Whether to cancel a secured card?

[Anonymous]

Hey all - first time poster here.

Here's the situation\question.  I had a rocky credit history until a few years ago, and opened a max-funded Capital One secured card ($3000 limit) - since then, I've added a couple of unsecured cards with $750 limits and two store cards with $300 limits. 

The unsecured cards are currently low-balance, but my secured Cap1 is sitting right at the $3000 mark, which is killing my credit utilization ratio.  I've never missed a payment on any of my cards, and the approximate ages are all similar.

My question is this - would it benefit me to cancel the secured card and let the deposit cancel out the balance? While it would certainly help my utilization ratio, I'm unclear on whether the loss of a high 'available credit' card would do more harm than good.  For reference, my approximate scores right now are in the 620-630 range.  No negative marks on any installment accounts except for an old car loan that should fall off in another year or so.

Thanks for any feedback!

[Anonymous]

Tough question, I guess

[HiLine]

How about paying off the balance, close the card, and get the deposit back? I'm honestly unsure if you could safely close a secured card with a balance on it.

[llecs]

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@HiLine wrote:

How about paying off the balance, close the card, and get the deposit back? I'm honestly unsure if you could safely close a secured card with a balance on it.

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+1

[Anonymous]

I could do that but in that event I'd just leave it open... Sounds like that might be the best bet overall. Changing money from one form to another I suppose.

[CreditExpressNJ]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I could do that but in that event I'd just leave it open... Sounds like that might be the best bet overall. Changing money from one form to another I suppose.

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I've done this in the pass to the OP .... this is not something you want to do wont reflect negatively but nor positive either that credit card with cease to exist... i had a CC with them a few years back and it had a 700 CL  i lost my job and had been using it to get me by sometimes and after while it was maxed and i still hadnt found a job but long story short .... they used the balance but the card history isnt on my report from when i was paying good the card actually vanished ... not negative or positive so id say pay then close it so the history at least stays there for the 7 or 10 years i believe it is ... hope this helps