How much will this hurt my credit?

[chisnpeke]

Right before graduating high school I opened a "student" type credit card. It is listed on my credit report as having been opened in May 2007. The next month, I applied for and got a Royal Caribbean Visa card as we were going on a cruise and I wanted to build some rewards. That was in June 2007. So according to the credit report my second line of credit is only one month younger than my first line.

The first card is rarely used as it offers no benefits to me. They are now charging a $25 annual fee to keep it. If I were to cancel it how much would it affect my credit?

My credit score is in the excellent range right now.

Thanks!

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Best would be to go to www.creditboards.com and ask there. Check their FAQs first.

 

[disneyfreakk]

It wont hurt your credit, you *might* lose a couple of points. Not many though. The loss of one month in age is not going to kill you.

 

[Jennifer in MI]

We just went through and cancelled 9 credit cards (yes. 9 - I'm a sucker for those, "Sign up today and save 10% off your purchase! We never had a balance on any of these cards. They mostly sat in a file in my drawer.). Anyway, we decided to simplify and get rid of them.

I only lost about 5 points. Still in the excellent range!

 

[SpaceGirl]

Closing a card that is only one month older shouldn't effect your score more than a point or two for a short time.

What will effect your score is the line of credit on the card you will be losing, this will impact your utilizatio​n. If you don't carry a balance on any of your cards this wouldn't effect your score either.

Most experts say never pay an annual fee for a credit card, especially a card that you don't use or a card that offers no benefits.

Remember your good history on this card will continue to report for another 10 years after it is closed.

 

[chisnpeke]

Thank you to each of you for your input! And thank you to the poster who told me about the credit board. I think I am going to cancel the card.

 

[JDUCKY]

Closing a card that is only one month older shouldn't effect your score more than a point or two for a short time.

What will effect your score is the line of credit on the card you will be losing, this will impact your utilizatio​n. If you don't carry a balance on any of your cards this wouldn't effect your score either.

Most experts say never pay an annual fee for a credit card, especially a card that you don't use or a card that offers no benefits.

Remember your good history on this card will continue to report for another 10 years after it is closed.

+1

Having multiple credit cards can certainly help your credit score.

Utilization is 30% of one's FICO score. The "Sweet Spot" of util being between 1-7% overall.

Also, having only a couple of cards carrying a balance is another way to boost one's FICO (assuming one has several cards). Only having 1-2 credit cards can hurt your FICO if one or esp. both cards carry a balance. It'll hurt more if the balances are over 10% (and, of course, hurt even more if the cards are nearly maxed out)

 

[chisnpeke]

+1

Having multiple credit cards can certainly help your credit score.

Utilization is 30% of one's FICO score. The "Sweet Spot" of util being between 1-7% overall.

Also, having only a couple of cards carrying a balance is another way to boost one's FICO (assuming one has several cards). Only having 1-2 credit cards can hurt your FICO if one or esp. both cards carry a balance. It'll hurt more if the balances are over 10% (and, of course, hurt even more if the cards are nearly maxed out)

I have several credit cards, and I have a balance (not a lot but I am paying it off). I am glad that having them can help my credit score.

 

[DawnM]

Credit cards are the least impacting on my credit score.

Some things that affect your credit positively include:

Length of time you have used credit (which can often come with age!)
Car purchases
Home purchases
Work History

I never carry a CC balance and haven't for years and years......but in the past 15 years we have purchased 3 cars and 4 homes (not owning them all at the same time.) Our credit scores are in the 800s.

We have also cancelled credit cards whenever we felt like it. It didn't hurt our scores at all since we didn't carry balances.

Dawn

+1

Having multiple credit cards can certainly help your credit score.

Utilization is 30% of one's FICO score. The "Sweet Spot" of util being between 1-7% overall.

Also, having only a couple of cards carrying a balance is another way to boost one's FICO (assuming one has several cards). Only having 1-2 credit cards can hurt your FICO if one or esp. both cards carry a balance. It'll hurt more if the balances are over 10% (and, of course, hurt even more if the cards are nearly maxed out)

 

[JDUCKY]

Credit cards are the least impacting on my credit score.

Some things that affect your credit positively include:

Length of time you have used credit (which can often come with age!)
Car purchases
Home purchases
Work History

I never carry a CC balance and haven't for years and years......but in the past 15 years we have purchased 3 cars and 4 homes (not owning them all at the same time.) Our credit scores are in the 800s.

We have also cancelled credit cards whenever we felt like it. It didn't hurt our scores at all since we didn't carry balances.

Dawn

There are people with rather stable credit profiles that will play around with the numbers to see how it affects their FICO score.

Like, letting a $10 balance report on a card so there's actually some utilization and seeing the FICO score actually go UP.

Nice position to be in.


But, btw, Work History has NOTHING to do with one's FICO score. In fact, one is better off not having employment info showing on a credit report (and to also remove old addresses).