5 things to do close credit card before you

Do not even think about it you do five things cancel that card before.

Cancel unused credit cards can make room in your wallet, give identity thieves a lower follow your way, but it is not as easy as you think. There you have you cancel your card, you will not have problems, and later to tie some loose ends. Make sure you do two things listed below five.

1. Understand the impact to your credit score

Close the credit card hurt your credit score, because it will lower your credit utilization. This is the use of credit, the monthly amount you have available to you the ratio between the amount. You want a 30% or less than that. Any higher indicates that you need a lot of its prestige in order to maintain their way of life, it was concerned that the lender. Close credit cards can also reduce the average age, another factor playing to your credit score. If you had the card for a long time, this is especially true.

If doing so will improve your credit utilization exceeds 30 percent, to close credit card Think carefully. If the card does not charge an annual fee, you’re probably better to leave it open. But, if so, when you need it is unlikely that you need to cancel the rest of your credit card. You should also spread your spending on your card to make sure you do not exceed 30% of the credit limit on any one card.

2. Pay off your balance

Those who have an outstanding balance should try, they just close the card to pay off, if they want to get out of debt for good. Technically, you do not have to pay the balance, to close the card, but you’ll still be responsible for repayment, even if you are no longer debt holders, and your balance will still accrued interest at the same rate as before.

Consider a balance transfer card, if you can not afford the time to pay off the debt, but still want to get rid of the card. You will pay a fee, usually a balanced proportion, to complete the transfer, but then your balance for the promotion period, it can be anywhere from six ~21 months, depending on the interest accrued on the card does not exist. This will enable faster you repay what you owe.

3. You can use up any bonus

Although you still owe ÿ after we cancel the credit card balance, card issuers do not have that kind enough to let you keep your credit card AwardReed. Unless you have another card with the same issuer, you take that, you need to cancel your card using a credit card rewards all before.

Check your online accounts or updated credit card bills and see how much you pay now and see your redemption options. Some cards will let you use your bonus to reduce your next credit card bill if you can not find anything you like.

4. Let the authorized user know

You must notify your intention to cancel your credit card authorized user. Otherwise, they may try to make a purchase, only to have the card was declined. Come into contact with them and let them know the date when you intend to cancel the card, so that they can properly plan for upcoming expenses.

5. With the above in the past year, and look forward to the automatic payment card credit card bill to pay another card to switch repeat comb.

If any of the scheduled repeat, you have to switch to another credit card. Failure to do so may result in improper late fees and service interruptions.

Make a list of all automatic payments, then log in to your online account or contact for each company to update your credit card information over the phone. In doing so, before you cancel your old credit card is the best way to avoid problems.

According to the above steps may seem cumbersome, but it’s nothing next to you may have to deal with these problems, if you skip them. However, if you want to cancel your card is doing the right thing, be sure to set aside a half hour or five listed above do two things.