Closing acct/cc-ALWAYS lowers your score?

I just rec'd my credit report and I see about 3 cards that are of no use to me and I totally forgot I even had them.

SO If I choose to close them, Im going to lower my Score?

Why?

Makes no sense to me!

Re: Closing acct/cc-ALWAYS lowers your score?

It actually wouldn't lower your score. See below:

Don't close old, paid-off accounts

We used to tell people to close accounts they weren't using. Now here's the word from direct from Craig Watts, an executive at Fair Isaac & Co., one of the leading credit scorers: "Closing accounts can never help your score, and often it can hurt."

This knowledge is frustrating to those who want to simplify their lives and reduce the opportunities for identity theft by closing unused accounts. But credit facts are credit facts.

Shutting down credit accounts lowers the total credit available to you and makes any balances you have loom larger in credit score calculations. If you close your oldest accounts, it can actually shorten the length of your reported credit history and make you seem less credit-worthy.

Of course, perhaps you can afford not to care too much about the effect of closing an account. If you don't use your cards much and your score is already high, the damage caused by shutting down more recent unused accounts will be minimal and may be well worth the peace of mind.

If you do carry balances or charge a lot, however, leave all your old accounts open, especially if you're about to apply for new credit.

Tip: Keep all this in mind the next time a department store clerk offers you a 10% discount for signing up for a new card. Each new account can put a small ding on your credit score, and offer a new opportunity for credit thieves. Since closing accounts can hurt, it's better to apply only for credit you really need.



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Re: Closing acct/cc-ALWAYS lowers your score?

Debt to Credit ratio

Re: Closing acct/cc-ALWAYS lowers your score?

yes, closing an account, always lowers your score. How much and if it will have any impact depends on the other credit hoistory.

While it lowers your score, your score can change from day to day and in one month it can go back to where it was if you make sure you work on the other credit....work on debt to credit ration and perffect it so it doesnt have an effect.