Should you cancel an unused credit card?

If you own a credit card you no longer use, you may consider cancelling that card.

The reasons for cancelling a card can vary, but your issuer might have:

If you’re intent on closing your card, you should be aware that it might damage your credit rating. Before you make a decision, take these three steps to ensure your decision is a well-informed one.

1. Review your credit history

Look at how long you’ve held each of your cards. You can do this by getting a free credit report. If the card you want to close is one you’ve held for years, you may want to reconsider.

Why? When computing your credit score, the three major credit reporting agencies take into account the length of time you’ve had a credit file open.

If your credit score is excellent, closing one card may not have a big effect on your standing. But if you have a less-than-stellar credit rating, cancelling a long-held card will reduce the average age of your accounts, which in turn can negatively affect your score.

2. Look at your available credit

Closing a credit card also will impact the percentage of available credit you have access to. This is known as your credit utilisation ratio, and it’s another contributing factor that goes into computing your score. Generally speaking, the more credit you have access to and the less you use it, the better it is for your score.

If you own two credit cards, each with a £5,000 limit, and carry a balance of £2,500 on one, you’re using 25% of your total available credit. But, close one of those cards and now that balance uses up 50% of your available credit.

Anytime you close a card, it will lower your total available credit, which could affect your score. How much will depend on how many other cards you have and how much total debt you’re carrying on those cards.

3. Look at the big picture

If the card has a hefty annual fee, or if you’re a hard core credit card maximiser who churns and burns through cards and their sign-up bonuses, then it may be worth it to consider cancelling, but look first at your overall credit profile to see how it may affect your score.

If you find that you have more cards than you can handle, or you just want to simplify things, you may be better off putting that unwanted card in a drawer and forgetting about it. And, that card’s credit limit also will help factor into your credit utilisation ratio, so even if you aren’t using it, the line of credit you were granted with that card can still help you.

Keep in mind that even an account that was in good standing when it was closed can remain on your credit report for up to 10 years.

How to cancel a credit card

This is how you cancel a credit card:

Most people don’t keep every card they’ve ever opened. So, here are a few recommendations for those times when you must dump a card:

Also, scores reflect current monthly balances, so if you can pare down debt on other cards after closing an account, your score can make a speedy recovery.