Should You Close or Cancel a Credit Card?
What Happens If You Cancel a Credit Card?
Canceling a credit card that you rarely use or have paid off can feel good. It can give you a sense of accomplishment while lightening your wallet and giving you one less bill to worry about. It can, however, also cause your credit score to drop. But if you want to maintain your current credit score or improve it, then you may want to hold onto that card a little longer.
Closing the account doesn’t remove it from your credit report. Your payment history and credit history length will stay on there for 10 years. It will, however, affect your credit utilization, which is the percentage of the available credit used. The lower your credit utilization, …