What Happens When You Close an Account?
When you close an account, it’s no longer available for new transactions, but you’re still required to pay off any balance outstanding by paying at least the minimum owed each month by the due date. After the account is closed, the account status on your credit report gets updated to show that the account has been closed. For accounts closed with a balance, the creditor continues to update account details with the credit bureaus each month. Your credit report will show the most recently reported balance, your last payment, and your monthly payment history.
Removing Closed Accounts From Your Credit Report
In some cases, a closed account can be harmful to your credit score, especially if the account was closed with a delinquency, like a late payment or, worse, a charge-off. Removing the account from your credit score could potentially lead to a credit score increase. Removing a closed account from your credit report isn’t always easy, and is only possible in certain situations. If the account on your credit report is actually open but incorrectly reported as closed, you can use the credit report dispute process to have it listed as an open account. Providing proof of your account status will help your position. Having a credit account reported as closed (when it’s actually open) could be hurting your credit score, especially if the credit card has a balance. You can dispute any other inaccurate information regarding the closed account, like payments that were reported as late that were actually paid on time.
Goodwill Letter
You can use a goodwill letter to request that a creditor remove a closed, paid account from your credit report. Creditors don’t have to give in to a goodwill request, no matter how nicely you ask, but you may get lucky and find one who’s sympathetic to your request.
Pay for Delete
For accounts with balances, the “pay-for-delete” strategy can help you remove a closed account from your credit report. The pay-for-delete letter offers full payment of the outstanding amount in exchange for removing the account from your credit report. Again, creditors don’t have to comply. Occasionally, some creditors and debt collectors will agree to the arrangement with payment as an incentive to remove the account from your credit report.
Wait for Accounts to Drop Off
If you choose not to take steps to remove closed accounts, you’ll be happy to hear that these closed accounts won’t stay on your credit report forever. Depending on the age and status of the account, it may be nearing the credit-reporting time limit for when it will drop off your credit report for good. If that’s the case, all you might have to do is wait a few months for the account to fall off your credit report, and then for your credit report to update. If the closed account includes negative information that’s older than seven years, you can use the credit report dispute process to remove the account from your credit report. No law requires credit bureaus to remove a closed account that’s accurately reported and verifiable and doesn’t contain any old, negative information. Instead, the account will likely remain on your credit report for ten years or whatever time period the credit bureau has set for reporting closed accounts. Don’t worry—these types of accounts typically don’t hurt your credit score as long as they have a zero balance.
