Generally, open credit card accounts look better on your credit report than closed accounts because open accounts add to your credit history.

It’s good for your credit score to have a long credit history. If you made the mistake of closing credit cards like I did and want to reopen the credit card, you can simply ask the credit card company to reopen the account.

However, this might result in them opening a new account.

Your best bet is to ask them beforehand whether it will show up as a new account on your credit report or the old account status will change to “open”.

Best case scenario, they agree to reopen the credit card.

Open Credit Cards Build Credit History

The reason why you want them to reopen the credit card is that credit cards marked as “open” on your credit report are generally better for your credit score than a closed account. You want this older credit card to continue to build history.

  • First of all, payment history has a big impact on your credit score –the more history (positive of course), the better your score will be.
  • Secondly, an open account indicates that you haven’t screwed up so bad that the creditor closed (or charged off) the account.

Therefore, if given the opportunity, it’s wise to ask the creditors of any closed accounts on your credit report to consider reopening the account.

Here is How I Got Capital One to Reopen My Account

First, I applied for and received a secured credit card to rebuild my credit (Open Sky Secured Credit Card is the card I got in case you’re wondering).

I kept up on the payments for one year. After the one year was up, I called their customer support and asked if they would “kindly consider reopening my account based on the recent steps I have taken to improve my credit score and the accounts I have in good standing as of right now.”

They checked my credit report and a few weeks later I received a new Capital One credit card with a $500 limit.

If the credit card you want to reopen has negative entries in its history, check out my article: How to Get Something Removed from Your Credit Report.