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To 1, it actually isn't or at least not as much as you might think. Relevant factors are utilization and average age of your credit accounts, going back 10 year
by AngrySkillzz 10y ago
To 1, it actually isn't or at least not as much as you might think. Relevant factors are utilization and average age of your credit accounts, going back 10 years; an account doesn't stop aging when you close it, and it doesn't fall off of your report until 10 years from the closing date. If closing an account decreases your amount of available credit enough that your utilization spikes (over 20%), then you should leave it open. Otherwise it's fine.
- seanp2k2 10y agoAnother note on that, if you normally spend more than about 10% of your credit limit across your cards each month, get another card or get one of them to raise your limit. Debt utilization ratio higher than that can also drop your score. Sign up for CreditKarma and keep an eye on it to get the best rates and rewards. Edit: another alternative is to manually pay your bill every other week to keep the utilization ratio down.