Comments on: Canceled Oldest Credit Card http://thefinancebuff.com/2007/07/canceled-oldest-credit-card.html like a friend telling you about money ... Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:44:17 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8 hourly 1 By: arvind http://thefinancebuff.com/2007/07/canceled-oldest-credit-card.html/comment-page-1#comment-948 arvind Sun, 28 Sep 2008 20:53:16 +0000 http://blog.thefinancebuff.com/?p=134#comment-948 Is it true that whether you run or multiple credit checks in one month time frame your credit score is decreased by the same amount? Is it true that whether you run or multiple credit checks in one month time frame your credit score is decreased by the same amount?

]]> By: Brad http://thefinancebuff.com/2007/07/canceled-oldest-credit-card.html/comment-page-1#comment-187 Brad Mon, 09 Jul 2007 19:55:00 +0000 http://blog.thefinancebuff.com/?p=134#comment-187 I don't know precisely what FICO uses in their calculation-- nobody does outside of FICO-- but in all likelihood they measure age of oldest OPEN trade as well as age of oldest trade. Which of those comes into your score is not known.<br/><br/>You will take a hit in another area though-- you lose some of your total revolving limit. The higher that limit is, the better off you are, generally. If the limit on that card was a significant chunk of your overall limit, the account closure could contribute to a lower score.<br/><br/>But if your credit is very good overall, I doubt closing this account will have much effect. Most variables in credit scoring are used in "buckets" anyway; so if the age of your oldest trade>x, you'll be treated the same no matter how old it is-- as long as it's more than x. Same goes for limits and utilization. So it's actually possible that it won't change your score by one point-- and very likely that a change would be just a few points. So you're probably right not to worry about it. I don't know precisely what FICO uses in their calculation– nobody does outside of FICO– but in all likelihood they measure age of oldest OPEN trade as well as age of oldest trade. Which of those comes into your score is not known.

You will take a hit in another area though– you lose some of your total revolving limit. The higher that limit is, the better off you are, generally. If the limit on that card was a significant chunk of your overall limit, the account closure could contribute to a lower score.

But if your credit is very good overall, I doubt closing this account will have much effect. Most variables in credit scoring are used in "buckets" anyway; so if the age of your oldest trade>x, you'll be treated the same no matter how old it is– as long as it's more than x. Same goes for limits and utilization. So it's actually possible that it won't change your score by one point– and very likely that a change would be just a few points. So you're probably right not to worry about it.

]]>