blue-and-the-disappearing-promo-apr/#comment-75 ERM Tue, 08 May 2007 12:21:29 +0000 http://www.cheapencounters.com/CECK_Blog/wordpress/?p=46#comment-75 Don't cancel your cards. They don't care a twit. What happens is that you are the one that gets hurt (and you can check on this with various on-line credit advice sites): Every existing credit card to your name that is in good standing is a benefit. It increases your FICO (Fair Isaac) score. When you cancel a credit card you impact your FICO--it is reduced. One effect of the cancellation, if you have an outstanding balance with one or more credit cards, you effectively decrease the ratio of debt to unsecured limit. For example, if your credit card debt is $1000 and you have three credit cards with an aggregate limit of $10,000, canceling one of the cards will reduce the aggregate limit and therefore increase your percentage of debt. That has an immediate effect on your FICO score. Don't cancel the card. Just don't use it. Don’t cancel your cards. They don’t care a twit. What happens is that you are the one that gets hurt (and you can check on this with various on-line credit advice sites):

Every existing credit card to your name that is in good standing is a benefit. It increases your FICO (Fair Isaac) score. When you cancel a credit card you impact your FICO–it is reduced. One effect of the cancellation, if you have an outstanding balance with one or more credit cards, you effectively decrease the ratio of debt to unsecured limit. For example, if your credit card debt is $1000 and you have three credit cards with an aggregate limit of $10,000, canceling one of the cards will reduce the aggregate limit and therefore increase your percentage of debt. That has an immediate effect on your FICO score.

Don’t cancel the card. Just don’t use it.

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