topic Score Impact When Closing Accounts? in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Score Impact When Closing Accounts?

Anonymous — Tue, 25 Aug 2020 21:28:17 GMT

How much of a score impact does it make to close out credit card accounts?

I just got approved for a 10k SL Disco Miles card.. and up until now... my highest limit card was with Wayfair at 2.5k (which I know will ALSO be going away ).

Total spending limit w/o disco card is I think sitting at ~8k. When I do the "score simulator" on Cap 1 my score increases when I close my oldest account which is my Cap 1 Platinum and "open a new card with a 10k SL". I've had the Platinum card for almost 5.5 years and my last late payment was about 3 years ago.

I am wondering if I should just take the leap and close out the following:

Fingerhut - $1,600

Merrick Bank - $1,200 (Annual fee charged Monthly)

QS - $500 (with AF)

Cap 1 Platinum - $850 (with AF)

My AAoA is 2.9 years. Should I just close em all?! Thought about possibly gardening with what I have but I also been reading that Cap 1 is a little stingy to let the cards grow.

Any experince people have seen with closing out that many credit cards please share! Thnx!

Re: Score Impact When Closing Accounts?

K-in-Boston — Tue, 25 Aug 2020 22:20:14 GMT

Scoring simulators are notoriously unreliable. Unless your overall utilization is greatly affected, there won't really be a change to your scores except for perhaps tweaks related to number of cards reporting a balance. Any change if any would be minimal and not worth continuing to pay annual fees.

Do note that if the CapOne is significantly older than your next oldest account, it will impact your credit age in about 10 years when it falls off. Again, probably not worth paying an annual fee for. If you cannot product change it or get them to waive it, close away. Definitely close the Merrick and other CapOne with fees if they cannot be changed. If Fingerhut is no longer useful for you, no harm in closing.

Re: Score Impact When Closing Accounts?

AllZero — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 01:40:17 GMT

Capital One check for upgrade link

Re: Score Impact When Closing Accounts?

SouthJamaica — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 05:05:35 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
How much of a score impact does it make to close out credit card accounts?

I just got approved for a 10k SL Disco Miles card.. and up until now... my highest limit card was with Wayfair at 2.5k (which I know will ALSO be going away ).

Total spending limit w/o disco card is I think sitting at ~8k. When I do the "score simulator" on Cap 1 my score increases when I close my oldest account which is my Cap 1 Platinum and "open a new card with a 10k SL". I've had the Platinum card for almost 5.5 years and my last late payment was about 3 years ago.

I am wondering if I should just take the leap and close out the following:
Fingerhut - $1,600
Merrick Bank - $1,200 (Annual fee charged Monthly)
QS - $500 (with AF)
Cap 1 Platinum - $850 (with AF)

My AAoA is 2.9 years. Should I just close em all?! Thought about possibly gardening with what I have but I also been reading that Cap 1 is a little stingy to let the cards grow.

Any experince people have seen with closing out that many credit cards please share! Thnx!

1. I would tread slowly here.

2. No you shouldn't just close them all.

3. You can close Merrick and Fingerhut if you like, and I don't think it will affect your scores unless it skews your aggregate revolving utilization.

4. I wouldn't close the others. I would ask Capital One if you're eligible for an upgrade on your cards to no-AF cards. If so, great. If not, stay with them anyway, at least for now. And ask the question again periodically.

Re: Score Impact When Closing Accounts?

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 17:41:14 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
Scoring simulators are notoriously unreliable. Unless your overall utilization is greatly affected, there won't really be a change to your scores except for perhaps tweaks related to number of cards reporting a balance. Any change if any would be minimal and not worth continuing to pay annual fees.

Do note that if the CapOne is significantly older than your next oldest account, it will impact your credit age in about 10 years when it falls off. Again, probably not worth paying an annual fee for. If you cannot product change it or get them to waive it, close away. Definitely close the Merrick and other CapOne with fees if they cannot be changed. If Fingerhut is no longer useful for you, no harm in closing.

Thanks for the info. Yea I thought about it after I posted that it would most likely come down to utilization. I most of those accounts are reporting low balances which will be PIF before I close. I think the difference between my accounts is like 2 years so nothing too major. I just checked when the AF will be charged... comming up in my October statement for one of the cards. Guess I gotta act fast.

I guess I can keep fingerhut for now. Allow it to report a zero balance for a couple months. Seriously thanks for the advice!

Re: Score Impact When Closing Accounts?

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 17:41:40 GMT

@AllZero wrote:
Capital One check for upgrade link

I checked it and no luck

Re: Score Impact When Closing Accounts?

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 17:43:27 GMT

@SouthJamaica wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
How much of a score impact does it make to close out credit card accounts?

I just got approved for a 10k SL Disco Miles card.. and up until now... my highest limit card was with Wayfair at 2.5k (which I know will ALSO be going away ).

Total spending limit w/o disco card is I think sitting at ~8k. When I do the "score simulator" on Cap 1 my score increases when I close my oldest account which is my Cap 1 Platinum and "open a new card with a 10k SL". I've had the Platinum card for almost 5.5 years and my last late payment was about 3 years ago.

I am wondering if I should just take the leap and close out the following:
Fingerhut - $1,600
Merrick Bank - $1,200 (Annual fee charged Monthly)
QS - $500 (with AF)
Cap 1 Platinum - $850 (with AF)

My AAoA is 2.9 years. Should I just close em all?! Thought about possibly gardening with what I have but I also been reading that Cap 1 is a little stingy to let the cards grow.

Any experince people have seen with closing out that many credit cards please share! Thnx!
1. I would tread slowly here.
2. No you shouldn't just close them all.
3. You can close Merrick and Fingerhut if you like, and I don't think it will affect your scores unless it skews your aggregate revolving utilization.
4. I wouldn't close the others. I would ask Capital One if you're eligible for an upgrade on your cards to no-AF cards. If so, great. If not, stay with them anyway, at least for now. And ask the question again periodically.

Appreciate the advice! Yea I was thinking the same, maybe I shouldn't just go as fast.. I'll try to give CapOne a call re an upgrade and just go from there.