Or pay off and close? I haven't been here for awhile, so looking for advice. Recently Chase upped my credit limit, but then out of the blue raised my rate to 20%!! (from 8.99) No late payments, or anything like that. Maybe overutilization is my guess, but considering the state of the economy, who knows?? Obviously, I am going to BT or pay off, but what's the best way to do this? I see my options as 1) Keeping the card open, but paying it off. 2) BTing to another card and closing it or keeping it open at a high rate (nooooo!) 3) Opting out, closing the account, keeping the same rate, and then immediately paying it half off. Thanks in advance!
Never close, then pay off. Always pay off, then close. The former will hurt your score worse than the latter. Is it one of your older cards? Does it have the highest limit of all the cards you have? Take a look at this thread: 5 Credit Cards You Should Never Close !!
