Will my credit score be negatively affected if I pay off and close some of my cards?

Question

I'm about to pay off four of the seven cards I have and I've read that closing them after paying them off can hurt my credit score. But I've also read that it may be better to keep them open with a zero balance. Can anyone provide some insight?

Answer 1

Closing paid-off credit cards is a bad idea for your credit score for two reasons: your available credit lowers, therefore your debt-to-credit-limit ratio (which accounts for 30% of your FICO score) is increased (it should be under 25%, but the lower the better) and it removes active credit history from your report. The longer you've had a relationship with a creditor, the better in the eyes of your FICO score.

Your best bet would be to use the cards every now and then and pay them off in full and on time. This will help your credit score. If you feel like you need to close some credit cards, close the newest ones first because they'll hurt your score the least. If applying for a large loan, such as a mortgage or a car loan, your lender may want you to lower your available credit. To do this, you can lower the credit limits on your cards, but still keep them open. I hope this helps!

Answer 2

It will hurt your score. DON'T DO IT!!
I did, and am I ever sorry! I had several department store cards that I either only used once or never used at all. I closed them because I was concerned about identity theft. I had read that some theives will look for cards that have zero balances and are inactive and use them as a way to steal your identity. So I closed about 4 of them. Prior to this (about one month) I checked my report and bought my score and it was solidly in the Good range. After waiting about 9 months I checked my report again and bought another score and even though nothing else changed (no major purchases, no late payments or defaults or anything that would change a score) I was barely in the Fair range. That was 2 years ago and I'm still paying for that mistake.
Go ahead and pay off the cards, but don't close them. You might could close one without a big hit to your score but I'd wait 3 - 5 years between closings.

Answer 3

7 credit cards? Yikes that's a lot. I closed one credit card I hadn't used in ages and my credit score is way above average. Closing the cards may cause it to temporarily drop, but it will rebound. Your bigger problem is having too much credit out, which reflects worse on your credit score than closing a few accounts. As long as you leave some accounts open then you will have an ongoing credit history. There really isn't much point keeping them open, with a zero balance and no use they will get closed eventually, anyway. Just think hard before you open new accounts in the future.

Answer 4

alright dude, i used to work for capital one, so i learned a lot about credit, and i can tell u that if u have more than 3 credit cards then it hurts your credit score, now let me explain, the reason bein is if u have like 7 cards, even if they are at a zero balance, a lendor will still look at that as possible debt that u may be able to get into and not be able to pay them back, so if u can pay off some credit cards and close the accnts, then thats really gonna help your credit score, and when u do, make sure to call those cc companies once a week or so to make sure the accnts are closed, bcuz what a lot of them do is like theyll tell u ok your accnts closed, but in reallity, they dont close for 30 consecutive days of nonuse, and on some that have monthly membership fees, of course youll be "accidently charged the fee", and unbeknownst to u, u have a balance all of sudden that you dont pay on and then u get a late fee, and so on and so forth, ive seen it all workin there man, and this kind of crap the credit card companies get away happens everyday, a whole freakin bunch

Answer 5

Here's why it can affect you:

Your score is made up of several factors. Two of the major ones (besides payment history-- well all know that one) is the "Utilization ratio" (average balance to average limit) and the average account age.

If you close older accounts and keep open new ones, you've lowered the average account age. However if you close new ones and leave the older ones open, you can improve your account age.

If you close 0 balance cards and leave open cards with a balance, you're upping your utilization ratio-- which can dramatically affect your score.

Unless you owe a an average of 30% or less on your other cards, keep the 0 balance cards (or perhaps atleast the largest limit ones) open to offset the balances on the other cards.

Answer 6

Great question! I was wondering the same thing a while back.

Paying off your credit cards is a great credit score booster. However, closing out those accounts could HURT your credit. Best advice: Just leave those accounts open - they'll just make your credit report look better. Remember, it would just mean that you have borrowed from these creditors and paid back!

Answer 7

specific, paying off a vehicle own loan ought to reason your score to drop. Installment loans build credit by employing making the money over the years. Paying off a vehicle own loan, even early, does no longer something to enhance your score. The account now turns right into a closed account in stable status which will stay on your credit checklist for a minimum of 10 years. That old mastercard will additionally be a closed account in stable status, showing for a minimum of 10 years. yet neither of those bills will count huge type as plenty on your score as open, lively bills. in case you closed 2 bills and purely dropped 4 factors, you need to have an huge history. 4 factors isn't something. you have got that plenty fluctuation from sometime to the subsequent using distinctive creditor updates. do no longer obsess over your score.

Answer 8

It is better to leave the cards open with a zero balance and let the credit card companies close them from inactivity than to close them yourself. If does effect you credit score negatively. The only thing it will effect by leaving them open is your debit ratio.

Answer 9

No. Your score is affected by the amount of available credit you have; too much and you become a credit risk.

By leaving many cards open, you have a lot of credit available. Pay off the cards and close them.

Answer 10

Paying them off is always good!

Closing them is fine - especially if you have some other credit. (Basically, you don't want to have NO credit)

I don't know all the ins & outs - but pay them off & wait a couple months and close them out one a month. I think that would have less "shock" to your score :-)

Best of luck (I wish I was paying off mine!!!)