Should I close my credit cards?

If you close an account, it remains on your credit card for 10 years. When its on your report, it still helps your Average age of accounts, and length of credit history.

Lets take a worst case scenario. Your oldest account (capital one) is 10 years old). Your second oldest is 1 month old. Even if you close your oldest account, your second oldest account will be 10 years old by the time it falls off, so it really doesn't hurt you as much as it sounds.


Now if you have a high percent of credit utilization (debt to available credit) then closing any accounts will increase your utilization, which can kill your score. If your credit utilization is high, then don't close any accounts without a good reason.

I think a lot of people aim for a fico score of 850, where they try to get everything perfect. The fact is, anything above 760 is probably good enough. Pay things on time, keep your utilization low, and don't apply for too many new cards, and you will be fine. If the capital one doesn't suit you, close it, then get a card that gives you decent rewards. Maybe even have 2-3 you use depending on where you are at.

For example, AMEX BCP gives you 6% back on groceries, Penfed, 5% on gas, etc. Maximize your rewards that way, and send capital one to the trash.