Chase card closed, should I remove completely?

[Anonymous]

I am in the process of repairing my credit. I took a major hit last year, and 2 of my 3 credit cards closed on me. I have since paid off all of the cards.

The two cards that closed were my oldest accounts (8 years). My Capital One card I have only had for 3 years. I had never missed a payment on any of these cards until i missed 4 straight last year. I asked Chase for a goodwill deletion of the negative items, since I paid the balance in full and the card is no longer of use to me. They said no, but they could delete the account entirely.

Is this a good idea to delete the Chase account entirely and remove that 8 years of history for my credit or will it impact my score negatively? The card is closed, so that looks bad, and it also shows the blemishes of last year which is not helping. But does that matter more than the 7 years prior of on time payments?

Thanks for any advice/help.

Current score - 572

[kjm79]

You might get differing opinions, but I would opt for deletion of the account.  The lates are recent and are dragging your score down.   The account being closed doesn't look bad.  Just the lates on it.  The late payments last year have more weight than the 7 years of on time payments score wise.  A lender manually reviewing the report might see the 7 years of good history, asked what happened with those 4 late payments and be just fine with the explanation.  If you leave the account reporting, the lates will all each drop off 7 years from the date they occurred.  So this is one of those instances where can you wait out the lates in order to keep the history?  It's going to come down to a personal choice though.  If it was one 30 day late, I'd say leave the account.  But 4 lates?  Are they 30, 60, 90, 120 lates???  It's not just the occurrence of the late but the severity of it.  A 30 day late loses some of it's damage around 2 years.  The others take longer and 120 is a serious delinquency for scoring purposes. 

[llecs]

Bump....

Here's a quote from your other thread with my 2 cents following:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hey everyone,

I posited this question in the Rebuilding Section of the forums, but only got 1 response. Perhaps it makes more sense here. 

I took a hit last year with a variety of accounts. In terms of CCs, 2 of my eldest (at 8 years each) closed on me with balances. One of those cards is a Chase card, and I've paid off the balance entirely. I called Chase and asked for a GW deletion of baddies, and they countered with a full deletion of the account. 

I was never late on this account outside of last year, where I was 120 days missed. Although, on my latest CR pull it looks like that showed some mercy and reduced the reporting to show that I was only 30 days late.  Either way, now that the account is closed, does it do more good to keep it on my report to show the 7 years of on-time payments prior, or should I delete it?

Thank you in advance for all of your help!

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How recent is the 30-day? And for certain that is the only late showing on all 3 reports?

The account is 8 years old. How old is your AAoA (average age of accounts)? Is this your oldest overall account and/or your oldest revolving account?

In general without knowing more, if that 30-day is older than a couple of years, and all 3 reports show consistency in that, then I wouldn't do anything whatsoever. If the late was fairly recent, then you'd have to weigh the advantages of keeping the account compared to the damage of the 30 and compare and weigh this baddie with other baddies that may or may not be reporting. In general, a 30-day stops impacting you around 2 years, but YMMV on your credit. If you have newer baddies, then removing this one 30 won't really do anything for you. And you have to look at the age. If this account is your oldest or among your oldest accounts, then removing it can hurt your credit more than it would help with the disappearance of the 30.

[Anonymous]

Thank you. The Chase and the Visa were my oldest at 8 years. My CapOne is only 3 years, but is still open with a limit of $750. The 30 days occured last August, 2011. 

[llecs]

The pain of that 30-day will linger for a year and a half or so. I bet $5 that if you have no other major baddies, and you don't have any baddies anywhere newer than this, then you'll see a small net loss if the Chase is deleted. Inside of 2 years the impact of the 30 will go away and that loss would be unrealized at 20-30+. In other words, you'll see a steady gain as that 30 gets older and older. I personally wouldn't touch it. If I were applying for a mortgage or something like that and I could withstand losing a few points now, then maybe my answer would be different.

[Crashem]

Run the fico estimator under both scenarios. also you need to get resolution on the other account before you can really decide.