How long until my scores are back up?

[icyhot]

I was supposed to garden starting this month and failed. Just opened 3 new cards, one business so it won't report. I also closed my Fidelity Amex and moved the limit to my BofA card. I plan on paying off my American Airlines retail card (no clue why I even opened it) and close it. My scores are currently 646 EQ, 658 TU and 657 EX. To be honest, and I know this is wrong, but I opened more cards cuz I was THAT worried about another lender AAing me, so I did more as leverage. There's literally no other card out there I think I would ever need, and I honestly hate having too many. About how long does keeping my reports free of new accounts and INQs does it take to my score back to the 700s (I was there in February) because I wanna refi my car and don't wanna do so til my score is up again. I'm so trying to learn my lesson as far as this credit thing goes.

[icyhot]

OAN, I'm still in school so if no credit cards pop up there will still be the occasional student loan INQ and new account showing up, which I think drags down my AAoA even more

[Anonymous]

Inquiries lose most of their impact after 6 months and all of it after a year. New accounts depend heavily on how thick/thin your credit history was before you opened them (specifically, how much your AAoA went down because you opened them). Some lenders won't care about a new account more than 3 months old, except for the impact on your AAoA, which won't go away until your AAoA returns to whatever it was before. Tougher lenders like Citi, PenFed, etc. care until it's a year or two old.

[icyhot]

Most of my cards were opened this year, the ones I still have. I closed all but 2 that I opened in 2014, and have opened probably 11 or 12 this year and closed all but 8 from January to now

[icyhot]

I had quite a bit of store cards, student loans and a new car loan so my file was anything but thin

[jamie123]

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@icyhot wrote:
I had quite a bit of store cards, student loans and a new car loan so my file was anything but thin

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Are you a glutton for punishment?

Do not open any credit account unless you plan on keeping it open for a few years. Your scores take a hit for at least 1 year every time you open a new account. Close them like you did before they are 1 year old? You just lowered your scores for NOTHING!

Do not close any credit cards unless they have an annual fee. Just sock drawer them and let the lender close them for non-use. It might take a lender a few years to close the card for non-use and in that time the card will benefit your scores and help keep your AAoA high down the road.

The key to very high credit scores is to have 5 to 8 open credit cards that are very old! You need to pick out and keep open at LEAST 5 to 8 credit cards and keep them open for the rest of your life. Once these cards are 10 years old you will never have to worry about your credit scores again. Your scores will be in the 800s as long as you maintain clean reports without baddies.