Think Twice Before Canceling Credit three credit bureaus L.A. Cards Before you cancel your credit cards, think twice about how it might affect your credit score. I made this three credit bureaus L.A. mistake about two years ago when I three credit bureaus L.A. canceled a card I had for over 8 years.
Because I hadnt used three credit bureaus L.A. it for 5 years, it wasnt a rewards card like my new credit card, and I didnt think it would affect my credit score. But canceling that three credit bureaus L.A. card actually had a negative affect on my credit score! Thankfully, I already had a good credit score and wasnt planning on applying for any lines of credit at the time.
At the three credit bureaus L.A. time, I didnt know how credit scores are determined. I thought that since three credit bureaus L.A. I had an open line of credit that wasnt being used, it would lower my credit score (too much available credit can be a bad thing). That was partially true, but I didnt three credit bureaus L.A. realize that the age of your credit history also affected your credit score. That line of credit was open for 8 years, had a $1,000 limit, and I was never late or missed a payment. Besides that card, my three credit bureaus L.A. newest lines of credit were another credit card and a car note, both of which were about a year old. how get free credit report Canceling that credit card reduced my average age of credit quite a bit, and there was no substantial benefit by reducing my line of credit by $1,000.
This chart breaks down the components of your FICO score. As you can see by the above chart, making any drastic changes to any of the categories can affect your credit score. This would include missing payments, raising three credit bureaus L.A. your credit utilization, canceling cards and three credit bureaus L.A. reducing the length of your credit history, three credit bureaus L.A. taking out new credit cards, and taking three credit bureaus L.A. out different forms of credit (mortgages, store brand credit cards, student loans, etc.). Recently, my wife received a new Discover three credit bureaus L.A. Card to replace an expired card, but she forgot she even had this particular card in her name! credit report score
It turns out she used the card when she lived with her parents and even though she hadnt used the card for several years, it was still active.
We looked into it a little bit, and it turned out she had a three credit bureaus L.A. $15,000 limit on it.
Add that credit limit to another Discover Card, a credit card through our bank, and a mortgage in her name (she bought the house before we were married and I was never added to the mortgage), and we found out she has a lot of available credit to her name! Time to reduce the amount of credit to improve her score! We called customer service to cancel the card and while we were going through the process, I remembered that we shouldnt cancel the card because your length three credit bureaus L.A. of credit history affects your score. This card was about 12 years old, which is a very good age to three credit bureaus L.A. keep on your credit. Well, it turns out credit card companies dont like three credit bureaus L.A. to lose customers, so they transferred us to a CSR intent on keeping us as customers.
In the end, we kept the card open and had it switched to the Discover® More® Card which offers great rewards benefits. The Discover three credit bureaus L.A. Card rep offered to lower the credit limit to $1,000, which is three credit bureaus L.A. 3 major credit reports the minimum line of credit you can have. This helped lower her available credit limit and should help improve her credit score.
The last time I checked was a couple years ago when three credit bureaus L.A. I bought my car. My wife hasnt checked hers in about the same amount of time, when she got a mortgage. One of the reasons Ive written three credit bureaus L.A. about credit scores so often lately is because I knew I needed to three credit bureaus L.A. check ours, and I was interested in three credit bureaus L.A. learning about it. Related Articles:
- Why College three credit bureaus L.A. Students Should Get a Credit Card NOW What Do You Do When One Credit Bureau Reports Your Credit History Incorrectly?
