Closing Credit Cards: Beware the Hidden Impact on Your Score

• Closing a credit card can negatively impact your credit score by altering your credit profile.
• Credit utilization often increases, as available credit decreases, even if spending remains unchanged.
• Closing older cards reduces the average age of your credit history, making you appear riskier to lenders.
• Past payment history, good or bad, remains on your credit report even after closure.
• Consider closing cards with high annual fees or if you struggle with management, but try to keep old cards active.

Why It Matters: Understand credit card closure's impact on utilization and history before making a decision.