Naatyaa
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| | Tuesday, January 31, 2006 - 4:07 pm: | 
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Does closing out bank accounts/credit cards really hurt your credit score bad? I have bunch of credit cards that I haven't used in a while and am never planning to use again. Also, I opened some bank accounts for getting some freebies and now my money is locked in them as they have a minimun balance requirement. Will closing some of these accounts really hurt my credit score? Any experiences?
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Yogibear
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| | Tuesday, January 31, 2006 - 5:38 pm: |
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Naatyaa: As of my knowledge, it should not hurt ur credit score.
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Yogibear
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| | Tuesday, January 31, 2006 - 5:40 pm: |
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Nandya: Page cannot be found yetay... :-(
BTW, IngDirect is giving 4.75% rate till Apr 15th, no minimum.... 
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Naatyaa
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| | Tuesday, January 31, 2006 - 5:55 pm: |
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IngDirect is giving 4.75% rate till Apr 15th, no minimum >> Yep.. Already registered..
it should not hurt ur credit score.>> http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Banking/Yourcreditrating/P41876.asp I read at several places that it will reduce your credit score, but I wanted to hear about some personal experiences
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Ajay
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| | Tuesday, January 31, 2006 - 6:20 pm: |
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quote:Does closing out bank accounts/credit cards really hurt your credit score bad?
Yes and No. And I am writing this from my confirmed personal experience.
Having too many credit cards is NOT good for you (specially if it is close to or over debt/income ratio). So closing out "some" credit cards will HELP your credit score.
However another factor in determining credit score is HOW LONG you had the credit accounts. And closing credit cards which are older WILL HURT your credit score.
I had extremely good FICO score but I closed 1 very old credit card that I don't use anymore and my FICO score dropped. The FICO guidance kit explained to me my score would improve if I held the current credit cards longer (or in other words could have kept the older card and got rid of newer card).
You don't need too many old cards. But the card (or any credit account) which is held longest period is certainly a major deciding factor. And unfortunately I cancelled my oldest card  so length of my credit history got affected.
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Naatyaa
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| | Tuesday, January 31, 2006 - 7:06 pm: |
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Ajay, Thanks for the information. I will consider closing out some of the cards that I have opened recently that I don't use.
Is there any way to deactive old accounts just to be safer?
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Yogibear
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| | Tuesday, January 31, 2006 - 7:55 pm: |
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Ajay: That was good info, thx
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Ajay
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| | Tuesday, January 31, 2006 - 8:26 pm: |
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I am not aware of any way to deactivate the cards because that means (I think) you no longer have that credit available which is important for good credit score. You may want to call the customer support and ask them to block any transaction because you are going on vacation or something.
But I have NOT tried this and don't know its effects.
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Chafa
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| | Tuesday, January 31, 2006 - 8:53 pm: |
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Naatya, closing older credit cards will definitely hurt the credit score. Ideally, no credit cards should be closed if they are in good standing. But if you must, choose the ones which are relatively new and with lesser credit limits.
I am not sure about bank accounts.
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Asami
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| | Tuesday, January 31, 2006 - 10:17 pm: |
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Naatya, while closing card insist on adding comment "Card closed at customer request". Verify your credit report and ensure this information has been propagated. This is also important in the events where some credit card companies do not close your account but simply keep it in suspended state.
Though I do not have any such personal experience, I have read this information on bookd about managing credits.
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Naatyaa
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| | Wednesday, February 01, 2006 - 6:34 pm: |
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Chafa, Asami.. Thanks for the info. I think I should be careful about opening new accounts just for free stuff, goodies
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Manish2703
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| | Wednesday, February 01, 2006 - 7:23 pm: |
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Thanks Ajay, Chafa... This is really good information... Actually I was also thinking of closing one of my long held Credit Card.. but now I won't...
I guess Opening new accounts frequently also reduces the Credit Score....
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Seema_
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| | Wednesday, February 01, 2006 - 8:33 pm: |
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कुणी suze orman show बघत नाही वाटत?
मागच्या महिन्यात एक episode याच विषयावर होता.
त्यात अगदी स्पष्ट सांगितलेल कि before opening any acct even for discounts etc think twice.ask urself will those cards really help u in long run? especially departmental store's credit cards
if u close them fico score वर नक्कीच त्याच वाईट परिणाम होतो.
check out www.myfico.com
for detailed info.
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opening and closing bank accounts doesn't affect credit score I guess... I just checked my credit report on experian and didn't find anything regarding my bank accounts...
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Naatyaa
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| | Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 6:19 pm: |
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I just checked my credit report on experian and didn't find anything regarding my bank accounts... >> When did you close the accounts and how old were the accounts?
Did you compare your latest score with your previous score?
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I haven't yet closed any bank account... what I meant to say is.. all the Credit Card Accounts I have, are listed in the report but not a single word about Checking or Savings account... I guess they keep track of only Credit, Debt and Mortgage accounts..
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