I thought my credit score would bounce back in 3 months after paying off a card

I paid off a $2,500 balance in full, but my score actually dropped 20 points and took almost 8 months to recover because the account closed due to inactivity. The whole 'pay it off and you're golden' advice didn't account for that. Has anyone else had a score drop after closing an old card they just paid off?

3 comments

3 Comments

daniel14019d ago

That 20 point drop is brutal, I mean you did the right thing paying it off. I saw what @nancyn69 said about too many cards looking risky, but I closed a card from my first college job and it wrecked my average account age. My score tanked for almost a year because it was my oldest line. The system feels like it punishes you for being responsible sometimes.

jade_jenkins19d ago

Yeah, closing old accounts murders your credit history.

nancyn6919d ago

Closing old accounts can actually help sometimes. If you have too many open cards, it can look risky to lenders. My score went up after I closed a store card I never used. The age of your credit is just one piece of the puzzle.