Hello, Looking for guidance. My credit score is currently at 757 and want to continue to maintain this and see it improve. I have been at a standstill for quite some time and believe it is at large part due to the age of my credit card accounts. It hasn't been until recently that I started educating myself more on what could impact my credit score, so without thinking of it, I opened an account about 8 months ago to take advantage of a 12 month no interest rate offer on a larger purchase. This decreased my average credit age which appears to have the largest impact on my score not improving. I have a month to go before my credit age improves to average 5 years, which according to credit karma will take me from the red category to the yellow, which should improve my score a little. Here is my question: I paid off this credit card prior to the 12 month period coming to an end. It currently has a zero balance. If I closed this account completely, would it have a positive or negative impact on my score? There is only a 2,000 credit line so that would not have a huge impact. If I closed it, I am wondering if this would improve my credit age if the account is removed. Or, will it have more of a negative impact by decreasing my total # of open accounts? I am just looking for some guidance. I have no debt other than about $20k in student loans. I do use my credit cards but typically do not have any roll over debt unless I make a larger than usual purchase. I want to understand in different scenarios how the closing of an account could have positive or negative impacts. I am looking to buy a house very soon which I've already been pre-approved for, but I know that over the next few months until I close on a house, I have to be very careful about what I do that could impact my credit. Thank you in advance for your feedback!
Balance to credit limit ratio is a component of your credit risk scoring. I never close them. I have at least a dozen or more cards and all but one have zero balance (and many are only used once every year or two). The only cards I use are (a) Citibank Double Cash MC (essentially, ~2% cash back on everything) that I pay off monthly, a PNC Cash Rewards Visa (4% on all gasoline purchases) that I pay off monthly and one BoA card that I have a few thousand on at 0% until almost 2020 (a large recent purchase;why not use their money for free?). Every other card I have I try to use at least once a year just so it stays active. I often buy something online, then five minutes later, schedule the payment to be made from my online banking (even before the charge shows up on the card) to keep it active.
