 TITLE: 7 Common Credit Mistakes and How to Avoid Them CONTENT: Closing Credit Card Accounts\n----------------------------\nWhen you close a credit card account in good standing (meaning you've never missed a payment), its history can remain on your credit reports for up to 10 years. However, the action could wind up hurting your credit score, at least temporarily. That's because when you close a credit card, you lose its available credit, which could cause your total credit utilization rate to go up.\nAlso, your credit score will no longer benefit from on-time payments over time, which won't necessarily hurt your credit score, but it could impede its growth.\nThat said, if you don't have balances on your other credit cards, closing your card after paying it off may not be a major issue. It may also be worth risking a hit to your credit if you've struggled with overspending and don't want the temptation, or if the card has an annual fee and you won't get enough value from the account to make up for it. END