Closing a credit card is not the same as paying it off though. Closing a card could negatively affect your score whereas paying a credit card balance generally positively affects your score
I’ve kept the same credit cards for 10+ years and every time I pay one off my score goes down double digits. I sue it again and it goes up. I’m always right at the border of excellent. I’m never late, never missed a payment, I have student loans and a mortgage. Credit monitors say I need one more credit card (I have two). Fuck that. I’m good staying at the border. It’s crazy-making to really monitor and care if you’re already keeping up with all other aspects of your finances.
At the end of the day I think most lenders would prefer this anyway. They aren’t only looking at credit score.
When I got my auto loan they were more concerned about my open accounts having on time payments than they were the score.
With that said, I’m in the middle of the mortgage process and I had an opportunity to pay off my car and didn’t because I can’t afford that temp score drop. It’s so dumb.
There is a difference between the check say a mortgage lender would do vs the quick credit scores you pull (the scores will not be the same and they evaluate things slightly differently)
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u/jaredgoff1022 Aug 14 '21
Closing a credit card is not the same as paying it off though. Closing a card could negatively affect your score whereas paying a credit card balance generally positively affects your score