Is credit score negatively affected by closing lines of credit?

[BigToque]

I've got a personal line of credit (15K through bank) and a Visa (7K - no balance currently) and a student loan.

Once all are paid off, would my score be hurt by closing the accounts? I can't imagine it would. I was thinking of keeping the personal line of credit just because it's got a high limit.

I'm 22 BTW

 

[Evadman]

Closing them would negitively hurt your score.

 

[cchen]

Originally posted by: Evadman
Closing them would negitively hurt your score.

The student loan doesn't count as a "line of credit," but if you close accounts, yes, it will negatively affect your credit score

 

[BigToque]

Originally posted by: cchen

Originally posted by: Evadman
Closing them would negitively hurt your score.

The student loan doesn't count as a "line of credit," but if you close accounts, yes, it will negatively affect your credit score

Why would it hurt my score? (I think it's like 760 right now)

I guess I can keep them open, it's not like i'll be paying any interest on them...

 

[cchen]

Originally posted by: Stefan

Originally posted by: cchen

Originally posted by: Evadman
Closing them would negitively hurt your score.

The student loan doesn't count as a "line of credit," but if you close accounts, yes, it will negatively affect your credit score

Why would it hurt my score? (I think it's like 760 right now)

I guess I can keep them open, it's not like i'll be paying any interest on them...

the average age of your credit history will go down, plus your available credit is limited right now and will hurt your future applications for credit

 

[orakle]

i would just leave em open... never know when you're gonna need to borrow a good chunk of money if the sh!t hits the fan. Save yourself the trouble of applying for loans when you actually need the money

 

[BigToque]

Alright, it's settled. I'll keep the personal line of credit and the CC. Ill buy with the CC, pay it off with the PLC, then pay the PLC off with my normal account

 

[cchen]

Originally posted by: Stefan
Alright, it's settled. I'll keep the personal line of credit and the CC. Ill buy with the CC, pay it off with the PLC, then pay the PLC off with my normal account

why not just pay off the credit card with your normal account?

 

[conjur]

Originally posted by: cchen

Originally posted by: Stefan

Originally posted by: cchen

Originally posted by: Evadman
Closing them would negitively hurt your score.

The student loan doesn't count as a "line of credit," but if you close accounts, yes, it will negatively affect your credit score

Why would it hurt my score? (I think it's like 760 right now)

I guess I can keep them open, it's not like i'll be paying any interest on them...

the average age of your credit history will go down, plus your available credit is limited right now and will hurt your future applications for credit

The average age of his credit history will NOT go down. Closing a tradeline will not delete it from the credit report. I have a few closed accounts that go back as far as 1989.

Deleting a tradeline will reduce the length of credit history if it's an old account.


http://www.creditboards.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=2
http://consumers.creditnet.com/straighttalk/board/

 

[cchen]

assuming you'll NEVER use those other cards again, the arguments for WHY to keep them are:
1 older age of accounts
2 sufficient # of trade lines
3 mix of tradelines (store cards and national credit accounts)
4 even if paying off every month, the utilization % of credit will be lower than if you just have 1 card you use and payoff monthly....
5 if you like another card from your old issuer, you may be able to easily ask for a product switch, or apply the old line of credit to the new one
6 costs nothing to keep them (assuming they have no annual fees)

reasons NOT to keep them
1 annual fees (if they have any, most dont)...if they do, get rid of em
2 potential someone can get the # and charge (pretty hard if you destroy the cards, and most issuers have 100% fraud protection)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/01/27/BU146130.DTL&type=business

edit: and taken from the fatwallet finance forums,

"According to FICO's brochure: http://www.myfico.com/Offers/Brochure/Credit_Scoring_booklet_2002.pdf it will NOT help you to close out old accounts. Also, it doesn't help to open up accounts just to have "more accounts" or "more available credit"."

Credit Card FAQ:

http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/messageview.php?catid=52&threadid=158558