Hey Hey! It's Q & A Friday!!!
Q: Hi, I opened up a credit card at Kohls while shopping last week. I didn't charge anything, and I haven't called in to activate it. Can I close the card, since it's not activated and not have it hurt my credit?
A: Hello; hmm let me guess…. You got a discount of some sort at the register.
At any rate, the card is active, once you're approved for the card it's pretty much ready to go; calling in is allows you to start charging. With a week's time passing, the card's info has already been sent to the bureaus and the hard inquiry should be reflecting as well.
So, the hard inquiry may have affected your scores (up to 10% of scores), the length of age has probably affected your scores since a new account has been factored into your history (up to 15% of scores); and if it's reporting, the credit limit has been factored into your utilization (up to 30% of credit scores).
Honestly, unless you need the card or the credit limit is helping your overall utilization (which I doubt) go ahead and close it. With timely payments on your other accts you should be fine, further you've had it for all of 2 seconds (in payment history years 🙂 ).
Hope this helps!
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