This post originally appeared April 12, 2018 on CreditCards.com as “Too many new cards hurt my score. Should I cancel them?“
By Barry Paperno
Dear Speaking of Credit:
I ran into an issue this past year by opening up too many lines of credit. Previously, I had a pretty decent score for being only 25 years old.
I have a few cards that are not carrying any balance, and I’ve had them for more than six years now. The problem is, this past year I opened too many lines of credit and I think it hurt my score.
I went from an average credit age of around four years to now around two, and there probably were too many hard inquiries.
My score dropped around 35 points, and I’m not sure what I can do to raise it. I am only using around 20 percent of total credit, too.
Would it help to pay off and cancel some of these newer accounts? Or should I just ride the bullet and hope for the best. – Jordan
Dear Jordan,
Good for you at having amassed such an impressive credit history at such a young age. Unfortunately, you now seem to be seeing why credit experts always recommend opening new accounts only when necessary.
Despite not knowing your credit score, just knowing you have been able to obtain multiple new accounts with so little prior history tells us your score must have been a good one – over 700 – before the drop.
And even after having dropped 35 points, your credit score might still qualify you for even more new credit.