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That whole 'don't close old credit cards' advice finally clicked for me

I was skeptical for years about keeping my first credit card open with its tiny $500 limit. Figured it was just a waste of a card I never used. Then I applied for a car loan last spring and my score came back at 780, and the loan officer straight up said my average account age of 12 years was the main reason. Felt dumb for almost closing it back in 2019. Has anyone else had a similar moment where an old piece of advice turned out to be gold?

3 comments

3 Comments

matthewking3d ago

Haha that "average account age of 12 years" line REALLY hit home. I had a similar moment when I went to get a mortgage and my lender was like "hey, great job on that ancient Capital One card from college." I literally kept it open with a $300 limit for YEARS thinking it was useless, but that stupid little card ended up being my score's MVP. It felt so stupid when I realized the thing I almost canceled was actually the reason I got approved for a decent rate.

hernandez.gavin1d ago

I get what you're saying but I gotta push back on that. Keeping a card with a $300 limit open for years just for the credit score feels like a trap. You're basically letting a bank hold your credit history hostage. I closed my oldest account a few years back and my score dropped maybe 20 points for a month, then it bounced right back. The whole "never close old cards" advice gets thrown around too much without talking about the tradeoffs. If you're not using it and it's not hurting anything fine, but don't act like you HAVE to keep it. Your score will recover faster than you think and you're not stuck with some junk card forever just for a number.

ray6133d ago

Honestly, that "MVP" part is so real. I had this old Bank of America card I got when I was like 19 with a $500 limit. I barely used it for years because I had way better cards with rewards and higher limits, but whenever I thought about closing it, I got that gut feeling like "nah, just leave it." Turns out that one card is basically the only reason my average account age is over a decade. Ngl, when I bought my car last year the finance guy literally said "keep that old card forever, it's doing all the heavy lifting for your score." It's wild how something so small and dumb can carry so much weight.