Comments on: Reader Mail: How Do I Compare Credit Card Offers?

By: km1312

km1312 — Fri, 18 May 2012 16:19:19 +0000

CREDIT UNIONS. They seem like a great idea maybe, but I don’t understand them!

Mike Dang/anybody?

By: Mike Dang

Mike Dang — Fri, 18 May 2012 03:29:48 +0000

Keeping the card open is not going to hurt your credit score. Closing it might—only because it will reduce your credit limit, which might affect your balance to credit ratio (the more maxed out you are on your cards, the worse your credit score). If you’re closing this card, and replacing it with one with better rewards or a lower interest rate, that’s ok because the new card will get your limit back up, and your score will recover as long as you use your card responsibly.

By: acid burn

acid burn — Thu, 17 May 2012 23:42:07 +0000

@acid burn um, to clarify, I misplaced the store credit, not the card itself. The card has been sitting in my file cabinet since I got it.

By: acid burn

acid burn — Thu, 17 May 2012 23:12:20 +0000

Here’s a sort of related question (as that website tempts me with cards that are better than my current Amazon rewards card): is it bad (for my credit score or for some other reason) to have open credit cards that I never use? Is that better than closing the account for some reason? I have a Nordstrom Visa that I opened at one point years ago because they conned me into it with the promise of store credit that I then misplaced until it expired. Anyway, I have literally never used this card. They just sent me a new card, which I didn’t activate either. The part of me that likes having a minimum of things to keep track of thinks I should close the account, but does it even matter one way or the other?

By: Reginal T. Squirge

Reginal T. Squirge — Thu, 17 May 2012 20:46:57 +0000

Hey, I just did this exact thing (almost)! I had WF for my bank accounts and credit card and left for a local credit union. I just got a new credit card with my credit union. I didn’t have a balance to transfer so I don’t know how difficult that might be but definitely consider getting a credit card through your new credit union.

By: chic noir

chic noir — Thu, 17 May 2012 20:29:52 +0000

Will be looking to Nerd Wallet because I want airline miles card.

Thanks Mike:)

By: Saralyn@twitter

Saralyn@twitter — Thu, 17 May 2012 20:29:06 +0000

Mike Dang! You are the best. I’m actually excited to head off to NerdWallet and Bankrate to figure this all out after work. Once I get the current balance paid off, I’ll definitely be paying in full every month (like I did before grad school).

By: Mike Dang

Mike Dang — Thu, 17 May 2012 20:23:03 +0000

@thewurst Yup! Last year, after a friend told me about a similar situation, he decided to transfer a $5,000 balance on one card, and a $4,000 balance on another card to a new card he opened with Citi that offered a 0% APR on transfer balances for 24 months (which was awesome), and a $14,000 credit limit. I think the transaction fee was 3 percent, so he had to pay $270 to make the transfer, but it was worth it for him because the interest rate on his other two cards were killing him every month.

By: thewurst

thewurst — Thu, 17 May 2012 20:12:54 +0000

What about balance transfers in a larger sense? Let’s say one were to have two cards with fairly large balances and not so desirable interest rates, would it make sense to consolidate those two cards onto one with a balance transfer, then CUT UP the other cards? Is this even possible?