Credit cards questions

[marianegs]

About 15 years ago I had terrible credit. So I got a few credit cards with no rewards and annual fees. Well I grew up and cleaned my credit Up and now am in the 800’s. I don’t use those cards bc they are high APR and no rewards. They are my oldest cards. Is it bad to close them? Will my credit take a big hit?

[melmel48]

I do not know how big of a hit your credit will take, but I have always been advised to keep my oldest cards open. I probably would not close them.

[k3am]

Credit karma has a credit stimulator.. you can play around with how your credit would be effected if you did multiple things.

[samanthamkm]

Closing one probably won’t make a huge dent in your credit score. I closed one of my 2 oldest cards and didn’t notice a big change in my 800+ credit score.

[ellipses84]

I’d keep the 1 oldest card. Then, as long as you aren’t buying a house or car, or refinancing anytime soon, I’d close one every few months and open a better one with lower interest / higher limit or increase your limit on one you are keeping. The amount of available credit you have and the ratio of credit to debt have a big impact on your score, so it’s best to keep those numbers stable. You may take a temporary hit from closing an account but it will bounce back up if you aren’t carrying any debt.

I really like the scenario / calculator features my capital one card has for credit monitoring.

[juliej]

Age of credit is about 15% of your score, so you'll take a hit. But it's pretty temporary. My student loans were my oldest accounts, and when I paid them off I had a sharp drop and the average age of my accounts was basically cut in half. But it was back up to my previous score in three or four months.

[niq]

Sept 17, 2021 11:01:12 GMT -5 juliej said:

Age of credit is about 15% of your score, so you'll take a hit. But it's pretty temporary. My student loans were my oldest accounts, and when I paid them off I had a sharp drop and the average age of my accounts was basically cut in half. But it was back up to my previous score in three or four months.

This, basically. The general rule is "don't make any big changes right before you go looking for a big loan or new CC, but your score will get back to its 'normal' level in a few months or a year at most".

[ohgillian]

I don't know the answer but congrats on cleaning up your financial life.

[goldengirlz]

If they’re all around the same period, close the ones with the annual fees, otherwise you’re basically paying for your credit score, KWIM? If they all have fees, maybe keep one with the lowest fee and/or the oldest card.

[ECB]

I never keep unused cards open. If I've taken a hit for closing old cards, it's been temporary and my ability to get credit has never been impacted.

ETA: If you are planning on making a large purchase anytime soon, I wouldn't close them all at once.  But if you are just looking to clear up your history, yes, I would start to close them one by one over a period of time.  

[meganiv]

Oct 5, 2021 11:36:19 GMT -5 ECB said:

I never keep unused cards open. If I've taken a hit for closing old cards, it's been temporary and my ability to get credit has never been impacted.

ETA: If you are planning on making a large purchase anytime soon, I wouldn't close them all at once.  But if you are just looking to clear up your history, yes, I would start to close them one by one over a period of time.  

I agree on that one here