I repeat, closing store cards helped my FICO score
So if you recall, back in February, I closed all my store cards, and by March my FICO score was up 10 points. That post has gotten a lot of comments, most of which I have filtered out because they contain questionable assertions, which I don’t want to be responsible for passing along to people who got to my blog from a search engine query (and obviously need good advice).
I’m happy to report that in April it went up another 10 points, and stayed the same in May. For those of you who thought that something negative came off my credit report at the same time coincidentally and that I was foolish to close all the store cards, I will point out that I’m a very responsible 24-year-old, who has never had a derogatory item. Since I was 16, I’ve had a handful of store cards, and a few bankcards.
Last fall, I was enthralled with the personal finance blogosphere. I read voraciously, looking for tips and tricks from people savvier than I. But now that I’m satiated, I see that online PF sites are no better than their brick & mortar counterparts in the financial sector–everybody wants to sell you something, and/or profit from your dependency on them. Often they retell you the same myths that have been told for years.
All I can offer is my experience: I closed my store cards, continued making on-time payments of slightly-above-minimum, and in two months, my score rose 20 points.
May 28, 2008
Yep – Best Buy and those kinds of cards will not help as much as a Visa from BoA. Great story!Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the comment. Though I think evil, evil, evil Bank of America would not help anyone’s credit much either:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/finance/bofa_cc.html
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Banking/CreditCardSmarts/CreditCardCompaniesEvilTricks.aspx?page=2
http://www.marchofcrimes.com/boa.html
http://www.bankofamericaboycott.com/
http://www.bankofamericasucks.com/index.php
http://www.coopamerica.org/programs/responsibleshopper/company.cfm?id=190