Paid and closed all cards

[Sbrooks1]

My Dad died 18 months ago and left me a good sum of money, however, his wife had convinced him to do a revocable trust the month before he died and decided to keep it all to herself. Last month I got an unexpected smalll portion, 25 TH via USPS sitting in my mailbox from his widow. I guess some is better than none. I paid off IRS and all my CC and closed them ALL. I cant be trusted to not spend money I don't have so had to take that option off the table. Feels good I must say!! Thanks Dad!!

[IntegerIntrovert]

Sorry to hear that, Money changes people. Glad you got something!

[pizzadude]

You closed all of your open credit cards ?   Paying them off is great but if you're going to be financing anything in the future, having open revolving accounts is going to be very important to your FICO scores.

[FicoMike0]

Sorry about your dad. Congratulations on going cold turkey. Many post here to whom credit has not been a friend. It takes rare judgement to cut off credit.

[Sbrooks1]

I will  not be financing anything for the next 3 years at least, as that gets closer will see where I stand FICO wise!! 

[FicoMike0]

If you expect to want credit in the future, that changes things. Listen to @pizzadude 

You don't have to see where you will be, fico wise, folks here can tell you now. I predict you'll be unscorable.

Having st least one open account would keep you in the system. Keep an open card in you're sock drawer, put your phone bill on it, set up auto pay.

[NoMoreDebt]

Sorry about your loss but congrats on paying off the cards. Do you have a car payment? I ask because we went years without any credit cards but we were able to purchase new car's with prime rates and also our home all without having any credit cards at the time. We did consistently have a car note back then so im guessing that was enough to keep us floating fico wise as were in the higher 6xx range from what i can remember. We avoided cards as well during that time for the same reasons until we got heads on straight.

I agree with the comments about keeping something on your file for your score BUT wanted to give you an example that you don't have to have a card around and literally be putting the neuce around your financial neck to live either if they really create a problem for you.

[Nayola]

My husband stopped using all cards except a business card that does not show up on the scores and after about 7 years he totally disappeared off the face of all of the credit bureaus.  It was as if he did not exist.  His 800 plus credit score vanished.  He had to start all over.

In theory it's nice to have things paid off, but it really can hurt you in the long run.

[FicoMike0]

@Nayola 

That's exactly what happened to me. After retirement, I quit using credit. Cards were all canceled. No mortgage or car loan. Two years ago, I decided I should have a card, found I was unscorable! All the car loans and mortgages I've had disappeared over the 10 year event horizon.  Luckily, my long-term local bank, Huntington, issued me a card with a $500 limit. That got me back in the system.

Now I have 9 cards and a ssl. My fico8 scores are over 800 except for a pesky 792 from experian. Since I was limited by a lack of credit history, no baddies, my scores climbed quickly. I've also collected $1450 in bonuses, I'm presently putting spend on navy flagship visa for another $400. I'm sub crazy!

[Nayola]

@FicoMike0 , Yes, we seriously learned our lesson.  My 61 year old husband's credit history is now only about 7 years old!  Fortunately, his score is back up to the 800's, but I will tell anyone not to ever make that mistake.  It sounds like you are doing great.