I just canceled two credit cards.

[substitute]

Zeroed out balance, they were crap ghetto credit, goodbye.

1) HSBC. Polite and pleasant operator transfers me to "win-back" guy. He talks too fast reading the script and is hard to understand due to an accent, but very nice. After two attempts to sell me back, including a fairly pathetic 2% cashback offer and waiving the membership fee, he folds and agrees to cancel it and send me written confirmation.

2) Juniper/Apple Credit. Same type of operator transfers me to win-back guy. He is a "relationship manager" which makes me think of Dr. Neil Clark Warren. He doesn't try to give me any deals. Instead he first tries to sell me on how great the card is, and is not chagrined at all to learn that I have 8% less interest and ten times the limit elsewhere. Then he issues a warning: if I cancel the card, it could have an adverse effect on my credit rating! He says this once and I point out that closing the account after paying it off is probably not a minus. In a more ominous tone he asks me to reconsider because it could seriously be a negative MARK on my CREDIT RATING if i canceled. "Oh no you don't," I say. "Enough with the threats; that is not cool. Immediately cancel the account and send me written confirmation." He folds too.

Nice bullying, Juniper/Apple!

Comments

[substitute.livejournal.com]

It's an interesting catch-22 then, because the credit service told me that one reason for my lower "score" was that I had too much ghetto credit, i.e., low-limit high-interest stuff. I do still have a couple of less grotty accounts, plus a paid-off car loan etc.

Oh well. I'd rather be rid of those things that win the Credit Contest!

[rum-holiday.livejournal.com]

Agreed, it only mattered to me because we will probably try to buy a dwelling of some sort within the next couple of years and I didn't want to pay extra in interest because this arbitrary "score" was off by 5 points or something stupid like that.

Who the hell knows what they are thinking. It's such a racket.

[ludickid.livejournal.com]

It's such a racket.

I have, quite literally, been saying that for over a decade. My credit is okay these days, and I still have nothing but contempt for the cheating fuckfaces who run the industry.

[pbd.livejournal.com]

Here is my experience. About 7 years ago, I cancelled about 10 credit cards (probably more). Yes, it did ding my credit, but maybe by like 20 points or so. Now, I have far less lines open and the cards I do have open keep raising my limit. My credit rating is now over 800. It used to be around 680-700 a few years ago.

The critical factor is long term installment loans. What will hold anyone back from helping their rating is lots of revolving accounts (credit cards) and nothing that shows the account paid in full or a reduction of a balance over time (mortgage and car loans). This coupled with not opening many new credit accounts (I have opened 3 in the last 8 years) and just having existing accounts raise your limit is how I think my rating got so high.

[mcfnord.livejournal.com]

Low-limit is visible but I had not understood interest rate to be shared among lenders. Maybe so!