I paid in full all my credit cards balances.I want to cancel them. Doing it, will hurt my credit score?

Question

A friend of mine told me, that if I cancel my credit cards, it will hurt my credit score. It's that thruth?

Answer 1

In fact cancelling them is even better. Not only it does not hurt your credit score but it helps protect you from theft identity and frauds out there.

So you know applying for credit cards will absolutely reduce your fico score for sure.

Answer 2

Sure thing. And you other people who don't know anything about credit please do not respond saying, "I have never heard that by closing a card will hurt your score."

Answer 3

Your friend is right.  

Answer 4

Absolutely correct! If you pay off your credit cards and leave a $0 balance, that also makes your credit score lower. You see, credit scores are rated on how you use it, if you're able to manage it well, and how long you've had it. Once you pay off your credit cards, you show that you were able to make a full payment, but also show (by canceling them) that you're not able to manage your finances. Than creditors will not likely look at you as a good candidate for loaning money. And the credit bureaus will lower your credit scores.

The solution: maintain your credit cards open, but destroy the magnetic stripe in the back, that way you can't use your card at stores. Use it only to buy airline tickets or online... always something small that you can pay easily, without any major compromises. The point is to keep it open, with a minimum balance always rotating it in the account. One that you can easily payoff, if necessary.

Contrary to what a lot people think, when buying a house, it is necessary to have a few good credit cards and other accounts open. For example; if you have a $10,000 credit card (limit) but only a balance of $250, that is ok, because the ideal way to have good rating is to keep all your balances in less than 33%. So maintaining your account open will increase your limit to what you can buy. As long as you don't owe too much!

Not likely what you wanted to hear, huh? But it's the smart thing to do to keep a good credit rating

Answer 5

Your friend is correct, a full 30% of your credit score is made up of your debt to credit ratio with your cards paid off your ratio is now 0% but if you cancel the cards you will lose all of your available credit which will lower your score.

Keep them open and use them every few months for every day things and pay them off in full every month and your score will shoot up.

Answer 6

i never herd that before i would check with free credit report i never herd of cancening a credit to hurt your credit score when you applie for a credit card it dose  

Answer 7

The article given by the first person is very good.  Keep in mind that while long credit history (having a card for many years) is good for your credit score, many store cards are a totally different story.  Some store cards do not show a credit limit on your credit report.  In this situation it looks like your card is maxed-out every time you use it.  A maxed-out card is very bad for your credit score.  My approach is to keep a few reputable cards and use them very sparingly paying the balance at the end of the month.  Some purchases (like airline tickets) are best made with a credit card.

Answer 8

Cancelling credit cards can affect your credit score in several ways:

- It can lower your score if it is the oldest card you have because your credit card history will be shortened

- It can lower your credit score because the ratio of your current balances to available balances is lower

- But if you are looking to get a loan or buy a house, cancelling cards you've paid off is good because your available credit becomes lower (e.g. if this card has a max limit of $10,000 and your other cards have max limit of $10,000 for a combined $20,000, canceling the card will mean that if you go out and max out your cards, your max will be only $10,000 instead of $20,000)

Answer 9

Just leave them open for now.  Having open accounts for a long time is a positive.

Answer 10

Just leave them for now, it will hurt your score a little bit if you closed them.