Samsung Financing dropped Credit Score

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I also have 3 older cards I don't really use.

I only have about $80 on my Chase and still the 300 balance on that samsung financing account

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I would certainly pay off the CFA account, close it, and resolve never to open a CFA again.  Even better might be to call the creditor, cry a lot, tell them you are trying to buy a house and the account's presence caused your score to take a big dive, and would they please be willing to delete it altogether from your report -- it was a complete misunderstanding opening it in the first place.  As long as you still have money on it they might be willing to agree to a pay-for-delete arrangement.

Can you tell us more about the three cards you never use?  Do they all have a zero balance?  When was the last time you used them?  Are they store cards or do they have a major credit card logo on them (Visa, MasterCard, Discover, Amex).

[Anonymous]

I will for sure pay and try to close it. How long would it stay on my account after?

My other three cards were beginner cards, i don't use them anymore, it has been several months now. All $0 balances, except Credit One where it has the annual fee of $8 every month.

Credit One Bank (Very first)

Wells Fargo Unsecured (Grad from Secure several months ago)

Capital One

[Anonymous]

An account typically stays on your report for ten years after it is closed.  That's why I wrote:

Even better might be to call the creditor, cry a lot, tell them you are trying to buy a house and the account's presence caused your score to take a big dive, and would they please be willing to delete it altogether from your report -- it was a complete misunderstanding opening it in the first place.  As long as you still have money on it they might be willing to agree to a pay-for-delete arrangement.

As far as the three credit cards you mentioned, I would close the Credit One since it has heavy fees associated with it.  If the other two have no annual fees, I'd make a small purchase on each one every six months to protect them against being closed due to inactivity.  Keeping a card open tends to be the winning move, unless it is a store card or one with an annual fee.

[Anonymous]

I will contact them and give it a try.

As for closing the Credit One Bank card, would that hurt my Credit Score? I've had it opened since Apr 28, 2015 (3 yrs)

with the Wells Fargo Unsecured being opened Feb 8, 2015 (3 yrs, 3 mos)

Those are the longest opened cards I have.

[Anonymous]

Age of Oldest Account is indeed an important scoring factor, but FICO considers closed accounts just as much as open ones.  Thus, if you close the Credit1 account tomorrow, it will be 3 years old, and in nine years from now, FICO will view it as 12 years old.

Does the Wells Fargo card have any annual fees?

[Anonymous]

I see... I guess I will go ahead and close it then.

My Wells Fargo and Capital One has no annual fees.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I see... I guess I will go ahead and close it then.

My Wells Fargo and Capital One has no annual fees.

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Good.  I'd keep those two cards open then.

Can you tell us how long it has been since you last used your Wells Fargo?  Also how long has it been since you have made your last payment?  Wells Fargo tends to close accounts due to inactivity sooner than do other CC issuers.  Many will let you go for 12 months of inactivity (or more) but Wells Fargo has been known to close after 7 months, even if you have used it in the past a number of times.

If I were you I would use your WF every 4 months, since it is your oldest card and you don't want it closed.  If 5 months goes by with no use that's fine, but don't let six months go by with WF.

[Anonymous]

I think the last activity on my Wells Fargo card was Feb 2018, my last payment was Feb 2018, because I paid the full balance to get it at $0

I will try to rotate cards every now and then to maintain activity. I have autopay setup on each card, besides Credit One Bank, because they don't have the feature, another reason to close it.

[Anonymous]

I called and asked about deleting it, straight up no.  

I feel like everything I did to get my score up just got flushed down the toilet...

[Anonymous]

Firstly, thank you. This entire thread has shaken this wild child up and awake tremendously. Today i learned what a cfa is and that I never want one. I also learned that I can live without the colors I havent seen on a 20k tv which led me to ask the same question as the original poster.

- oh, hi. I'm a young adult with no clue. Trying to rebuild while steering clear of cc.

As far as account age, I can concur and add that the account doesn't even have to be positive. My oldest account (5yr4mo) is closed and negative (so that's bad) but my account history aspect is very very good because of it.