Hurting my score and didn't know it!

[Anonymous]

And here I thought I just needed to pay my bills on time and keep my credit cards as low as possible...........

I recently closed a couple of credit cards that had high APR that I've had for 10 years plus trying to reduce the number of total cards to 2.  I didn't know that it would essentially cause my " very good" credit  history to vanish and now it looks like my credit history is only 2 years long.  My history is still good, but because it is so short now, its hurting my score. This is so frustrating because now we are trying to buy a house and the last 10 years of my good history is now gone.  Does anyone have any idea on how to fix this?

[Chazman]

Welcome to the club of us who have made the same mistake.

I would call the CC co's (backdoor numbers are located elsewhere on the sight), tell them you made a mistake, and see if they will reinstate at the original date.  May tell you no can do, may tell you they can reopen but only with new card numbers and dates, or may grant the request.  Each is different on how they handle, but do call because time is of the essence.  And if you don't get the right answer, ask to speak to a supervisor. And if they say no, keep calling back and don't give up!

Good luck!

[llecs]

Jen, your history is still there. In fact, if you pull each CR directly through the CRA, you'll see the full positive history. MyFICO only shows the past 2 yrs.

FICO will continue to count the card even if closed. However, your score drop could have been caused by something else. One possibility is the increase in utilization. Once closed, those cards will no longer factor into utilization. If you are carrying balances on the remaining cards at the same level you had when the others were open, closing those cards would have lead to a spike in utilization and a drop in score.

Another possibility is a lack of a mix of credit. While you can have a great score with the two cards you have, if those positively impacted the mix of credit, closing them would have lead to a drop in score.