Closing CCs?

[Anonymous]

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@fltireguy wrote:
I would close it.
First of all, the people that are saying keep it open for average age of accounts are incorrect. The card even if you close it today, will continue to report it's positive history for the next 10 years. It won't have any effect on the age overall.

Second, with the credit limit, it's virtually useless this point anyway.

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It won't necessarily continue reporting that long, many times its removed far earlier than that.  As I mentioned, I still have my oldest account now that is at 24 years of history opened when I was 21, that has a very positive impact on my credit history -- keeping your oldest account active is definitely helpful.

[Anonymous]

I could call about PC my cash rewards. Do you know if it would be a hard pill?

[UpperNwGuy]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@fltireguy wrote:
I would close it.
First of all, the people that are saying keep it open for average age of accounts are incorrect. The card even if you close it today, will continue to report it's positive history for the next 10 years. It won't have any effect on the age overall.

Second, with the credit limit, it's virtually useless this point anyway.

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It won't necessarily continue reporting that long, many times its removed far earlier than that.  As I mentioned, I still have my oldest account now that is at 24 years of history opened when I was 21, that has a very positive impact on my credit history -- keeping your oldest account active is definitely helpful.

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I closed my oldest account with 43 years of history four months ago.  My credit score has not decreased.  And it won't, because closed cards stay on your record for 10 years.

By the way, I just checked my most recent Experian credit report, and it is still reporting a Synchrony account that closed in October 2007, nine years and eleven months ago!

[Anonymous]

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@UpperNwGuy wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@fltireguy wrote:
I would close it.
First of all, the people that are saying keep it open for average age of accounts are incorrect. The card even if you close it today, will continue to report it's positive history for the next 10 years. It won't have any effect on the age overall.

Second, with the credit limit, it's virtually useless this point anyway.

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It won't necessarily continue reporting that long, many times its removed far earlier than that.  As I mentioned, I still have my oldest account now that is at 24 years of history opened when I was 21, that has a very positive impact on my credit history -- keeping your oldest account active is definitely helpful.

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I closed my oldest account with 43 years of history four months ago.  My credit score has not decreased.  And it won't, because closed cards stay on your record for 10 years.

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Sure, it doesnt hurt you now because you have a long credit history.  But with someone with a short credit history aging accounts is very important.  Closed accounts do not always stay on for 10 years, thats a huge misunderstanding.  They usually do, but not always.

[UpperNwGuy]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@UpperNwGuy wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@fltireguy wrote:
I would close it.
First of all, the people that are saying keep it open for average age of accounts are incorrect. The card even if you close it today, will continue to report it's positive history for the next 10 years. It won't have any effect on the age overall.

Second, with the credit limit, it's virtually useless this point anyway.

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It won't necessarily continue reporting that long, many times its removed far earlier than that.  As I mentioned, I still have my oldest account now that is at 24 years of history opened when I was 21, that has a very positive impact on my credit history -- keeping your oldest account active is definitely helpful.

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I closed my oldest account with 43 years of history four months ago.  My credit score has not decreased.  And it won't, because closed cards stay on your record for 10 years.

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Sure, it doesnt hurt you now because you have a long credit history.  But with someone with a short credit history aging accounts is very important.  Closed accounts do not always stay on for 10 years, thats a huge misunderstanding.  They usually do, but not always.

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I just checked my most recent Experian credit report, and it is still reporting a Synchrony account that closed in October 2007, nine years and eleven months ago!

[Anonymous]

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@UpperNwGuy wrote:

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I just checked my most recent Experian credit report, and it is still reporting a Synchrony account that closed in October 2007, nine years and eleven months ago!

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Hence the comment "They usually do, but not always."  You should strive to get your average age of accounts north of 20 years, so closing accounts can put a damper on that goal.

[digitek]

Can anyone put to hard facts about how Age of Oldest Account effects FICO scoring?

I'm not talking about how the oldest account weighs into the Average Age of Accounts, which it does, but just Age of Oldest Account by it's own.

Since accounts only show for 10 years, the day you close your oldest account you start a 10 year timer where the Age of Oldest Account will change to your next oldest account.

Since I refinanced my house and effectively closed my old mortgage, I have almost a 5 year gap between my oldest account and my second oldest.  I'm all about closing unused CC's, I have done it a few times myself, but not my oldest, it's that USAA Amex in my sig, just have Netflix on it and Autopay.  Hope they never close it =D

[Anonymous]

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@digitek wrote:

Can anyone put to hard facts about how Age of Oldest Account effects FICO scoring?

I'm not talking about how the oldest account weighs into the Average Age of Accounts, which it does, but just Age of Oldest Account by it's own.

Since accounts only show for 10 years, the day you close your oldest account you start a 10 year timer where the Age of Oldest Account will change to your next oldest account.

Since I refinanced my house and effectively closed my old mortgage, I have almost a 5 year gap between my oldest account and my second oldest.  It's that USAA Amex in my sig, just have Netflix on it and Autopay.  Hope they never close it =D

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DIfficult to put an exact %, but according to myfico, 15% of your credit score is "lengh of credit history".  This is further broken into 2 categories -- average age of accounts and oldest account.    From the site:  "Most high achievers have an average age of 9 years or more".  "High achievers opened their oldest account 25 years ago on average".  

[galahad15]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I could call about PC my cash rewards. Do you know if it would be a hard pill?

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Sorry not 100% sure, but as far as I am aware and to the best of my understanding, most (all?) cc issuers should be open to considering a PC request without a HP.  I have had a dozen or so PCs on my current card collection over the past 4 years or so, and none of them were ever a HP.  ETA:  I do know that there were quite a few forum posters who were able to successfully PC their Cash Rewards cards to Cash+, maybe one of them could hopefully chime in as well?

[digitek]

Thanks for that info, I had not seen that before.

If my oldest had an AF and I didn't use it I'd probably close it, but if it had no AF I would not close it.  I'll close all other CC's that I don't use anymore, and have closed a few, but not my oldest.