A little over 2 years ago I got a Wells Fargo CC when I opened an account.

Since then I have switched banks but  was advised to keep the CC open as its hurt my credit to close it.

I used to pay the cellphone bill with it and then pau the card the next day but I haven't used it at all in probably 5 months.

So will it damage my credit if i close it? What will happen if I just leave it?

the correct answer is not as simple

If you have one card maxed and the other with 0 balance, yes it will.

total balance to limit should be less than 50%


Edit to add-

if you have ALOT of free unsecured debt limit (say 50K limits and no balances) it wouldnt hurt to close a couple. Having too much available credit can be a bad thing too

I have a couple other credit cards, never carry a balance on the , with a car loan if 4k left to pay.

Short answer, yes.


Are you concerned about your number?

Are you planning on buying something in the near future on credit?

If you only have that one card and close it out, you will have no revolving accounts, you will have no available credit.



Just use it and PAY IT COMPLETLY OFF EACH MONTH.

YOU WILL NOT PAY ANY INTREST CHARGES IF YOU DO THIS.

When you close the card, it may affect the average age of accounts. That new, probably won't hurt depending on how old your other accounts are.
It also changes your debt to credit ratio which will naturally increase it if you carry unsecured debt and you just closed a chunk off.

Depending on your profile it could be a blip that corrects in a month or a larger dip that bounces back in a few more months. Shouldn't be major. It will negatively impact your score but that's not sayin' much.

ETA: If you just leave it, nothing happens. In the future if you try to get more cards it could be using up your available credit extension (depends on their guidelines) but that's nothing. EG you've got $50k in unsecured debt. Their guidelines only allow up to $55,000 for your specfic profile so that leaves them only able to give you a $5,000 card. Unless you close some other lines.

Does your total free credit equal more than 50% of your yearly income?

If NO - do nothing.
If yes, have credit limits reduced on cards to < 50% annual income.