Canceling credit cards after a year

[rs007]

Guys - I get about 3 new credit cards annually to avail of the bonus offer but then cancel after 12 months when the annual fee hits. Do you think this has low impact on my FICO score? I also have some old credit cards which I've had for 20 years that I don't plan to cancel since I know they are important to show credit history age

Thanks

[SouthJamaica]

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@rs007 wrote:

Guys - I get about 3 new credit cards annually to avail of the bonus offer but then cancel after 12 months when the annual fee hits. Do you think this has low impact on my FICO score? I also have some old credit cards which I've had for 20 years that I don't plan to cancel since I know they are important to show credit history age

Thanks

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1. Yes it has some adverse effect on your scores, due to inquiries, new accounts, resetting youngest account age, and lowering average age of accounts.

2. It may also have an adverse effect on your relationships with the lenders.

[markbeiser]

You may find some CC companies start denying you new cards, or making you inelligible for SUBs on new cards, or even clawing back SUBs when they can.
AmEx has a whole department that watches out for people "abusing" the system like that, not sure about other companies.
I've seen stories of people loosing all of the points they have accrued across all cards with an issuer for it deemed to be abuse.