Will closing cards hurt my credit?

[JoshNurse]

I have about 4 that I dont use at all and one of them has a stressful $750 limit. I would prefer to nly keep the good cards,  amex blue cash, amex every day, discover it, chase saphire preffered etc...

[Anonymous]

Closing your CC's will affect you from AAoA perspective. There is definitely another thread which had more inputs from other members regarding the same question {I do not have the URL to that thread handy}. Generally, recommended is that keep all your cards and just charge them small amounts 1-2 times a year to keep them active. Also, by closing the open credits your UTIL will also increase, which will affect your scores.

[1GaDawg85]

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@JoshNurse wrote:

I have about 4 that I dont use at all and one of them has a stressful $750 limit. I would prefer to nly keep the good cards,  amex blue cash, amex every day, discover it, chase saphire preffered etc...

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have you tried getting a CLI on any of your lower cards?

[-NewGuy-]

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@JoshNurse wrote:

I have about 4 that I dont use at all and one of them has a stressful $750 limit. I would prefer to nly keep the good cards,  amex blue cash, amex every day, discover it, chase saphire preffered etc...

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In the short term, the only hit to your score would be from UTIL. For example, if you have five cards with 10K total credit and are using 4k of that credit, you're at 40% UTIL. You close one card with a 2K limit, and now you're using 4K out of 8K, which is 50% UTIL. However, the act of closing a card in and of itself doesn't lower a score.

Long term, the cards will still report for ten years. After the ten years, your score could take a dip (due to AAoA) when they stop reporting.

[MarineVietVet]

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@JoshNurse wrote:

I have about 4 that I dont use at all and one of them has a stressful $750 limit. I would prefer to nly keep the good cards,  amex blue cash, amex every day, discover it, chase saphire preffered etc...

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Here is an excellent thread discussing the pros and cons of closing CC's.

Closing Credit Cards

[MarineVietVet]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Closing your CC's will affect you from AAoA perspective. There is definitely another thread which had more inputs from other members regarding the same question {I do not have the URL to that thread handy}. Generally, recommended is that keep all your cards and just charge them small amounts 1-2 times a year to keep them active. Also, by closing the open credits your UTIL will also increase, which will affect your scores.

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Closing any card will have no immediate effect on your AAoA. After closing it will continue to report for generally 10 years and this helps your credit length history and AAoA.

[Anonymous]

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@JoshNurse wrote:

I have about 4 that I dont use at all and one of them has a stressful $750 limit. I would prefer to nly keep the good cards,  amex blue cash, amex every day, discover it, chase saphire preffered etc...

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How is a $750 limit stressful?

Just don't use it, or just use it to buy a pack of trident layers every so often.

Then call them up and ask if you can pay them in gum.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@JoshNurse wrote:

I have about 4 that I dont use at all and one of them has a stressful $750 limit. I would prefer to nly keep the good cards,  amex blue cash, amex every day, discover it, chase saphire preffered etc...

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How is a $750 limit stressful?

Just don't use it, or just use it to buy a pack of trident layers every so often.

Then call them up and ask if you can pay them in gum.

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HA! LOL! I like your sarcasm Nixon! I had a 750 limit for a long time so I just didnt use that card til the CLI. Stressful? hhmm. Or if you really dont want it close it and who cares? Im confused about why some people want so much credit? 

[sjt]

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@MarineVietVet wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Closing your CC's will affect you from AAoA perspective. There is definitely another thread which had more inputs from other members regarding the same question {I do not have the URL to that thread handy}. Generally, recommended is that keep all your cards and just charge them small amounts 1-2 times a year to keep them active. Also, by closing the open credits your UTIL will also increase, which will affect your scores.

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Closing any card will have no immediate effect on your AAoA. After closing it will continue to report for generally 10 years and this helps your credit length history and AAoA.

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++++1

The only instance where closing a credit card can hurt is potentially your utilization ratio, as it would reduce your available credit by the amount of your credit line on the cloased account.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

HA! LOL! I like your sarcasm Nixon! I had a 750 limit for a long time so I just didnt use that card til the CLI. Stressful? hhmm. Or if you really dont want it close it and who cares? Im confused about why some people want so much credit? 

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Thanks

It's not even about available credit sometimes, but since you already took the HP hit for the card, you might as well milk some age from the account before letting it go. Who knows, the lender could do a complete 180 on you and start giving you CLI's on the regular.