Does closing accounts lower or increase one's credit score, or does it depend?
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Is there an immediate reason that you're worried about your score? If not, do what makes sense for you and the score will take care of itself.– keshlamJan 20, 2016 at 3:18
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Related: Is it ever a good idea to close credit cards?– Ben Miller - Remember MonicaJan 9, 2017 at 13:02
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2 Answers
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.
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.
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Yes, but it's safer to close the account so someone can't make fraudulent transactions with it.– GeremiaJan 19, 2016 at 23:51
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1They will mark the accounts inactive if you carry a zero balance for a long time which has a similar effect to closing it.– JohnFx ♦Jan 20, 2016 at 1:02
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@JohnFx Yes, I've experienced even closed accounts still being charged/credited; what's closing even for, then?– GeremiaJan 20, 2016 at 3:07