Closing one credit card account likely won't make a big enough dent to hurt your chances of approval with future lenders, especially if you'll still have another form of revolving credit open, but it's worth being mindful of this if you want the highest credit score possible.
If you pay off all your credit card accounts (not just the one you're canceling) to $0 before canceling your card, you can avoid a decrease in your credit score. Typically, leaving your credit card accounts open is the best option, even if you're not using them.
Closing a credit card with a zero balance may increase your credit utilization ratio and potentially drop your credit score. In certain scenarios, it may make sense to keep open a credit card with no balance. Other times, it may be better to close the credit card for your financial well-being.
If you have paid your card down to a zero balance before receiving your refund, you will have a negative balance on your credit account — and any future purchases will be applied to the negative balance first.
Typically, you won't need to pay any interest charges when you have a balance of zero. If you have a zero balance because you never use the credit card, you may still need to pay certain fees. The credit card issuer may lower your credit limit or close the account if it's inactive for an extended period of time.
It's one of those quirky financial situations that can leave you scratching your head. Basically, when you get a refund on a credit card with a zero balance, it results in a negative balance, meaning the card issuer owes you money.
Your credit utilization ratio goes up
By closing a credit card account with zero balance, you're removing all of that card's available balance from the ratio, in turn, increasing your utilization percentage. The higher your balance-to-limit ratio, the more it can hurt your credit.
If you haven't used a card for a long period, it generally will not hurt your credit score. However, if a lender notices your inactivity and decides to close the account, it can cause your score to slip.
In general, keep unused credit cards open so you benefit from longer average credit history and lower credit utilization. Consider putting one small regular purchase on the card and paying it off automatically to keep the card active.
Keeping a low credit utilization ratio is good, but having too many credit cards with zero balance may negatively impact your credit score. If your credit cards have zero balance for several years due to inactivity, your credit card issuer might stop sending account updates to credit bureaus.
Closing a credit card could change your debt to credit utilization ratio, which may impact credit scores. Closing a credit card account you've had for a long time may impact the length of your credit history. Paid-off credit cards that aren't used for a certain period of time may be closed by the lender.
Key takeaways
If you don't use your card, your credit card issuer may lower your credit limit or close your account due to inactivity. Closing a credit card account can affect your credit scores by decreasing your available credit and increasing your credit utilization ratio.
Closing a personal line of credit can harm your credit score, primarily by affecting your credit utilization ratio. When you close a line of credit, you reduce your overall available credit, which can also impact the length of your credit history.
Owning more than two or three credit cards can become unmanageable for many people. However, your credit needs and financial situation are unique, so there's no hard and fast rule about how many credit cards are too many. The important thing is to make sure that you use your credit cards responsibly.
But after a certain period of time, which varies depending on the lender or creditor's policies, they may consider your account “inactive” and it may be closed. Remember that when it comes to credit, it's important to show that you can handle financial commitments responsibly.
Using more of your credit card balance than usual — even if you pay on time — can reduce your score until a new, lower balance is reported the following month. Closed accounts and lower credit limits can also result in lower scores even if your payment behavior has not changed.
A drop in your credit score. Aggravating contact from debt collectors. Possible lawsuits for failure to pay. Damage to future loan opportunities for a home, car or child's education.
Some people, however, have concerns that a zero balance can harm their credit scores. It's not true – a zero balance won't bring down your credit score, unless however, you have a zero balance because you haven't been using your credit card.
The main reason is because canceling a credit card affects your credit utilization ratio, or the amount of credit you're using divided by the total amount of credit that's available to you.
Credit cycling is the practice of charging your credit card to its limit, paying the balance down, then charging more within the same billing cycle. There are legitimate reasons to cycle your credit, but there are risks, too.
A zero balance doesn't help your credit score if you're never using your credit card. If you have a zero balance because you simply never use it, your credit card may stop sending updates to the credit bureaus, and that inactive credit card could potentially lower your credit score over time.
Banks will usually allow refunds to process successfully regardless if a card's been deactivated or the account's been closed. Refunds take 3-5 business days to appear in your account. Refunds can't be applied to an alternate payment method and will be returned to the card used for the original transaction.
Collections happen when you've failed to make a certain number of payments, and your issuer or lender sends your account to a collections agency to collect your debt. If you face debt collections, this could appear on your credit report and last for up to 7 years.