How many points will I loose when I close one of my credit cards?

Question

02/08 I would have had this card 7 months(one of two cards) and I am closing it because of it's annual fee and I would like to get one with no annual fee. How many poits will this cost me? 2,5,10 ?

Answer 1

The thinner the file the more it will hurt.
If you only have 2 cards and if you have had both of them for a short time it will probably be a fairly large hit on your scores.

If you are planning on applying for another card, you should apply for the card before closing the existing card.

Before closing the card you should contact the creditor and request that they waive the annual fee.

Answer 2

In a way, everyone got the right answer on this one.

There are a couple main factors involved. Credit history and debt/credit ratio.

When you cancel a line of credit, you erase the history for that card. That will make it harder for creditors to determine how good you are with credit. But in your case you only had it 6 months...the effect of canceling it will be low.

I am also going to bet the credit limit is under $1000, right? Again, the effect will not be that great. But without looking at your whole credit "picture" I can't really give you an actual number of points your score is going to drop. I can assure you that within 6 months it will restore itself, as long as you continue to pay bills on time and don't do anything to negatively effect your reports.

If the credit card company refuses to remove the annual fee, by all means cancel the card. This is about the only good reason to do it and risk hurting your score.

Answer 3

The older the account is, the more points it will take away. Many banks have an onine program that helps you decide the weight of decisions like that. Bank of America has that called Privacy ASsist.



INSTANTACCESSCREDIT.COM

Answer 4

If your credit score matters right now, don't close it,just keep a very low or zero balance.