For context, I had an expensive auto repair come up and I inquired about going on a payment plan. I signed up for that not knowing it included signing up for the Napa auto/synchrony bank credit card. I know it’s my fault for not doing more research and asking more questions but I’m debating if I should keep it open or not as I can pay the full amount, I just thought monthly payments would give me a little breathing room. Also debating because I wasn’t sure if closing immediately would impact my credit score, the hard inquiry did about 7 points (currently 759 transunion) but wasn’t sure if immediately closing it would lower it further. The card has no annual fee but I’m not sure if I’d use it for anything other than auto repairs as I enjoy using my discover card. For reference I have 2 other credit cards but the oldest is a little over 2 years old.
how much will closing a brand new account hurt my score?
byu/disco0ccasionally inCreditCards
Posted by disco0ccasionally
6 Comments
Not too bad actually – closing new card won’t hurt much since it doesn’t have payment history yet. Main thing is you lose the available credit which might bump your utilization up bit if you carry balances on other cards. With only 2 year credit history though, keeping it open could help with average account age down the road even if you sock drawer it
Doesn’t an account on your report age for 10 years regardless?
Did it come with a 0% APR promo? If so, might as well keep it open for now and treat it as the payment plan you were looking for.
Will repost some stuff I’ve said on a different thread about this:
> Opening a new credit card typically causes your Average Age of Accounts (AAoA) to shorten, your Age of Youngest Revolving Account (AoYRA) to reset, and at least one new hard inquiry to appear on your credit reports (sometimes multiple). This all results in a temporary credit score drop. It also affects lender velocity rules such as Chase’s 5/24, influencing how likely you are to be accepted for another credit card soon after opening this one.
> Closing a credit card does not undo any of those changes. The damage there is done. But closing a card also does not cause any additional damage atop it all. Credit cards closed in good standing continue to contribute to aging metrics like AAoA and AoYRA for 10 years, and even after that span of time your credit will hardly be affected as your other cards will all be 10 years older than they were.
> The main thing to consider before closing a card is whether you think maintaining good relations with the issuing bank is important. Banks do not like it when people close a new credit card account shortly after opening it, and may blacklist you from being accepted for future cards from them for doing that. If we’re talking about a major lender like Citi, Wells Fargo, Capital One, etc. I would suggest keeping the card open for at least a year. If it’s a lender you do not care for, or especially if it’s a predatory lender, then you’re fine to close the card whenever.
A fair few people do not like Synchrony Bank much, and most would put them on par with Comenity and Citi as a lender. But tbqh I think they’re worth not burning a bridge with unless you absolutely have to, because they have a few decent credit cards to offer. Verizon Visa, Venmo Visa, PayPal Cashback Mastercard, and OnePay CashRewards.
Closing won’t hurt. But given you only have two years of history, you can consider keeping this card open to build credit history and lower utilization rate.
No reason to close up shop if there’s no AF🤷