Does cancelling a credit card yourself hurt your credit in any way?

Answer 1

No.

Answer 2

I don't believe so. Unless you know, you leave a balance and then move. :)

The fact is the more you use a certain credit card, the better your credit, assuming you're paying it off every month. Having a whole bunch of cards with balances looks like you are loading yourself up with unrealistic debt that will eventually overcome you and makes you a higher risk (so bad credit).

Only have as many cards as you need. I have a Discover since it gives the most money back (hey, free money!), an American Express for Costco (it's all they take and Costco is a huge money saver), and a Visa for those times when it's the only thing accepted (mastercard can be used the same way...but you don't need both). If you can point to a valid reason why you'd ever need more than 3, let me know. And all 3 of those cards offer some sort of incentive card that gives free money with no annual fee. Have your money work for you...don't work as a slave to your money.

Answer 3

The credit scores are based upon longevity of accounts and also on amount of available credit among a billion other things it seems.. Having paid off a card (assuming it is paid off) it is better to typically leave it open and available, lowering your overall percentage of available credit to amount owed as well as showing timely payments for a longer timeframe,,, if you follow me then, should have a better impact on your scoring model, but (There is always a but, right?) it is SO hard to forecast exact results.. 50% of score is history of one type or other, water under the bridge or spilt milk as may be case. 30% of score is amounts owed to available. Remaining percentage of score is between number of recent inquiries and types of credit used whether revolving,installment, mortgage etc.. This said,,, Keep proportion of amount owed at less than 50% on revolving and keeping balances at 30% (30% "rope" rule ) if you can keeps the percentage of owed to available low. The lower the better. Imagine a hand scale. The higher your balances as opposed to available credit. The lower the percentage of owed to available the higher the score. Remember this scale visualization and pass it along. The available credit isthe "rope." DON'T use the "rope." Save it as available credit instead of cancelling card until you see the scale tip the other direction when you need to qualify for a mortgage and have to cancel some of the rope cards. That is how I would play it unless you have too much available credit already now.

Answer 4

No it is seen as a smart choice and a step forward to dealing with debts. Having a credit card is like owing someone money and it is tempting to use it even for things you don't need. Now when you think of cancelling it just do it and don't let them talk you out of it since they don't want to loose customers.

Answer 5

It might, it would change your debt availability level.
Credit scores are based on how LONG you've had credit (so if you've had the card a long time, then it's not a good idea to cancel it), but also on how much debt you have vs. how much credit is available (if you cancel one card, you have less available credit which could reflect poorly).

Answer 6

No-- if anything it helps. Closing out open credit card accounts will improve your credit score.

Answer 7

Yea it does hurt your credit...the credit experts say...if you don't want to use it any more to just cut it up, but not cancel it

Answer 8

No. If you have too many credit cards thats no good either. Especially if you want to buy a house or a car.

Answer 9

not if account is paid in full and you request that the card be cancelled. It will show as card cancelled by consummer request and show the months of activity to the date of cancellation.

Answer 10

Yes, it did mine. It lowers your available credit

Answer 11

i have done this my self, it did effect my credit, but i was still able to buy a new car, so its not as bad as having sent to collections.