How long until my credit score recovers?

[asmom]

Despite your best advice, I have decided that I would like to cancel 4 of my credit cards which have lousy rates, lousy rewards programs and that I never intend to use ever again. 3 of them, I opened within the past year. This would leave me with 4 cards open all of which have big credit lines and excellent rates. I understand that closing cards would lower my score but I have no plans to purchase a car or get a mortgage within the next 3 or 4 years. Does anyone know how long my score would be impacted by these closures?

[sakigt]

Re: How long until my credit score recovers?

It depends on several factors, the most important (in this case) being the age of the accounts. If you cancelled newer cards your length of credit history wont change.

As opposed to keeping many accounts open to have a high available credit ratio, the other option is to cancel most of the newer cards then ask your older card's limits to be raised. 4 cards with $500 limits can be have the same debt/credit ratio as 2 cards with $1000 limits.

[vsjhoc]

Re: How long until my credit score recovers?

FICO looks at the total length of your credit history, so it's true that cancelling newer cards has no effect on the date when you opened your very first credit card or got your first loan.

But FICO also looks at the average age of your accounts. So if you have one account that's 5 years old, and 4 accounts that are under a year old, if you cancel the newbies you are bringing down the average.

From the FICO website: "Don't close unused credit cards as a short-term strategy to raise your score. "

Good luck. "How long until" is one of those "how-long-is-a-piece-of-string" kind of questions ...

[asmom]

Re: How long until my credit score recovers?

FICO looks at the total length of your credit history, so it's true that cancelling newer cards has no effect on the date when you opened your very first credit card or got your first loan.

But FICO also looks at the average age of your accounts. So if you have one account that's 5 years old, and 4 accounts that are under a year old, if you cancel the newbies you are bringing down the average.

From the FICO website: "Don't close unused credit cards as a short-term strategy to raise your score. "

Good luck. "How long until" is one of those "how-long-is-a-piece-of-string" kind of questions ...

Thanks!

It depends on several factors, the most important (in this case) being the age of the accounts. If you cancelled newer cards your length of credit history wont change.

As opposed to keeping many accounts open to have a high available credit ratio, the other option is to cancel most of the newer cards then ask your older card's limits to be raised. 4 cards with $500 limits can be have the same debt/credit ratio as 2 cards with $1000 limits.

Thanks also!