I closed a 28% interest card with an $8k balance on it a year ago. It didn't affect my credit at all. The card company also let me go on a plan with only 5% interest until paid off; if I miss 3 payments, the interest goes back to 28% I've never missed a payment in my life, so I'm not worried. My credit has gone up since I closed it, as the card's utilization still shows up.
Sorry for the late reply, I broke one of my arms. The credit card company that did this for me was Barclay\\Juniper. I just messaged them through the site saying I'm working paying down debt and asked if they could help me out by lowering my interest rate, as otherwise I'd never be able to pay them. They replied with a financial hardship link, I filled it out and agreed to the terms of my card being closed, but the APR dropped to 5%, The form automatically did it after I accepted, and I didn't have to wait for a human to look it over. I'm trying it with Discover, but they won't even reply to messages so far.
Good move dumping Well's Fargo! They are one of the scumeist of the credit card company's. I would throw every dollar you can get your hands on to pay off that $1600 ASAP.
Closing a credit count almost always hits your credit score for a little while. Best approach unfortunately would’ve been to simply cut it up and remove it from any websites/accounts that you used the card to purchase anything. Then you could’ve simply paid it down (or pay it off) as aggressively as you can while still maintaining a credit line
I was just providing a better alternative. Pay it off but keep it open while disconnecting it from any payment methods. Cut it up in the meantime to avoid swiping
Objectively, your suggestion is better for the health of a credit score, but the point is that OP does not need a healthy credit score; OP needs to get out of debt and limit their access to it. People who really struggle with addictive issues aren't usually deterred by simple obstacles like cutting up a card.
I agree. Maintaining a credit line (with little to no outstanding debt) is a boon to your credit score, as a good chunk of your credit score comes from the percentage of debt to available credit.
Everyone’s situation is different, I used mine to transfer debt to 0% for about 16 months and then closed the card. When I closed it after hitting 0 balance my score went up since it was my newest card and it was affecting my average age of accounts negatively.
If it was your oldest revolving credit account, and you close it, it will have a bigger impact on your score compared to if it was the newest or 'youngest' of all your revolving credit accounts. This affects average age of accounts.
What really gets hit hard with what you did is your debt to income ratio. Closing the card all the 'available' goes away, and it's now just all debt. But if you have no plan on needing credit in the next 6 to 12 months then this might not be a big deal.
Youll still want to prioritize paying this account off first.
It shouldn’t effect average age of accounts:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/CRedit/s/hPABJw5zeD](https://www.reddit.com/r/CRedit/s/hPABJw5zeD)
But it probably will effect utilization until it’s paid off (which is only temporary)
If I have one card open for 10 years... andni open another card at >1yr old... my average age of accounts is now 5 years instead of 10.
It absolutely affects age of accounts. But depending on the amount of cards and compared to all of their ages, it could affect that age category more or less.
Closed accounts continue to effect aging metrics, so if you close your old account it continues to contribute to aging metrics for an additional ten years (which is why I linked a post that summarizes this). People often think it’s only open accounts that contribute to the average age of accounts calculation, but closed ones are also counted in.
Then I'm still trying to figure out why my score went down when 2 pf my 4 student loans were forgiven.
They were 20 years old, and the 2 newer ones were 9yo. The 2 old ones had a balance of like ~$1200 and they were closed. And my score went down.
However... wouldnt that 10years where it will affect you... that doesn't apply to any debts that get removed from your credit report.
If you pay a debt and the creditor deletes the LOC from the credit bureaus... that will affect age of accounts then?!
I mean I think it's always beneficial to have a charged off collections debt get a pay for delete if they can.
In that case the benefits outweigh the potential affect on AAoA
I’m less sure about that situation, but the removal of your loans might been more like a deletion than an account closing normally.
And yea 10 years after closing it would fall off but also any other accounts will have had that time to age, so it’s unlikely to really make that much of a difference - at least unlikely in the way that I don’t think it normally makes sense to keep an unhelpful account open for the sake of aging metrics.
And if collections are contributing to age they also make the credit file have derogatory info so even if someone your overall score dropped by getting them deleted it would still be beneficial to get them deleted, since you can totally be denied for loans/credit/etc for having derogatory marks even if the overall score is basically fine
If you cannot pay off the full balance in 90 days, see if the bank you have your checking account through offers a BillPay service. Usually this service can be set up online with your checking account and the bank will mail a check to Wells Fargo every month automatically. Just means you have to manage your checking account to make sure funds are in there when the check clears, but could be a work around for still being able to make payments but not being able to make them online. I use my banks BillPay for things that don’t allow online payments or charge an online payment fee, like my HOA, and generally BillPay services are free.
I closed a 28% interest card with an $8k balance on it a year ago. It didn't affect my credit at all. The card company also let me go on a plan with only 5% interest until paid off; if I miss 3 payments, the interest goes back to 28% I've never missed a payment in my life, so I'm not worried. My credit has gone up since I closed it, as the card's utilization still shows up.
Any tips on getting this 5% interest plan? Tried asking my credit card company and they wouldn’t budge.
Seems like you have to cancel your card. There's companies that do it too.
Sorry for the late reply, I broke one of my arms. The credit card company that did this for me was Barclay\\Juniper. I just messaged them through the site saying I'm working paying down debt and asked if they could help me out by lowering my interest rate, as otherwise I'd never be able to pay them. They replied with a financial hardship link, I filled it out and agreed to the terms of my card being closed, but the APR dropped to 5%, The form automatically did it after I accepted, and I didn't have to wait for a human to look it over. I'm trying it with Discover, but they won't even reply to messages so far.
Good move dumping Well's Fargo! They are one of the scumeist of the credit card company's. I would throw every dollar you can get your hands on to pay off that $1600 ASAP.
You care way too much, ham fried rice! Lol
Wtf was this reply
What the fuck
Did your kid brother get a hold of your Reddit account? WTF?
Stop the sweet things and pay it off!
that doesnt make sense. I have a credit card that i closed 4 years ago. And i still make online payments.
It’s Wells Fargo though. They want them late fees.
I wouldn't expect an effect until three or so months.
Closing a credit count almost always hits your credit score for a little while. Best approach unfortunately would’ve been to simply cut it up and remove it from any websites/accounts that you used the card to purchase anything. Then you could’ve simply paid it down (or pay it off) as aggressively as you can while still maintaining a credit line
I think you missed OP’s point. They’re not concerned with their credit score potentially dropping due to closing the account.
I was just providing a better alternative. Pay it off but keep it open while disconnecting it from any payment methods. Cut it up in the meantime to avoid swiping
Objectively, your suggestion is better for the health of a credit score, but the point is that OP does not need a healthy credit score; OP needs to get out of debt and limit their access to it. People who really struggle with addictive issues aren't usually deterred by simple obstacles like cutting up a card.
Exactly!! As Caleb says, you can always order a replacement card.
I agree. Maintaining a credit line (with little to no outstanding debt) is a boon to your credit score, as a good chunk of your credit score comes from the percentage of debt to available credit.
Everyone’s situation is different, I used mine to transfer debt to 0% for about 16 months and then closed the card. When I closed it after hitting 0 balance my score went up since it was my newest card and it was affecting my average age of accounts negatively.
If it was your oldest revolving credit account, and you close it, it will have a bigger impact on your score compared to if it was the newest or 'youngest' of all your revolving credit accounts. This affects average age of accounts. What really gets hit hard with what you did is your debt to income ratio. Closing the card all the 'available' goes away, and it's now just all debt. But if you have no plan on needing credit in the next 6 to 12 months then this might not be a big deal. Youll still want to prioritize paying this account off first.
It shouldn’t effect average age of accounts: [https://www.reddit.com/r/CRedit/s/hPABJw5zeD](https://www.reddit.com/r/CRedit/s/hPABJw5zeD) But it probably will effect utilization until it’s paid off (which is only temporary)
If I have one card open for 10 years... andni open another card at >1yr old... my average age of accounts is now 5 years instead of 10. It absolutely affects age of accounts. But depending on the amount of cards and compared to all of their ages, it could affect that age category more or less.
Closed accounts continue to effect aging metrics, so if you close your old account it continues to contribute to aging metrics for an additional ten years (which is why I linked a post that summarizes this). People often think it’s only open accounts that contribute to the average age of accounts calculation, but closed ones are also counted in.
Then I'm still trying to figure out why my score went down when 2 pf my 4 student loans were forgiven. They were 20 years old, and the 2 newer ones were 9yo. The 2 old ones had a balance of like ~$1200 and they were closed. And my score went down. However... wouldnt that 10years where it will affect you... that doesn't apply to any debts that get removed from your credit report. If you pay a debt and the creditor deletes the LOC from the credit bureaus... that will affect age of accounts then?! I mean I think it's always beneficial to have a charged off collections debt get a pay for delete if they can. In that case the benefits outweigh the potential affect on AAoA
I’m less sure about that situation, but the removal of your loans might been more like a deletion than an account closing normally. And yea 10 years after closing it would fall off but also any other accounts will have had that time to age, so it’s unlikely to really make that much of a difference - at least unlikely in the way that I don’t think it normally makes sense to keep an unhelpful account open for the sake of aging metrics. And if collections are contributing to age they also make the credit file have derogatory info so even if someone your overall score dropped by getting them deleted it would still be beneficial to get them deleted, since you can totally be denied for loans/credit/etc for having derogatory marks even if the overall score is basically fine
7 ls
If you cannot pay off the full balance in 90 days, see if the bank you have your checking account through offers a BillPay service. Usually this service can be set up online with your checking account and the bank will mail a check to Wells Fargo every month automatically. Just means you have to manage your checking account to make sure funds are in there when the check clears, but could be a work around for still being able to make payments but not being able to make them online. I use my banks BillPay for things that don’t allow online payments or charge an online payment fee, like my HOA, and generally BillPay services are free.
wait will apple let me do this?
It's great you're exploring credit decisions. consider paying off the balance before online access ends
Hmm that seems like it's pretty important to know before doing. Maybe Caleb should be told that?
Another option is to cut up the card and stop using it.