Canceling a credit card

**gmoreno** · 03-19-2004, 04:52 PM

Man I just got my federal tax return and I've paid off all my credit cards. Now I want to cancel all but my amex(which will get me in less trouble). So If I cancel a credit card will it affect my credit score. Someone told me this. Is that right?

**trickster** · 03-19-2004, 05:00 PM

AFAIK, you could cancel your credit cards, and then get a credit report from an agency. that way you can see how it affects. If it seems negative, you have a right to write a letter saying that the cards were not canceled by the companies, but by yourself. they should append that letter to your credit report.

http://www.fdic.gov/consumers/consum.../mistakes.html

**cloverm** · 03-19-2004, 05:03 PM

Nope. It makes no difference how many credit cards you currently have.
They look at if you made payments on time for the cards that you had in the past and it does not matter if those card are currently active or not.
The only other things that might affect you credit rating is if there are a lot of inqueries to your credit report within a short period of time. That lowers your credit rating.

**ph34r** · 03-19-2004, 06:02 PM

And having a ton of open credit can be bad as well... but so can having no open credit. Keep one or two of the "no annual charge" cards, don't carry 'em, just file them away.

**gmoreno** · 03-19-2004, 10:46 PM

Thanks guys. Will try to cancel them. I will only keep my Amex and my Wells for possible overdraft protection. I will file them to avoid temptation.

**TeRG** · 03-20-2004, 12:16 AM

I would use a check card when you can, and keep a credit card for emergancy. get rid of the rest.

**Kernel_Killer** · 03-20-2004, 12:31 AM

Thanks guys. Will try to cancel them. I will only keep my Amex and my Wells for possible overdraft protection. I will file them to avoid temptation.

Good plan. Be sure to use either from time to time so that your credit builds more. Like ph34r said, it is bad to have a 0 balance and not do anything with it. Be sure to keep a little on the card so that it doesn't look like you are avoiding a debt due to financial problems.

**gorn** · 03-20-2004, 01:58 AM

[quote author=Dusk_Knight link=board=14;threadid=8879;start=0#msg80177 date=1079741777]
I would use a check card when you can, and keep a credit card for emergancy. get rid of the rest.
[/quote]

It's good to use the credit card and then just pay it off right away, that way you build credit and you can earn money on the interest in the mean time. You don't want to use a credit card with money you don't have however.