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Reviewed By:
Ashley Davison
Ashley Davison
Editor
Ashley is currently the Chief Compliance Officer for Credit Saint, previously the Chief Operating Officer. Ashley got into the Financial world by working as a Logistics Coordinator at Ernst & Young. Coming from a previous career in education, she is eager to teach the world every...
Closing a credit card seems like a simple decision,
but it can have a lasting impact on your credit score.
You’ve been thinking about closing a credit card. Maybe you don’t use it anymore, it has an annual fee, or you want to simplify your finances. It seems straightforward — but closing a credit card can negatively affect your credit score in ways that aren’t obvious until after the damage is done.
Credit scores are shaped by several interconnected factors. When you close a card, you can shift multiple factors at once. Understanding those impacts before you act is worth the few minutes it takes. Credit Saint has helped more than 250,000 Americans navigate decisions like this one — and we handle every step of the review process. We’ve got this.
Key Takeaways
Credit utilization — how much of your available credit you’re using — accounts for roughly 30% of a FICO score (FICO, 2024). Closing a card can push this ratio higher.
Closing a card reduces your total available credit, making existing balances appear higher relative to your limits.
Closing older accounts can shorten your average age of accounts, which may negatively affect your credit history length.
Credit Saint reviews your full credit report across all three bureaus and may identify entries that are inaccurately suppressing your score.
Unsure how closing a card might affect your specific situation? Start with a free credit consultation — we review your report and walk through your options.
How Closing a Credit Card Can Hurt Your Score
There are several ways closing a credit card account can affect your credit health — and they often work together.
Increased Credit Utilization Ratio
One of the most significant impacts comes from your credit utilization ratio — how much of your available credit you’re currently using. This is calculated by dividing your total outstanding balances by your total available credit across all accounts. Keeping this ratio below 30% is generally associated with stronger scores.
When you close a card, your total available credit shrinks. If your balances stay the same, your utilization ratio rises. For example: two cards, each with a $5,000 limit and a $1,000 balance, gives you 20% utilization ($2,000 of $10,000). Close one card and that jumps to 40% ($2,000 of $5,000) — a meaningful shift that may lower your score.
Reduced Average Age of Accounts
Credit history length is another factor scoring models weigh. Lenders generally view a longer, consistent track record as a positive signal. This is often reflected in your average age of accounts.
When you close an older card — especially one you’ve held for many years — you remove it from your active credit profile. While the account may remain on your report for up to 10 years, closing it stops it from contributing to your average open account age. If it was your oldest card, the drop in average age can be substantial.
Fewer Active Accounts
Scoring models also consider the mix and number of open credit lines. Closing a card reduces your active revolving credit accounts. If the closed card was your only credit card, you’d have no active revolving credit — which makes it harder for future lenders to evaluate your creditworthiness based on recent behavior.
When Closing a Card May Make Sense
There are situations where closing a card may be the right call — or at least carry minimal risk:
High annual fees with no benefit: If a card carries a significant annual fee and you’re not getting equivalent value from its rewards, closing it may be worth the score trade-off. Before closing, ask the issuer about a fee waiver or a product change to a no-annual-fee version.
Spending patterns that create debt: If a particular card consistently leads to balances you can’t pay off, closing it may be the right financial decision despite the short-term score impact.
A very new card that isn’t the right fit: Closing a card that is less than a year old has a smaller impact on your average account age than closing an older card.
Fraud or identity theft: If a card has been compromised and can’t be secured, closing it is a necessary protective step regardless of score impact.
Multiple store cards with low limits: If you hold several store-specific cards with minimal limits that you rarely use, closing one may have limited impact on overall utilization if your other cards carry high limits.
Alternatives to Closing a Credit Card
Before closing an account, these options may preserve your credit profile while addressing the underlying concern:
Keep the card open and unused: If the card carries no annual fee, leaving it open preserves your available credit and account age. Using it occasionally for a small recurring charge — and paying it off — helps prevent the issuer from closing it due to inactivity.
Downgrade to a no-annual-fee card: Ask your issuer whether you can product-change to a no-fee version. This keeps the account and its history intact without the ongoing cost.
Pay down balances before closing: If closing is unavoidable, reducing balances on your remaining cards first will help offset the utilization impact of losing the available credit.
Request a credit limit transfer: Some issuers may allow you to shift part of the closing card’s credit limit to another card you hold with the same bank. It’s not common, but it’s worth asking.
How Credit Saint Reviews Your Full Credit Picture
Before making any credit decision, knowing exactly what’s on your report matters. Errors and unverifiable entries on a credit report are well-documented — according to the FTC’s 2013 study, 1 in 5 consumers have identified at least one error on their reports. Those errors can suppress your score independently of any card closure decision.
Credit Saint is BBB accredited, holds a 4.8-star Google rating from more than 15,000 reviews, and has been ranked #1 by Money.com, ConsumerAffairs, and CNBC. We’ve served more than 250,000 Americans since 2007. Over 96.4% of clients see results in the first 90 days, based on paying Credit Saint clients from May 2025 who had one or more items removed. Individual results vary.
Our specialists review your reports across Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. We identify entries that may be inaccurate, misleading, or unverifiable. With your authorization, we may challenge those entries through the formal dispute process and monitor responses throughout. You review. You authorize. We handle every step from there.
Ready to understand what’s on your report before making any credit decisions? Get started with Credit Saint today for a personalized review.
Frequently Asked Questions
A closed credit card with a positive payment history may remain on your report for up to 10 years from the date it was closed. Accounts with negative history — such as late payments — typically stay for 7 years. While it remains on your report, it may continue to contribute to your credit history length during that period.
Paying off the balance on the card you plan to close is always a sound step. However, if you carry balances on other cards, closing the account will still reduce your total available credit — which can increase your overall utilization ratio across remaining accounts and may lower your score.
If closing a card is unavoidable, a newer card with a low credit limit and no annual fee is typically the lower-risk choice. Closing your oldest card or a card that represents a significant portion of your total available credit carries more risk to your score. Accounts with a long positive payment history are generally worth preserving.
Closing a secured credit card affects credit utilization and average age of accounts in the same way as closing an unsecured card. One difference: you may receive your security deposit back, which can be a financial benefit. If the secured card is one of your only active credit-building tools, having another credit line open before closing it is worth considering.
Start Working on Your Credit Today
Closing a credit card isn’t a decision to take lightly. It can affect your credit utilization, average account age, and credit mix — sometimes all at once. Before acting, reviewing what’s currently on your report is the right first step. You may find that other factors are affecting your score that are worth addressing first.
Credit Saint has reviewed credit reports for more than 250,000 Americans since 2007. Our specialists may identify and challenge entries that are inaccurately holding your score down. You authorize every step — and we handle every step from there.
Ready to see what’s on your credit report?Contact Credit Saint today for a free credit consultation — we review your report and handle every step from here.
Reviewed By:
Ashley Davison
Editor
Ashley is currently the Chief Compliance Officer for Credit Saint, previously the Chief Operating Officer. Ashley got into the Financial world by working as a Logistics Coordinator at Ernst & Young. Coming from a previous career in education, she is eager to teach the world everything she knows and learn everything that she doesn’t! Ashley is a FICO® certified professional, a Board Certified Credit Consultant, a Certified Credit Score Consultant with the Credit Consultants Association of America, UDAAP certified, and holds a Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) Compliance Certificate.
