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I have a pretty good FICA score right now and have 2 credit cards that I've held for quite a few years now. I have 1 Costco Amex with almost 10K credit, and 1 Chase Slate with just $200 credit. I try to keep the Costco Amex balance well below the available credit lately, and rarely use the Chase Slate.
From what I have read, it seems that my credit score could be negatively impacted by closing a credit card account as well as opening too many.
Sometime in 1H of 2016, Costco is ditching Amex for Visa. I guess they'll seamlessly give its members an equivalent Visa card with the same credit amount they currently have, and the Costco Amex will be closed.
Will my FICA score take a hit because of that action?
Also, Amex has been persistently sending me offers to open an Amex Blue credit card that they say is supposedly better in terms of perks than even the current Costco Amex. I have liked having my Amex card and have considered keeping one even after Costco moves to Visa. I would have to open it up by the end of this year, which would mean I'd end up with both the Costco Amex and the Amex Blue cards for a period of time until the Costco Amex is closed when they move to Visa.
Would getting an Amex Blue card (and ending up with this 3rd card by end of year), then having the Costco Amex closed early next year when moved to Visa (which creates yet another new account) impact my credit score negatively as well?
I've worked hard to get my credit score where it currently is and am wondering what of the above actions I should and should not take to protect my score.
The short answer is that it will only lower your score temporarily by 5-15 points from the hard credit inquiry that goes on your report when you apply for new credit (AMEX Blue). Its usually only a 5-15 point subtraction to your score. Most of that 5-15 point will be restored within 2-3 months. Its really not a big deal unless you apply for a ton of credit cards in a short span of time. I have over 12 credit cards (finally starting to lose track to the actual total). But I applied for them over a span of 7 years so it didn't really affect my credit score drastically. My score is in the low 800's.
When Costco moves to Visa it may impact your score slightly when they close your AMEX but it will also be temporary. When they give you your new visa, if they don't run a hard credit inquiry, your credit score will remain unchanged. If they run the inquiry, exactly what I typed above will happen. Your situation is such where you really don't have much to worry about. All of these actions should have no drastic effect on your credit score.
Don't worry about it. Yes you will lose a few points but probably not for long.
Your score varies based on credit utilization. Thus I would ask Chase to increase your limit.
Get the Blue if there are no annual fees.
I would get a Master Card and probably a Discover card. You can have a problem and end up with one of your accounts closed due to fraud or maybe not working due to a bad magnetic strip. I have had several cards placed on hold when fraud was suspected.
The application for the card will be a small negative but I think your credit utilization will offset the hit.
Just be sure to use no fee cards and pay off each month.
If you are thinking of getting a mortgage soon then don't close it but otherwise it's no big deal. My husband FICO score dropped about 40 points after I opened a platinum card from American Express, from 845 to 805. But they sent him an enticing offer, like 100,000 reward points. We are going to use the miles to fly first class.
You are going to lose the Costco amex in about 5 months so you are going to have to make a change, call amex and see what they will offer you and see if they will keep the same credit limit
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Citi loves doing hard pulls so it's almost a guarantee that Citi will do a hard pull before offering the Citi Costco card to existing Amex Costco holders. Whether a person gets the same credit limit, or even the new card itself, will probably depend on the results of the hard pull.
Citi might be kind enough to backdate their Costco card open date to the open date from the Amex Costco, as they had with other buyouts like with Best Buy, etc. If Citi does that then your new Costco card with them will show the same length of history as your Amex Costco had.
Amex has a wide variety of cards, both charge cards (that usually carry annual fees) and regular credit cards (with some that carry annual fees and many others that are fee free). If you're planning on getting another Amex I would suggest that you go through their card portfolio and find one that suits your needs the best rather than just going with the Blue simply because that is the one they are pushing (even though they are pushing it does not mean a person would qualify for the Blue if they apply). In fact, you might make a list of the top three cards that you like the most. Apply for the one that you want the most and if you get denied and you contact them for a reconsideration then you might suggest if you don't qualify for the card that you'd applied for then might you qualify for one of the others on your list.
If you get another Amex then they should also backdate your new card to the open date of your first Amex card (the Costco). Sometimes the backdating of the new card falls through the cracks and it will show a newer open date, if that happens then call them and ask them to have your new card show the same open date of your first card with them.
If Citi backdates the open date on their Costco cards to reflect the same open date from the Amex Costco, and, if you get a new Amex card with the backdated open date, along with the history of the open date on the closed Amex Costco, your overall length of card history will jump dramatically and will probably override any (small) ding that Citi might create with their hard inquiry. More than likely you'd see a pretty good jump in your scores rather than any dip in them.
P.S. It's FICO not FICA
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