Is my Credit Score affected by canceling my HSBC secured credit card earlier than one year?

Question

Is my Credit Score affected by canceling my HSBC secured credit card earlier than one year?

Answer 1

Of course. Here's why:

1. Payment history- 35%

2. Total debt owed to available credit ratio-30%

3. Length of time establishing credit-15%

4. Types of credit established-10%

5. Inquiries and New accounts-10%

when you canceled that card you affected all 5 factors. And as you can see #'s  1 & 2 count for ⅔ of your score, since their the most important.  Maintaining a solid on-time pay history is the key building blocks to your credit, not to mention the ability to manage credit. The less available credit you have, it gives the appearance that you're not as experienced with credit.  

Answer 2

Anytime you pay off and cancel a credit card outright, your credit score is affected. It's been proven you're better off to leave it open with the balance at zero and pay the annual maintenance fee if you have one.  It'll take years for that cancellation to disappear, especially if you had some overdue payments previous to payoff.