Friday, March 14, 2008

How Closing Credit Cards Affect Your Credit Score

When it comes about managing many credit cards, you have to make decision about closing any or some of your credit cards. But before thinking of closing any of your credit card account, try to understand what will happen to your credit score.
If you are thinking that closing of some of credit cards will raise your credit score, then officially it is wrong. Officially closing some of your credit card accounts will lower your credit score as that might reduce your credit history length which counts the 15 percent of your credit score and will also lower the amount of credit available to you, which will increase your debt to credit ratio.


So closing of credit score will not:



  • Raise your credit score

  • Erase credit card history from your credit report

  • Keep the history from being included in your credit score calculation


So in case you are closing your credit cards account, don’t do it as that will not help you in raising your credit score. But closing some of your credit cards will lower your credit score. Your credit score will drop if you decide to close a credit card:



  • That still has some balance to be paid

  • Has some credit available when other credit cards don’t have

  • Was the first credit card that you opened

  • No other credit card or loans


So for the sake of your credit score, it is important for you to calculate your decision before closing any of your credit card account.

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