Closing credit cards that are paid in full and not using?
I have a few credit cards that at one time I used but not longer use because I try to keep a 0% interest card and use that.
My question is should I close these cards? They all have $0 balances on them but I do not want to hurt my credit score by doing this.
Tags: Cards, Closing, Credit, Full, Paid, Using
You should keep some open credit. This shows that you have credit and are responsible about using it. Now if you have a lot of them, say more that four or five it should be OK to close a couple. But always have a few open inactive accounts, this is good for your credit score.
Closing store cards (Target, Macy’s, Sears, ect) is neither good nor bad on your credit report if they have a zero balance, but closing credit cards may affect you negitively.
myfico.com has a 30 day free trial. It will show your credit report and it has a credit sumulator to tell you what may happen if you close those accounts.
Your credit score should go up if you close them.
I would say it depends on how many you have since a full 30% of your credit score is made up of your debt to credit ratio.
If you have over 3 credit cards, go ahead and close them, but for the best credit profile and score you need 3 credit card accounts (revolving) with balances below 30% of your limit and 2 cars, boats, homes, furniture or personal accounts (installment) all with good long payment history’s.
Well, first off, your credit score should only matter if you are getting ready to finance a large purchase (like a home or car). If you aren’t doing either one anytime soon, your credit score is inconsequential to you. NOT closing cards is the most over-used and over-rated piece of advice given people to “manage their credit scores”.
If you don’t need to secure financing for a while, close them. Then allow your good standing with service providers and any other debt providers to “build” or maintain your credit.
If, at the time you need financing, you can prove good standing with all creditors and service providers, prove a good and reliable income, and have money to put down – you’ll get a competitive interest rate.
no leave them open ok it will help your creadit
Better to keep them open. You don’t have to use them.