Closing a bank account does not directly hurt your credit score
Closing a checking or savings account at your bank will not show up on your credit report and will not change your credit score. Banks do not report account closures to the three major credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — the way they report credit card activity or loan payments. Your credit score is built from credit history: how you borrow money, how much you owe, and whether you pay on time. A bank account is a place you keep money you already have, not borrowed money, so it does not factor into the calculation.
That said, closing an account can create indirect problems that do affect your credit if you are not careful about the timing and the reason. The damage comes not from the closure itself, but from what happens around it.
Key Takeaways
- Closing a bank account does not appear on your credit report and will not lower your credit score on its own.
- If you close an account while you owe money on a debit card or overdraft, the bank may send that debt to a collection agency, which will damage your credit.
- Closing an account can make it harder to pay bills on time if you do not set up automatic payments from a new account first.
- Banks may report the closure to ChexSystems, a separate banking history database that affects your ability to open new accounts, but this is different from your credit score.
When account closure creates credit damage
The real risk happens when you close an account while carrying a balance or owing money. If you have an overdraft balance, a negative account balance, or an unpaid fee, the bank will try to collect it. If you do not pay, the bank can sell the debt to a collection agency, and that collection account will appear on your credit report and lower your score.
Before you close any account, check the balance and make sure it is zero or positive. If there are any outstanding fees or overdraft charges, pay them first. Call the bank and confirm the account is clear before you submit the closure request.
Another indirect path to credit damage is missed bill payments. If you close your checking account and forget to update the account information for automatic bill payments — utilities, insurance, loan payments, credit card minimums — those payments will fail. Late or missed payments go on your credit report and damage your score. Set up the new account and update all automatic payments before you close the old one.
The difference between credit score and banking history
Banks use a separate system called ChexSystems to track account closures, overdrafts, and other banking behavior. ChexSystems is not your credit score, and it does not appear on your credit report. However, when you try to open a new bank account, the new bank will check your ChexSystems record. If you closed an account with an unpaid overdraft or negative balance, that will show up in ChexSystems, and the new bank may refuse to open an account for you.
Some banks also use Early Warning Services, another banking history database. Both systems track account closures due to fraud or abuse, but a routine closure of a healthy account will not harm you in either system.
How to close an account without damaging your credit
Start by reviewing your account statement for the past three months. Make a list of every automatic payment, direct deposit, or recurring charge tied to that account. Contact each one — your employer for direct deposit, your insurance company, your utility company, your loan servicer — and provide the new account number.
Call the bank and ask them to confirm the account balance is zero and there are no outstanding fees or holds. Ask them to put the closure request in writing so you have a record. Some banks will close an account immediately; others take five to ten business days. Do not close the old account until you have confirmed that at least one billing cycle has passed with the new account active and all payments have gone through.
If the bank tells you the account cannot be closed because of an outstanding balance, ask what the balance is and pay it immediately. Do not close the account until it is resolved.
What happens to pending checks and transfers
If you close an account while checks are still outstanding, those checks will bounce when they are deposited. The person who wrote the check may face overdraft fees, and you may face legal liability depending on the amount and your state. Before closing, wait at least 30 days after you stop writing checks from that account to make sure all outstanding checks have cleared.
Automatic transfers set up through your bank's bill pay system will fail if the account is closed. Transfers set up through a third party — like a payment app or another bank — may also fail. Update or cancel all transfers before you close the account.
Closing a credit card versus closing a bank account
Closing a credit card account is different from closing a bank account and does affect your credit score. When you close a credit card, you lose the available credit on that card, which can raise your credit utilization ratio (the amount you owe divided by your total available credit). You also lose the payment history on that card, which can lower your score if it was one of your oldest accounts. Bank accounts do not have any of these effects because they are not credit products.
If you are trying to improve your credit score, closing a bank account will not help or hurt. Closing a credit card, on the other hand, can lower your score in the short term, even if you pay off the balance first.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will closing my bank account show up on my credit report?
No. Bank account closures do not appear on your credit report. Only credit products — credit cards, loans, lines of credit — show up in your credit history. Your bank account is not a credit product, so the closure will not affect your credit score.
What if I close my account and then get sent to collections?
If you owed money on the account when you closed it, the bank can send that debt to a collection agency even after the account is closed. A collection account will appear on your credit report and lower your score. Pay any outstanding balance or fees before you close the account to avoid this.
Can I reopen a closed bank account?
Most banks will not reopen a closed account. If you need to access funds or reverse a transaction, you will have to open a new account. Some banks have waiting periods — 30 to 90 days — before you can open a new account if you closed the previous one with a negative balance or unpaid fees.
Does closing a savings account hurt my credit differently than closing a checking account?
No. Savings accounts and checking accounts are both deposit accounts, not credit accounts. Closing either one will not appear on your credit report or affect your credit score. The same rules about outstanding balances and automatic payments apply to both.
If I have a debit card tied to my account, what happens when I close it?
The debit card will stop working once the account is closed. If you have recurring charges set up on that debit card, they will fail. Update all merchants and subscription services with a new payment method before you close the account. If charges fail after closure, the merchant may report it as a failed payment, though this typically does not affect your credit score since debit cards are not credit products.