Possible to cancel credit card/s without getting penalized too much?

[kdmitchell27]

So my goal of fixing my wife's and my credit has been going well. We've hit 640+ and whikle it's a roller coaster ride it has been paying off. Prior to this i've had a $300 dollar card that I've had for 2-3 years and I got another one maybe 6 months ago, same $300 limit. Still working on the goal of hitting 650 - 700 so we can eventually move to a better house in 1-2 years but this is definitely a start.

However I was just offered but haven't accepted a 4K card with 0% apr until 2013 and after that just 16.99% apr, which I'm going to jump on. I'm going to pay off one of the 300 cards this month and the other the next month but my question is, is it possible to do this with out impacting my credit too much? I figure the newer card may not hurt but the older card will. Thinking it would be better to pay it off and cut it up so it's never used again.

What do the experts think?

[jsucool76]

If the card you want to close has no AF, I would just SD it. If it has an AF and you don't want to pay it anymore, you can cancel it. Cancelling a credit card has NO affect on your credit except that it could cause your utilization to jump up if you have balances. If you have no balances, and your card has an AF you would like to close it, go ahead and close it. The card will stay on your report for the next 10 years, so your AAoA will not be affected, and then in 10 years when it finally does fall off, your other cards will have aged  also, so it really isn't a big deal. 

Adding a new card however, means that your AAoA will take a dive, lowering your score temporarily, as will the inquiry. Who is the offer from if you don't mind me asking? 

Good Luck! 

[kdmitchell27]

It's from Chase, a Slate card. Oddly enough didn't expect to get what I did, since I've only had toy cards in the past.