Does closing a credit card hurt your credit? (2024)

Does closing a credit card hurt your credit?

Key Takeaways

The average age of your accounts will decrease

The longer you've had credit, the better it is for your credit score. Your score is based on the average age of all your accounts, so closing the one that's been open the longest could lower your score the most. Closing a new account will have less of an impact.

Consider downgrading the card to a no-annual-fee version if possible. Pay off any remaining balance before closing the card. If you can't do this, consider transferring the balance to a low interest rate credit card, or talking with your card issuer about a payment plan. Redeem your rewards.

Your credit utilization ratio goes up

By closing a credit card account with zero balance, you're removing all of that card's available balance from the ratio, in turn, increasing your utilization percentage. The higher your balance-to-limit ratio, the more it can hurt your credit.

Canceling a credit card will cause a direct hit to your credit score, so more often than not, you'll want to keep the account open. Correctly managing an open, rarely-used account may require some extra attention, but the added effort will help your credit in the long run.

If you close a credit card with a balance, you'll still be responsible for that debt. Card issuers will continue to send statements in the mail, and interest will still be applied to that balance. It's best to leave your account open, as there can be negative impacts on your credit score if you close a card.

Owning more than two or three credit cards can become unmanageable for many people. However, your credit needs and financial situation are unique, so there's no hard and fast rule about how many credit cards are too many. The important thing is to make sure that you use your credit cards responsibly.

“At a bare minimum, wait until the card anniversary since the first year's annual fee is a sunk cost at this point anyway,” he says. “At that point, usually you can negotiate your way out of one or two annual fees, or they may credit you with an additional reward if you pay the fee.”

There is no right number of credit cards to own, and owning multiple cards gives you access to different rewards programs that various cards offer. Owning five cards, for example, would give you a bigger total line of credit and lower your credit utilization ratio.

Why did my credit score drop when I paid off credit card?

Similarly, if you pay off a credit card debt and close the account entirely, your scores could drop. This is because your total available credit is lowered when you close a line of credit, which could result in a higher credit utilization ratio.

In fact, having a zero balance or close-to-zero balance on your credit cards can be beneficial in many ways. A few of the most important benefits are: reducing debt, improving one's credit score and avoiding late payments and/or interest charges.

It may seem counterintuitive, but closing a credit card can hurt your credit score in the short term. You may be less likely to spend if the card is gone, but without that information on your credit report, the lender has also lost insight that could help them gauge your reliability as a borrower.

Information about your bank account generally isn't included on your credit report because it's not thought of as credit. So closing your bank account shouldn't affect your credit score. But if you close your bank account when you're overdrawn, you could find that this does have an impact.

There isn't a set number of credit cards you should have, but having less than five credit accounts total can make it more difficult for scoring models to issue you a score and make you less attractive to lenders.

The avalanche method has you focus first on repaying your highest-interest debt until it's completely gone. You then move on to the debt with the next-highest interest rate and so on. Paying more money toward your highest-interest debts may help you save money in interest payments in the long run.

If you still have a balance when you close your account, you are required to pay off any balance on schedule. The card company is allowed to charge interest on the amount you still owe. Your cardholder agreement may give you any other details on how to close your account.

But Capital One's cards are more than hype — they include generous rewards cards as well as excellent products for business owners, students and those with average or poor credit. What won't you find on any Capital One card? Foreign transaction fees.

What is the 5/24 rule? Many card issuers have criteria for who can qualify for new accounts, but Chase is perhaps the most strict. Chase's 5/24 rule means that you can't be approved for most Chase cards if you've opened five or more personal credit cards (from any card issuer) within the past 24 months.

So, while there is no absolute number that is considered too many, it's best to only apply for and carry the cards that you need and can justify using based on your credit score, ability to pay balances, and rewards aspirations.

What happens if you cancel a credit card with an annual fee?

If a card has an annual fee, you'll pay it at the beginning of your cardmember anniversary and have all of the relevant benefits for the remainder of that year. Canceling the card before the year is up means missing out on perks for which you've already paid. Some card issuers even explicitly advise against doing this.

“Ideally, if you want to protect yourself, pay every balance down to zero before picking the card you want to close,” says McClary. If your CUR is 0%, it's still going to be 0% when you close a card. No jump in CUR or late payments means no credit score penalty.

There are some differences around how the various data elements on a credit report factor into the score calculations. Although credit scoring models vary, generally, credit scores from 660 to 724 are considered good; 725 to 759 are considered very good; and 760 and up are considered excellent.

The 5/24 rule is an unofficial policy that dictates that Chase won't approve you for its cards if you've opened five or more personal credit card accounts from any issuer in the last 24 months. Put simply, the number of cards you've opened in the previous two years will affect your approval odds with Chase.

Generally speaking, a good debt-to-income ratio is anything less than or equal to 36%. Meanwhile, any ratio above 43% is considered too high. The biggest piece of your DTI ratio pie is bound to be your monthly mortgage payment.