Don’t close accounts if you’re trying to improve your scores
Dear Liz: I was able to pay off 80% of my credit card debt recently. I have several cards from stores I no longer shop at and have not had activity for several months. Should I cancel those cards to reduce the number of active cards or leave them alone?
Answer: Closing accounts won’t help your credit scores, and may hurt them. If you’re trying to improve your scores or plan to get a major loan in the next several months, leave them open.
If your scores are fine and you don’t expect to apply for a mortgage or car loan soon, then you certainly can close a few retail cards. But try to keep open your major credit cards, such as Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express.
Should you stay in debt to help your scores?
Dear Liz: I have a high-interest car loan (more than 10%) and just landed a part-time job to add to my full-time cash flow. I want to pay the car off as quickly as possible, but I have read and been told that paying a loan off early doesn’t help scores as much as paying the duration of the loan. Is there truth to this? It seems foolish, though, since won’t I be paying more interest?
Answer: The primary concern with paying off a loan is that the lender may stop reporting the account to the credit bureaus. Although there are limits to how long most negative information can stay on a credit report, there are no limits to how long good information can or must be reported.
Still, most lenders continue to report accounts that have been paid off for several years. If you can pay off a high-rate loan, you probably should, and trust that you’ll get “credit” for your on-time payments for years to come.
Close cards the smart way
Dear Liz: My wife and I have opened about 20 credit cards, including retail cards, over the past 12 years or so. We have no balances on any of these accounts. We recently bought a home and don’t plan to apply for any new loans in the near future. Should we close all these accounts and take the potential credit hit now, in order to have a much cleaner credit sheet after a few years?
Answer: One of the many persistent myths about credit is that having too many cards is bad for your credit scores. In reality, the leading credit scoring formula, the FICO, doesn’t punish you for having “too much” available credit. You can, however, hurt your credit scores by closing accounts.
If you’re not going to be in the market for a new loan any time soon, you can certainly close a few retail cards if you no longer use them and don’t want the hassle of keeping track of those accounts. But you’ll probably want to keep open your major credit card accounts (Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express) unless there’s a compelling reason to close them, such as an annual fee you don’t want to pay.
Not all loans help your scores
Dear Liz: Here’s a cautionary note you may want to share. I filed for bankruptcy almost three years ago. Many sites recommend taking a small personal loan or purchasing something small, like furniture, to pay for over time and improve your credit. So I bought a sofa from a local retailer with a no-interest loan deal. It is now almost completely paid off. When I checked my credit report recently, I noticed the installment loan wasn’t there. I called the retailer and found that they didn’t report to any credit bureaus. The lesson, of course, is to not presume that just because you can get a loan from somewhere, it will be reported on your score. I now have a sofa I didn’t really need and no benefit to my credit. And I feel stupid for not thinking to ask.
Answer: Plenty of lenders don’t report to credit bureaus. Even some credit unions, which are normally consumer-friendly, opt to report to only one credit bureau.
If you’re trying to rehabilitate battered credit scores, you want accounts to be reported to all three bureaus so that all three of your FICO credit scores (one from each bureau) can benefit. It doesn’t do your scores any good if a loan you’re paying on time isn’t reported to any bureau, and it does you only limited good if it’s reported to just one bureau because your other two scores won’t benefit.
You typically can find out simply by asking before you apply for a loan whether the creditor reports to all three bureaus.
The fastest way to improve your scores is to have both installment and revolving accounts. Revolving accounts include credit cards, but you don’t necessarily need to borrow money to improve your scores. Using a credit card and paying it in full each month also can help. If you don’t have a card, consider applying for a secured version, which gives you a credit limit equal to an amount you deposit with the issuing bank. But again, make sure the issuer reports the account to all three bureaus before you apply. You can find secured-card offers at LowCards.com, CardRatings.com, CreditCards.com and other sites.
How to use credit cards to improve your scores
Dear Liz: I’m working off credit card debt. I have two cards down to a zero balance. Which will improve my FICO credit scores the most: leaving the cards open but not using them or using them minimally and paying the bills off in full each month?
Answer: Congratulations on your progress paying off your debt. Erasing your debt on those two cards is doubtless already helping your scores. You can continue to improve your numbers by using the cards lightly but regularly, paying the balances in full each month.
Credit scoring formulas want to see you actively, and responsibly, using credit. Shutting the cards in a drawer won’t demonstrate that you can do that. You’re also running the risk that a card issuer will shut down your account because of inactivity.
If you discover you can’t use the cards responsibly, however, then locking them in that drawer (or freezing them in ice) is better than running up credit card debt again.
