How many cards do you have?

[Imperfectfuture]

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@HiLine wrote:

You have a very long credit history. Your number of credit cards is fine. What concerns me and your future lenders is the number of cards that carry balances and the utilization on each of them. Just consistently and persistently pay those balances off and your credit will be perfect.

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But OP isn't happy with that many cards.  There are many of us that believe if you no longer want nor need the card, close it.  In fact, the title of thread was about amount of cards, not how to pay down utilization.

[princessminor]

Thanks for info.  I read that closing would hurt my score.  Did you ever close and what was the outcome.  I have four cards with annual fee what I would love to close when they are paid for.  I just don't want my score to suffer if/when I close.  I

[princessminor]

You are correct because I tried to get a credit increase on the T.J Maxx card and I was first denied and the reason was high utilization.  Surprisingly though, a few days later when I logged on tho their site I was given an increase.   Go figure.  

[gdale6]

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@princessminor wrote:

Thanks for info.  I read that closing would hurt my score.  Did you ever close and what was the outcome.  I have four cards with annual fee what I would love to close when they are paid for.  I just don't want my score to suffer if/when I close.  I

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Closing a card should be done when it is at a 0 balance, you will lose that cards CL for available CL in the utilization category of Fico, so you want to make sure your util is in order as well before you close out cards. Closed cards stay on file for up to 10 years post close so your AAoA is not going to see a decrease immediately.

[princessminor]

Thank you.  What is AAoA? 

[gdale6]

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@princessminor wrote:

Thank you.  What is AAoA? 

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Average Age of Accounts. Fico calculates it on both open and closed OC accounts

[HiLine]

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@princessminor wrote:

Thanks for info.  I read that closing would hurt my score.  Did you ever close and what was the outcome.  I have four cards with annual fee what I would love to close when they are paid for.  I just don't want my score to suffer if/when I close.  I

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Lots of information for your reference in this thread: http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Closing-Credit-Cards/td-p/347190

[NRB525]

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@princessminor wrote:

I just recently started taking stock of my life and I believe we have too many credit cards. First off, I have high util about 90% on all, but we've never been late or missed a payemnt.  Most of our income goes to paying off these cards and I'm just tried of all of this.  I want to close some when I pay them off, but nervoius that scores will go down.  I have 23 cards and my husband has 10.  What should we do after we pay some off and some down. My oldest is '97 and youngest is '12.  Thanks in advance.

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This is not going to be so easy.

The advice given, to make minimum payments and pay extra, is great, in theory, but that is not the root of princessminor's problem.

You are living beyond your means. You note that DH has inconsistent income, only determined on a two week cycle. Is he earning hourly? That is difficult to make a useable budget, as you note. It is difficult to keep away from "Oh, there's some available credit on this card we can use to get by just for a short time".

There are 33 credit cards between the two of you. 33. Read that again, 33 cards. If all your spare income ( and I don't know if groceries are going onto these cards also, I am guessing the answer is yes) is going to make payments, that is a very bad sign about how you are going to be able to get on top of the cards, and live, at the same time.

The first thing you will have to realize is, you must stop using the credit cards, to get your daily spend on a level where you don't have to use the credit cards so you aren't using those as a budget crutch. If you are asking for CLI to try to borrow more on the cards, that is going in the wrong direction. One of the biggest annual spend items you currently have is credit card interest.

You still need to make the minimum payments, but I think you seriously need to go visit a Consumer Credit Couseling office to get some specific advice about handling your budget and planning.

Until you get on a spend pattern that does not go through the credit cards, and you also are making the minimum payments on the credit cards, you will not be able to follow the very good advice to pay extra on the highest APR cards to get the balances down.

This is not impossible to do, but it will be a significant life shift for you for several years. You must first face up to your current spend budget, then you will be able to make the hard changes necessary to get your spend / cash flow in order.

Good luck!

p.s. There should be no discussion of closing any of these cards for quite a while. Stop using them, certainly, but they should remain open so you can get the good marks in your FICO score for all the on-time payments you are going to be making to them over the next many years.

[Gunnar419]

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@princessminor wrote:

Thanks for info.  I read that closing would hurt my score.  Did you ever close and what was the outcome.  I have four cards with annual fee what I would love to close when they are paid for.  I just don't want my score to suffer if/when I close.  I

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Closing cards, by itself, doesn't hurt your score. Closing cards when you have high overall utilization or any balance at all on the closed card does hurt.

There are two schools of thought here at MyFico about card closing. One says never close any card unless it has an annual fee. The other side (which I'm on) says that if you feel you have too many cards, then you DO have too many cards and you should go ahead and close whatever cards you don't want. ONLY AT THE RIGHT TIME, though, and in your case the time isn't right.

As NBR says, you sound as if you're in a very precarious position with your number of cards, your huge utilization, and your family's uncertain income. You have a long haul ahead of you, but get those problems handled first before you close anything. Definitely stop charging on the cards. Period. DO NOT USE THOSE CARDS for the time being. Make a plan to start paying down the balances (either highest interest first or smallest balance first to give yourself a quick victory). Get an extra job or freelance income if you can. Stick to your plan, and if you have a problem and can't stick to it one month, then take a deep breath and return to it the next month. Then once your spending and debt is under control, close all the cards you want.

It's a GREAT thing that you've managed to keep current on all those accounts under your circumstances. It indicates that you have what it takes to solve the problem. Good for you.

Good luck!

[takeshi74]

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@princessminor wrote:

Does it hurt to have so many cards?  It just seems like too many for one person.  What is normally the concensus?  

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Consensus does not matter.  Each needs to determine how many cards they need/want and can reasonably manage.  Your problem isn't number of cards but a lack of proper budgeting and control over spending.  Without that in place no matter how few or how many cards you have you'll find yourself in trouble.

That said, you may find it easier if you had less cards as you'd have fewer opportunities to run up balances.  However, do not close anything with a balance as that can adversely affect your utilization.

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@princessminor wrote:

Thanks for info.  I read that closing would hurt my score.

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Having high utilization on most of your 33 cards is killing your scores.  At this point scores are the least of your concerns.  Your overall financial health needs to take precedence.  Once you have everything under control you can start worry about your scores.

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@Gunnar419 wrote:

Closing cards, by itself, doesn't hurt your score. Closing cards when you have high overall utilization or any balance at all on the closed card does hurt.

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That's potentially misleading.  Closing does impact utilization (covered in the Closing Credit Cards thread).  How much impact can vary but one can do the math to determine utilization before and after.  One doesn't have to start with high utilization to end up with high utilization after closing a card.

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@Gunnar419 wrote:

There are two schools of thought here at MyFico about card closing. One says never close any card unless it has an annual fee. The other side (which I'm on) says that if you feel you have too many cards

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There are more than those two.  There are those that close any card that is no longer useful to them, for example.