Will closing an account negatively impact your credit score

Submitted by eejo2000 on Mon, 03/02/2009 - 19:11
Forums

When I opened a Macy's account, I inadvertently got a Visa account as well. Can I close the Visa without impacting my credit score if I never used it?

Store cards are financed through banks and are actual credit cards. When you applied and authorized a hard inquiry you impacted your credit score. Your best bet is to keep $20 dollars on the card and pay it at the end of each month. This will give you some positive payment history and not throw your availible/used credit ratio off. Actually, If you have other cards with balances it will improve the ratio.

In responce to your direct question: As long as you pay off all related fees etc and specify that the tradeline read 'closed by consumer' the impact should be small.

Mon, 03/02/2009 - 23:41 Permalink

CMBV....I am so glad to see you on this post. My hubby has too many credit cards out. 4 that I can think of all in his name. I want to pay them off and close two of them. One is a womens clothing store card he got to buy things for me and we do not need this and I really want to close this account. How do I go about getting the tradeline to read "closed by consumer". How small is the the impact?

Tue, 03/03/2009 - 02:07 Permalink
Anonymous (not verified)

How many cards is too many? Is the age of accounts average worth paying a maintanance fee for on a card you don't use? What do open accounts that never get used do to you? I am in the process of eliminating my revolving debt and I want to know what strategy will improve my score the best overall.

Tue, 03/03/2009 - 02:33 Permalink