If cancelling a credit card does it affect the credit score positively or negatively?

LipMarck

That's my question.

Thanks.

Ben8282

The score may be affected positively, negatively or not at all. It all depends.

[Deleted User]

The real question is how will it make you look to lenders.

LipMarck

Thank you, guys. So it's entirely dependable as it could go either way.

[Deleted User]

And entirely irrelevant.

phillw

LipMarck wrote: »

Thank you, guys. So it's entirely dependable as it could go either way.

Your credit score is only visible to you and the company that calculates it, lenders have their own way of calculating risk based on your credit history. The credit score is calculated using an algorithm that tries to replicate how lenders will rate you, but it's as accurate as trying to predict the weather.

No matter what happens with your score, I don't believe there are any lenders that are actively looking for customers who have credit cards that are not being used. They may either ignore it or see it as a reason to refuse giving you a credit card. It costs them money to send out cards and they'd rather send it to someone who will use it. There was a point when some credit card companies were refusing to issue cards (and in some cases cancelling credit cards) if you never missed a payment and always paid your balance in full every month. Not that I would recommend that as a strategy for increasing your chances, just that predicting what will happen is hard.

dresdendave

Deleted_User wrote: »

And entirely irrelevant.

It may be at the moment, but cancelling a CC may change it to "inconsequential" or even "meaningless".

Fireflyaway

I have just cancelled a credit card. I did so because it had a low limit which was considered a negative on clear score. Hopefully soon I will see what the impact is on my score.
As others say it could go either way depending if its up to date or not, how much the balance is, how long you have had it etc. I've seen my score go up and down without explanation so who knows!

Jlawson118

It depends entirely on the card itself. I started off with an Aqua card and was shortly accepted for a reward card elsewhere, and upon closing the Aqua card, my score significantly dropped.

However, I've closed other credit cards later on such as my First Direct Gold card and that never impacted my score at all.

It all depends how you look to other lenders

[Deleted User]

It doesn't depend on the card at all.

It depends on the CRAs random number generator. Or your unique set of circumstances, to be more generous.

tgon

Would a credit file be impacted if the card was rightfully cancelled due to fraudulent activity?