Does closing accounts lower one's credit score?

Question

Does closing accounts lower or increase one's credit score, or does it depend?

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 20 '16 at 01:04

If you mean closing credit card accounts it will hurt your credit score in two ways:

1) It will reduce your available credit, which in turn will increase the utilization percentage of your credit if you owe a balance on any other card.

2) It will reduce the average age of your open accounts unless it was the last card you obtained.

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited Jan 09 '17 at 07:20

0

I do believe that closing your accounts could affect a negative credit score. If one does not have some credit card history, they assign a lower score to your ratings. I have problems because I don't have any large purchases that I am paying down.

It is okay to just keep your accounts at a zero balance.

edited Jan 09 '17 at 07:20

keshlam

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answered Jan 19 '16 at 23:17

Carol Darlington Boberg

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Does closing accounts lower one's credit score?

2 Answers2