"While your scores may decrease initially after closing a credit card, they typically rebound in a few months if you continue to make your payments on time," Griffin says. The primary reason your score may decrease is through losing a credit limit and increasing your utilization rate.
While closing a credit card can affect your credit scores, it's hard to say by how much. That's because there are other factors—such as the length of your credit history and whether you have a record of making payments on time—that also play a role in your scores.
According to cardholder reports, Bank of America uses a 2/3/4 rule: You can only be approved for two new cards within a 30-day period, three cards within a 12-month period and four cards within a 24-month period. This rule applies only to Bank of America credit cards, though, and not all credit cards.
Closing a credit card could lower the amount of overall credit you have versus the amount of credit you're using (your debt to credit utilization ratio), which could impact your credit scores.
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.
If you close your oldest accounts, you risk lowering the length of your credit history, which accounts for 15% of your FICO Score. Pay off all your credit card balances. It's important to pay off all your credit card balances before closing a credit card — not just the one you're closing.
50% goes towards necessary expenses. 30% goes towards things you want. 20% goes towards savings or paying off debt.
Number and timing of applications
The general rule of thumb is to limit applications to no more than one personal and one business card within 90 days. Still, I've also read reports of applicants being approved for two personal cards in a month. It's also worth pausing to talk about risk tolerance here.
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.
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.
It may be possible to reopen a closed credit card. In general, it's more likely to be an option if the card was closed for a minor reason, such as an inactivity, or if you closed it yourself. If your card was closed due to missed payments, on the other hand, your lender may not be willing to reinstate it.
Your payment history is one of the most important credit scoring factors and can have the biggest impact on your scores. Having a long history of on-time payments is best for your credit scores, while missing a payment could hurt them. The effects of missing payments can also increase the longer a bill goes unpaid.
You can still make payments on a closed credit card account, you just cannot make purchases with it. To pay off a balance, continue making payments the same way you did before it was closed. You can usually do this online or, if you get a paper bill, via check.
The lender will use this time to run one more credit check and verify employment status one more time; after all, they want to be absolutely sure that you are capable of repaying any money loaned to you.
The 5/24 rule, often referred to as the Chase 5/24 rule, is an unofficial Chase guideline that states you will not be approved for a new Chase card if you have opened five or more credit card accounts from any bank within the past 24 months.
The rule limits you to: Two new cards per two-month period. Three new cards per rolling 12-month period. Four new cards per rolling 24-month period.
There's no such thing as “too many” hard credit inquiries, but multiple applications for new credit accounts within a short time frame may point to a risky borrower. Rate shopping for a particular loan, however, may be treated as a single inquiry and have minimal impact on your creditworthiness.
The golden rule of Credit Cards is simple: pay your full balance on time, every time. This Credit Card payment rule helps you avoid interest charges, late fees, and potential damage to your credit score.
It's a good idea to pay off your credit card balance in full whenever you're able. Carrying a monthly credit card balance can cost you in interest and increase your credit utilization rate, which is one factor used to calculate your credit scores.
Late or missed payments can cause your credit score to decline. The impact can vary depending on your credit score — the higher your score, the more likely you are to see a steep drop.
There is no fixed amount of points that your score will drop by. The impact of closing an account depends in large part on how many other credit card accounts you have open, and what the balances and limits on those cards are.
There are some differences around how the various data elements on a credit report factor into the score calculations. Although credit scoring models vary, generally, credit scores from 660 to 724 are considered good; 725 to 759 are considered very good; and 760 and up are considered excellent.
"Removing a closed account could cause a score increase, decrease or have no impact," he says. If you paid as agreed, McClary says, "It doesn't make much sense to request removal of an account." Removing an account in good standing from your credit report can backfire in other ways, Quinn adds.