closing secured card

Anonymous · ‎03-23-2012

For those of you who have used a secured card to help rebuild your credit how long did you keep the card open for? I have been in the process of rebuilding my score and have been approved for an unsecured card. Since i have this one now what i'm wondering is how long I should keep the secured card open for and when I do close it how much will this lower my score?
Thank you

pakman92 · ‎03-23-2012

Closing it will NOT necessarily lower your score unless it affect your utilization rate. So if you can keep it down below 9%, and manage to only carry a balance on one of your remaining cards, I don't see why you wouldn't close it. (I'm assuming there is a hefty AF on your card.)

Your good payment record on the card will stay around for 10 more years on your credit report.

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Cdnewmanpac · ‎03-23-2012

Actually, depending on what scoring bucket you are in, having only 1 card may lower your score, regardless of utilization. If the AF is a significant burden, that is a different issue. Otherwise, I would leave it until you have 2 or 3 unsecured cards, then close it. Also, if it has been open less than a year, I'd at least get one full year of reported payments before I closed it.

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JohnPTEX · ‎03-23-2012

Yep I keep my public savings secured CC open because of not it reduces my AAoA and overall limit - at my score range closing it would literally drop me 30+ points

Starting Score: TU:619 (02/24/2012) - EQ:629 (02/24/2012)
Current Score: TU:632 (06/21/2012) - EQ:672 (06/21/2012)
Goal Score: 740

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