 TITLE: Does Closing an Account Hurt your Credit? CONTENT: Why Closing a Credit Card Account Can Impact Your Credit\n--------------------------------------------------------\nYour credit utilization ratio, also called your balance-to-credit-limit ratio, is the second most important factor in credit scores. It measures how much of your available revolving credit you're using at any given time. The lower your utilization rate, the better for your scores.\nIf you close a credit card account and still have balances on other cards, those balances will make up a greater percentage of your total available credit limit. To calculate your utilization ratio, divide the total of all your credit card balances by the total of all your credit card limits, then multiply by 100 to get a percentage.\nCredit score experts recommend keeping your utilization ratio under 30%, and people with the best scores tend to have utilization of less than 10%. END