Questions Re: Bank Closing My Credit Card

[Anonymous]

New to the site - this is my first post....

I have a Visa card through KeyBank that is being closed (by KeyBank).  I have been notified that they are sending me a new card that is MasterCard.  I believe this is due to the Citi portfolio that was sold to USBank?

I moved to the US from Canada 7 years ago and this card was my first/oldest form of credit.  Due to my short credit history I am concerned that this closure will reduce the average age of my accounts and therefore lower my credit score.  Will this transfer from Visa to Mastercard by Keybank be counted as a "true" account closure on my credit report?  I am assuming YES, but I'm not certain.  And if it is a closure will the account be taken off my credit report or remain?  I hope it remains so it doesn't reduce my length of credit history.  This is the only reason I have kept the account open.  I have access to more than enough credit (Capital One, Home Equity Line of Credit, etc.) and I won't use this new Mastercard.  Is there any point in accepting it or should I decline to have the new card opened so that I don't have too many forms of credit open?

Any feedback regarding the questions above or anything I might not have thought of would be helpful.  Thank you in advance.

[Anonymous]

Hi j_canuck & welcome to the forums!

These are questions that you're going to want to call KeyBank directly for. I'd like to assume that they're just going to transfer the entire account history (age included) to your new card, but it's best not to assume anything these days. I wouldn't make the decision to close it until you get a clear answer on this.

IF, for some reason, you do decide to close it, it'll remain on your credit report for up to 10 years. And, unless you've been on an app spree recently, if your current accounts are sufficiently aged, one new account (on the outside chance that KeyBank would even do that-- hey, I'm an optimist) probably won't hurt ya much, if at all in the AAoA category. If you're planning on apping a mortgage (and the new card shows up as a new/younger tradeline), you might want to try negotiating with KeyBank to get them to transfer the whole history with age.