will closing my youngest card actually improve my score?

[slweal87]

If you spend more than 20-30% a month on your card then opening the new one will help with that. Over time the impact will lessen greatly. It may be bad if say you went and got a car or home loan in the next 12 months.

.......

You know, I've heard terrible stories about auto-payments failing! I actually trust myself more. The only reason I ever had any late payments was not having money to pay. I never forgot a payment.

I would use autopay if I could early pay, but usually the only option is day of, by when you would be too late if something went wrong.

I just finished moving all my due dates to the 1st and 15th (and the 15th is all Chase cards so I won't get confused about which is due when) so that should help me remember. Also I usually pay more than once a month on them.

[wiivile]

Assuming my credit utilization is still fine after closing it, will closing my youngest card actually improve my FICO score by raising the average age of accounts? Or will it take 10 years before it drops off the credit report before it will raise my average age of accounts?

[wHiTeSoL]

1. No
2. Yes

There is a great sticky you can read about closing accounts. Bottom line is that AAoA counts both closed and open accounts.

[slweal87]

Oh darn, I was just thinking, I have too many accounts open (NINE, including Target), I should close some...

I went overboard in opening bonuses this year,  but I don't think it's worth it since I really only need 1 - 3 cards.

My Aaoa is terrible!

My inquiries are terrible (but get better quick)!

At least my payment history is good, but I'm worried juggling all these accounts will make me miss a payment. 

[09Lexie]

---

@slweal87 wrote:

Oh darn, I was just thinking, I have too many accounts open (NINE, including Target), I should close some...

I went overboard in opening bonuses this year,  but I don't think it's worth it since I really only need 1 - 3 cards.

My Aaoa is terrible!

My inquiries are terrible (but get better quick)!

At least my payment history is good, but I'm worried juggling all these accounts will make me miss a payment. 

---

Auto pay, auto pay, auto pay

[wiivile]

I'm not sure if opening this new card actually helped or hurt my score in the end. It nearly doubled my overall credit limit, but reduced my average age of accounts from 4 years to 1.5 years (not to mention the hard pull).

[wHiTeSoL]

IMO it helped. AAoA is only 10% of your score where UTI is 35%, doubling your CLs cut your UTI in half.

[09Lexie]

---

@wiivile wrote:

I'm not sure if opening this new card actually helped or hurt my score in the end. It nearly doubled my overall credit limit, but reduced my average age of accounts from 4 years to 1.5 years (not to mention the hard pull).

---

Util is 30% of your cs; AAOA is 10%. You might have rebucketing gping on now.  

[wiivile]

Rebucketing ? Need a glossary on these FICO slangs...

[09Lexie]

---

@slweal87 wrote:

If you spend more than 20-30% a month on your card then opening the new one will help with that. Over time the impact will lessen greatly. It may be bad if say you went and got a car or home loan in the next 12 months.

.......

You know, I've heard terrible stories about auto-payments failing! I actually trust myself more. The only reason I ever had any late payments was not having money to pay. I never forgot a payment.

I would use autopay if I could early pay, but usually the only option is day of, by when you would be too late if something went wrong.

I just finished moving all my due dates to the 1st and 15th (and the 15th is all Chase cards so I won't get confused about which is due when) so that should help me remember. Also I usually pay more than once a month on them.

---

I guess I have been lucky.  I haven't had any issues with auto pay and I have been around along time.