Credit Q&A: Will Canceling a Card Hurt My Score?

As a side note, one area that consumers shouldn’t be overly concerned about when it comes to closing cards is how it will affect the age of their credit report, contrary to what their financial institution may or may not tell them. This is because, as Paperno says, FICO looks at closed accounts when it calculates your score.

“As long as the account is on the credit report, regardless of whether it's open or closed, you are going to get the benefit of the age of the account, plain and simple,” John Ulzheimer, president of consumer education for SmartCredit.com, says. He explains that the bureaus are likely to keep a closed account on file, even if the lender chooses to stop reporting the account.

“The credit bureaus can choose to eventually remove it, and most of them do so after 10 years of inactivity,” Ulzheimer says.  “But by then everything else has aged 10 more years so it's really a painless event.”

Want to know what affects your credit score? Email your questions to editors@mainstreet.com.

—For the best rates on loans, bank accounts and credit cards, enter your ZIP code at BankingMyWay.com.