Repair Credit Score

Question: Does closing a new account hurt my Credit Score?

Hi everyone,
I have a score of 729 and 7 revolving accounts (only 1 with a balance). I opened up a store credit card (Express) to take advantage of a 30% off offer 4 months ago and have already paid off the balance. I've read that closing accounts usually hurts your score because it shortens the average age of credit, however, would my score still fall if I closed this account? Since it's the newest account, it would actually lenghten the average age of all my accounts if I were to close it (but lower my total available credit by just a bit).

Answer: Yes, it will hurt your credit, so why do it?

But you have a very decent Credit Score and the damage to it will only be minor say 20 points. Once you pay off a credit card you never have to use it again. The credit just remains unused. So you don't have to cancel the account, just pay it off and let it go inactive. Canceling a card shows that in someway someone no longer feels that you can make those payments. When the entry is made there isn't an explanation that goes along with it.

If you have such a high Credit Score then you are wise to want to protect it, but why obsess over it, unless you plan on buying a house soon. When evaluating you for a loan the loan company is going to look at your score and at how much credit you have available. They don't care if you have ten cards or twenty. In fact the more cards you have usually the better.

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