Closing the oldest Credit Cards *may* not impact the credit score

[pothi]

Sharing my experience with the community. YMMV.

I had only 2 credit cards until 5 months ago. No other loans. CIBIL was 796. Age of credit cards were 10 years and 7 years.

Made appr 10 inquiries since then and got two new credit cards. CiBIL dropped to 794, likely due to inquiries. Initially I got Amazon Pay ICICI card and then Airtel Axis CC.

Closed the oldest cards a couple of months ago one by one after getting the new cards.

Last month CIBIL score for three cards (two old cards and APay ICICI CC)… 795.

This month CIBIL score for just one card (APay ICICI CC)… 795

Airtel Axis CC is yet to be included in the CIBIL. I will update here after the inclusion.

Just sharing my experience. Please don’t blame me if you close your oldest CCs and see a drop in CIBIL score as the calculation of CIBIL score isn’t open to public, yet.

 

[D₹V]

I'm also thinking to close old accounts 💀 now.

 

[shrewdoc]

Share my experience with the community. YMMV.

I had only 2 credit cards until 5 months ago. No other loans. CIBIL was 796. Age of credit cards were 10 years and 7 years.

Made appr 10 inquiries since then and got two new credit cards. CiBIL dropped to 794, likely due to inquiries. Initially I got Amazon Pay ICICI card and then Airtel Axis CC.

Closed the oldest cards a couple of months ago one by one after getting the new cards.

Last month CIBIL score for three cards (two old cards and APay ICICI CC)… 795.

This month CIBIL score for just one card (APay ICICI CC)… 795

Airtel Axis CC is yet to be included in the CIBIL. I will update here after the inclusion.

Just sharing my experience. Please don’t blame me if you close your oldest CCs and see a drop in CIBIL score as the calculation of CIBIL score isn’t open to public, yet.

You'll notice a change in score in next 1 or 2 months, as your credit age went from 10 years to 0.

Also, as your utilisation will get changed now, you'll see your score change accordingly. For the best analysis, get a CIBIL subscription and check for yourself.

If you are really into credit score, pay all your bills before generation and let it generate to 0. Then your score will get increased super fast.

Also another major factor I noticed from personal experience is, if you're letting your bills generate normally without pre-paying them, you need to keep utilisation below 30% on each account, contrary to popular belief that overall utilisation should be below 10%. As my overall utilisation was 6% but utilisation on a single card account was ~70%, my score dropped significantly.

 

[pothi]

Good points @shrewdoc . I will keep this thread updated on how things go from here.

As far utilisation, I used to spend upto 75%. Now, less than 2%. 😁

I don't care much about CIBIL score. That's why I went on and closed the oldest cards.

Always used auto-pay for CC payment. With ICICI, I just haven't found a way as I don't have an SB account with it.

 

[SSV]

keep utilisation below 30% on each account, contrary to popular belief that overall utilisation should be below 10%. As my overall utilisation was 6% but utilisation on a single card account was ~70%, my score dropped sigsignificantly

It actually works like this way only..
Individual utilization matters , always..

 

[Batman]

My oldest CCs are HDFC (4y) and Citi (3y), both LTF. Hopefully there will never a need to close them, but good to know this experience.

 

[SSV]

It actually works like this only..
Individual utilization matters , always..

However, how getting other cards make things better is:
spreading expenses across more cards keeping individual utilisation less,
(Not overall utilisation )

This is a false notion about overall utilisation

 

[Pack_of_Cards]

Closed my oldest account (ICICI CC) nothing happened (checked latest score), overall utilization of was less (7-8%) occasionally crossed 50% mark on AMEX MRCC, but one thing I noticed I took home loan 4 months back CIBIL jumped from 780 to 791. So I guess secured lending do impacts in a positive way.

 

[SSV]

Closed my oldest account (ICICI CC) nothing happened (checked latest score), overall utilization of was less (7-8%) occasionally crossed 50% mark on AMEX MRCC, but one thing I noticed I took home loan 4 months back CIBIL jumped from 780 to 791. So I guess secured lending do impacts in a positive way.

Yes, that too home loan specifically

 

[pothi]

My oldest CCs are HDFC (4y) and Citi (3y), both LTF. Hopefully there will never a need to close them, but good to know this experience.

For me, both closed cards were paid and mostly useless legacy cards. If they were LTF, I may not have closed them.

 

[Batman]

For me, both closed cards were paid and mostly useless legacy cards. If they were LTF, I may not have closed them.

Oh yes, I completely understand where you were coming from. The HDFC I had was LTF based on salary account, but Citi was made LTF only 2 months ago. I had to wait 3 long years, but luckily the fee was waived each year.

 

[pothi]

Last month CIBIL score for three cards (two old cards and APay ICICI CC)… 795.

This month CIBIL score for just one card (APay ICICI CC)… 795

Airtel Axis CC is yet to be included in the CIBIL. I will update here after the inclusion.

The score is dropped by 8 points after the inclusion of Airtel Axis CC. (Credit) Usage is increased by 3%, though.

However, I am not sure if it is due to addition of a new card (or increase in credit utilisation) or due to recent drop in score for multiple people...

CIBIL score dropped by 22 points

Yesterday, the score was 796. No bill due, nothing. In fact, the last remaining bill was overpaid by Rs. 2 before the bill generation date. I refreshed the report today, and the score is 774. Nothing in Alerts section, no SMS from CIBIL regarding any new addition/deletion/update/enquiry. Only...

www.technofino.in

Keeping my fingers crossed for the next month!

 

[Vasuki]

Closed oldest account ( Flipkart pay later... ) No drops

 

[axb]

I have an ICICI Platinum card as my oldest card(5 years) and recently got a Coral Rupay card. If I close the Platinum one would that impact my total credit age?

 

[Vasuki]

I have an ICICI Platinum card as my oldest card(5 years) and recently got a Coral Rupay card. If I close the Platinum one would that impact my total credit age?

No
If u get coral as surrogate..
All icici card comes under one account in cibil

 

[Deveshm18]

I was talking to my HDFC RM today and he let me know that the reason I keep receiving low limit from HDFC may be because my total credit limit from other banks is too high. Not sure how true this statement is but it led me to think I should close some CCs I don’t use.

I currently hold 3 ICICI CCs
Icici mmt and Icici sapphiro share one limit
Icici hpcl coral has an individual limit

Coral is my oldest card may 2022
Mmt is my second oldest card July 2022

I am thinking I’ll close the coral cc since it’s of no use to me. What do you guys suggest? It’s my oldest card so not sure if it’ll impact my Cibil negatively

 

[Vasuki]

I was talking to my HDFC RM today and he let me know that the reason I keep receiving low limit from HDFC may be because my total credit limit from other banks is too high. Not sure how true this statement is but it led me to think I should close some CCs I don’t use.

I currently hold 3 ICICI CCs
Icici mmt and Icici sapphiro share one limit
Icici hpcl coral has an individual limit

Coral is my oldest card may 2022
Mmt is my second oldest card July 2022

I am thinking I’ll close the coral cc since it’s of no use to me. What do you guys suggest? It’s my oldest card so not sure if it’ll impact my Cibil negatively

Don't believe in RM words all icici account comes under one category.

Have good balance in hdfc . update your profile & wait for pre approved offer

 

[Deveshm18]

Don't believe in RM words all icici account comes under one category.

Have good balance in hdfc . update your profile & wait for pre approved offer

for mmt and sapphiro the available credit limit decreases in the other card if I spend in one card but for coral it doesn’t decrease at all that’s why I thought it’s different limit. It is also present as a separate Cibil entry for accounts, I have 2 Cibil entries from ICICI which i assume is due to coral and mmt+sapphiro. For other banks where I have multiple cards with shared limit they only show up as 1 entry in Cibil report.

I already hold millennia from HDFC received 2.75Lakh limit as of now. What do you mean by “update your profile”?

 

[pothi]

I was talking to my HDFC RM today and he let me know that the reason I keep receiving low limit from HDFC may be because my total credit limit from other banks is too high. Not sure how true this statement is but it led me to think I should close some CCs I don’t use.

I currently hold 3 ICICI CCs
Icici mmt and Icici sapphiro share one limit
Icici hpcl coral has an individual limit

Coral is my oldest card may 2022
Mmt is my second oldest card July 2022

I am thinking I’ll close the coral cc since it’s of no use to me. What do you guys suggest? It’s my oldest card so not sure if it’ll impact my Cibil negatively

Until the CIBIL evaluation is made public, things can go wrong when closing a card (or any other loan). That said, CIBIL is all about the ability to repay the loan (credit card due). Closing a card doesn't make a person less trustworthy for repayments. So, one shouldn't worry about closing a card irrespective of its age.

 

[Vasuki]

for mmt and sapphiro the available credit limit decreases in the other card if I spend in one card but for coral it doesn’t decrease at all that’s why I thought it’s different limit. It is also present as a separate Cibil entry for accounts, I have 2 Cibil entries from ICICI which i assume is due to coral and mmt+sapphiro. For other banks where I have multiple cards with shared limit they only show up as 1 entry in Cibil report.

I already hold millennia from HDFC received 2.75Lakh limit as of now. What do you mean by “update your profile”?

In net banking your details of income & range etc