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My dad's 680 score comment shook my whole approach to credit
Last Sunday my dad casually mentioned his score dropped to 680 after he closed an old card. I always thought closing cards was no big deal, but he showed me how his utilization jumped from 12% to 41% on the remaining two cards. That got me checking my own accounts, and I realized I've been closing cards every year without thinking. Has anyone else seen their score take a hit from doing this, or is there a better way to thin out unused cards?
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tyler85421d ago
Closed an old card and his score dropped to 680" - that doesn't sound like a crisis, that sounds like a Tuesday. Scores bounce around all the time for way dumber reasons, like a bill hitting on the wrong day or a limit getting cut. Unless you're about to apply for a mortgage next week, a 50 point swing is mostly noise. Yeah, utilization jumping to 41% isn't great, but it's not the end of the world either. Keep the cards you actually use, dump the ones with fees, and stop obsessing over monthly number twitches.
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