Learned the hard way that closing old credit cards drops your score

I closed a card I'd had for 8 years because I never used it and my score dropped 40 points. My bank's credit monitoring tool showed my average account age went from 7 years to 3 years instantly. Has anyone else messed up their utilization ratio this bad by accident?

3 comments

3 Comments

charles_young9214d ago

Wait, you're telling me closing cards actually hurts more than keeping them open?

christopherw3414d ago

lol yeah I did the same thing last year. Closed a card I forgot I even had and my score tanked like 30 points just from the credit age dropping. Felt like I paid the idiot tax for trying to be responsible.

annajenkins14d ago

Used to think I was being smart by closing old cards. Definitely changed my mind after my score took a hit just like yours. Now I just let them sit in a drawer and use them once a year for a cheap purchase.