Closing a savings account does not directly damage your credit score
Closing a savings account on its own will not lower your credit score. Credit bureaus do not track savings accounts, money market accounts, or certificates of deposit. They track only credit activity—borrowed money and how you repay it. A savings account is not a credit product, so closing one produces no credit report entry and no score change.
What matters to your credit score is what you do with the money when you close the account and whether closing it affects any credit products you hold. If you straightforward move the funds elsewhere or spend them, your score stays the same. If closing the account forces you to miss a payment on a credit card or loan, or if it triggers an overdraft on a linked checking account, that is when damage occurs—but the damage comes from the missed payment or overdraft, not from closing the savings account itself.
Key Takeaways
- Savings accounts, money market accounts, and CDs are not credit products and do not appear on your credit report, so closing one has no direct effect on your score.
- Your credit score can be harmed only if closing the account leads to a missed payment on a credit card, loan, or other borrowed money.
- Closing a savings account does not reduce available credit or trigger a hard inquiry, so there is no indirect score impact.
- The timing of closing a savings account matters only if you need the funds to cover a payment due soon.
Why savings accounts do not appear on credit reports
Credit bureaus—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion—collect information only about credit accounts: credit cards, auto loans, mortgages, personal loans, student loans, and similar products where you borrow money and agree to repay it on a schedule. A savings account is your own money sitting in a bank. The bank does not report it to credit bureaus because you are not borrowing anything.
The same applies to checking accounts, money market accounts, and certificates of deposit. These are deposit accounts, not credit accounts. Closing any of them produces no credit report entry. The bank may report the closure to internal banking networks like ChexSystems (which tracks banking history for fraud prevention), but ChexSystems is separate from credit bureaus and does not affect your credit score.
When closing a savings account could harm your credit indirectly
Damage happens only if closing the account creates a cash flow problem that causes you to miss a payment on actual credit products. For example: if you close a savings account that you were using to cover your monthly credit card payment, and you do not move the funds to another account in time, you might miss the payment. A missed payment stays on your credit report for seven years and can lower your score by 100 points or more, depending on how late the payment is.
Similarly, if you close a savings account linked to a checking account and that checking account does not have enough balance to cover a scheduled payment, you could overdraft. An overdraft itself does not hurt your credit score, but if the overdraft causes a check to bounce or a payment to fail, the resulting late payment does.
The solution is straightforward: before closing a savings account, move any funds you need for upcoming bills to another account, or wait until after those bills are paid. There is no rush to close an account when ready.
Closing a savings account does not reduce your available credit
Some people worry that closing any account—even a savings account—will lower their credit score because it reduces available funds. This is a misunderstanding of how credit scores work. Credit scores measure credit behavior, not net worth or total assets. A savings account is not part of your credit profile at all, so closing it does not change your credit utilization ratio or available credit.
Available credit matters only for credit products. If you close a credit card with a $5,000 limit, your available credit drops by $5,000, and that can raise your credit utilization ratio and lower your score. But closing a savings account with $5,000 in it has no effect on available credit because a savings account was never part of your credit limit to begin with.
What actually happens to your credit when you close a savings account
When you close a savings account, the bank removes it from your account list. If the account was in good standing (no overdrafts, no fraud), the closure is neutral to your credit report. The account does not appear on your credit report while it was open, and it does not appear after it closes. Your credit report will not show a record of the closure unless you later dispute something or the bank reports fraud.
The only scenario where a savings account closure could create a credit report entry is if the account goes negative and the bank sends it to collections. If you close an account with a negative balance and do not pay it, the bank may report the debt to a collection agency, which then reports it to credit bureaus. That collection account will lower your score. But the damage comes from the unpaid debt, not from closing the account.
How to close a savings account without affecting your credit
The process is straightforward. Contact your bank by phone, in person, or through online banking and request to close the account. The bank will ask what you want to do with any remaining balance—transfer it to another account at the same bank, transfer it to another bank, or receive a check. Choose the option that works for you. If there are any fees or holds on the account, the bank will explain them at this time.
Before you close, check that no automatic payments or transfers are linked to the account. If you have set up automatic bill payments from this savings account, move those to another account first or cancel them and set them up elsewhere. This prevents the scenario where a payment fails because the account no longer exists.
Once the account is closed, you will receive written confirmation from the bank. Keep this confirmation in case you need to prove the account is closed for any reason. Your credit score will not change, but your banking records will reflect the closure.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will closing a savings account show up on my credit report?
No. Savings accounts do not appear on credit reports at all, whether open or closed. Credit bureaus track only credit products like credit cards and loans. Closing a savings account produces no credit report entry.
Can closing multiple savings accounts hurt my credit?
No. Closing ten savings accounts would have the same effect as closing one—no effect on your credit score. Only credit accounts matter to credit bureaus. You can close as many deposit accounts as you want without credit impact.
What if I have a negative balance when I close the account?
If you close an account with a negative balance and do not pay it, the bank may send the debt to a collection agency, which will report it to credit bureaus and lower your score. Pay any negative balance before closing, or arrange a payment plan with the bank.
Does closing a savings account affect my ability to get a loan?
Not directly. Lenders look at your credit score and credit history, not your savings accounts. However, if closing a savings account causes you to miss a credit payment, that missed payment will show up on your credit report and can make it harder to get a loan.
Should I keep a savings account open even if I do not use it?
There is no credit reason to keep it open. Closing an unused savings account will not hurt your score. The only reasons to keep it open are if the bank charges a monthly fee (in which case closing saves money) or if you want to maintain the account for emergency access to funds.