Ok, I'm a newbie here so please forgive me if I'm rambling. I just got interested in my credit again, thinking of buying a house next year. I only had 2 low limit credit cards, CAP 1 and Lowes for quite a few years. I lived off cash mainly. Here's my dilema. This past month I applied for the following and got: Hooters $750 Best Buy MC $2000 (cld to $1,100 and I was upset about that, they said it was because I did a transfer to USAA for $25 and they frown upon that) Kay's Jewelers $3000 Juniper ATA $750 Macy's ($200) Nordstrom $500 CCCU $2500 Lowes $400 Not bad for one month (CAP 1 and Lowes, I had for a while). Well this month, I ran up Best Buy and HSBC but I just paid off HSBC and will pay off Best Buy next week. Macy's I just pay off as soon as I charge. Same with ATA. I just applied for Emigrant Direct MC and they said they will get back to me. Now I'm having remorse and want to cancel all my cards and just live off cash. Should I do that especially with my goal of buying a home next year? Is there any lender who will loan me mortgage without a tradeline? For some reason I liked living off cash and just using my debit cards, even when I go on vacation I never had any problems with using my debit card to pay for my trips, hotels, car rentals. I love purses so I buy designer purses such as Louie Vuitton, Coach, etc. but I never went in debt for them. Now I find myself being really really afraid to have credit. Maybe it's because of my divorce and losing everything the first time around, i.e., my house and my car. It's been a long 7 years but now I miss the freedom of being truly truly free, i.e., I feel that I can pack up and go anywhere I want to without the burden of having to work to pay off any debt. Again sorry but it is what it is for me right now. I'm just worried about buying a house and being declined. BTW, because of where I live this house would be used for a vacation rental for tourists so its sort of an investment for me. Thanks for listening.