Alright... We bought a condo, sold a condo.... bought a house... been in it a year.... Now we have some equity. Not as much as I'd like but enough to basically eradicate my debt and pay off all the debt the wife hasn't been hiding from me I have like 7 cards that are all over the place as far as APR and limits. I know I want to keep my oldest, and I want to keep my best. Best being, highest limit at best APR. Question is, what do I do with the rest? Should I nuke 'em? Say I can get rid of 4 of 'em, should I? Should I kill them and then apply for say a discover card, or maybe another Chase of Citi card? My score rides in the 650's. I just bought a brand new car, and we have been in this brand new build for a year. I don't want to lose the credit I have by getting rid of cards, because credit is great to have in emergencies, but I know there is something I can do to make myself more attractive to creditors in the future. I had already cleaned up a default on a car loan based on info here a while ago ( I know, I should've paid it like everyone else has to ), so now that I have a really nice house, and brand new car.... the wife will get a new car with the relief of this equity loan as well.... I wanna sit low for the rest of my life But I wanna make sure my score gets as close to 800 as possible while doing that. Thanks in advance! Emrys
Getting rid of cards, even if unused, generally lowers FICO scores, due to the effect on debt to total credit ratio. If you have cards that have annual or monthly fees, those would be your main candiates to close. More important, for both FICO, and your financial health, is your total debt, and the monthly cash needed to carry it when compared with your monthly income. Just because someone will loan you money doesn't mean it makes financial sense for you to borrow.
