Handling credit cards in preparation for a mortgage.....???

[Anonymous]

Hello:

Apologies if this has been asked before...

I am looking into apply for a mortgage sometime this fall, October or November and want to be in the best positon for approval.  My question is around credit cards. I currently have 24 credit cards (and way too much available credit).....admittedly, I chase sign up bonuses.  Anyhow, I am looking into closing some accounts that I no longer have use for or at least reducing some credit lines.  Would closing cards affect mortgage approval?  For reference sake, the cards I'm looking to close are not my oldest cards and I always keep my utilization ~$1500/month or less than 1% utilization.

Thanks!

[JediNeo]

Are there any annual fees on those cards? If not no harm in keeping them open. With that many cards my concern would be the balances that report, which will be used to calculate your DTI. Since you keep UTL @ 1% there shouldn't be an issue there.