11 cards 3 with balances

[laryn41]

Do I close? Most i don't use and others I use for small purchases when needed then pay.  Most are store cards that I used to get the discount.  Have a 725 credit  score.

Thanks for your help

[Anonymous]

I think it really depends on old the accounts are you want to close, for AAoA.

[haulingthescoreup]

First, read this: Closing Credit Cards

Closing CC's won't hurt your AAoA, because closed accounts are included in scoring. Closed accounts generally stay on your reports for 10 years, although they sometimes fall off early (or stay longer.)

If you do decide to close, keep enough open to cover the number of cards that you usually let report balances. If three cards normally report balances, keep 7 open: two times the number of cards with balances, plus one. If four cards normally report balances, keep 9 open. This will help avoid the ding for "too many CC's with balances" (reason code #23 on Equifax and TransUnion.)

When choosing which cards to close, shoot for the younger cards. And whatever you do, keep the oldest account open, unless there is just something completely horrendous about it. Although closed accounts still can count for longest history, when it falls off you might well miss that old account.

[GregB]

This sounds FABULOUS. I find it difficut to improve on this by closing any accounts unless you have any accounts with fees.

[RobertEG]

When you close an account, all you are assured of instantly losing is  its CL in your % util calculation, and then, only provided it is closed with no balance.

Loss of a CC and its CL to your overall % util is just not a gain.

As has been said, closed accounts still account in your AAoA calcualtion, so no immediate gain or loss there.

Accounts closed by you never delete any prior credit reporting of derogs done on the account,  So you cant do your own CR deltion of derogs by closing an account.

Most account closures are done to avoid recurring charges on an open account. 
Financial, not FICO scoring. issues/

[smallfry]

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:

First, read this: Closing Credit Cards

Closing CC's won't hurt your AAoA, because closed accounts are included in scoring. Closed accounts generally stay on your reports for 10 years, although they sometimes fall off early (or stay longer.)

If you do decide to close, keep enough open to cover the number of cards that you usually let report balances. If three cards normally report balances, keep 7 open: two times the number of cards with balances, plus one. If four cards normally report balances, keep 9 open. This will help avoid the ding for "too many CC's with balances" (reason code #23 on Equifax and TransUnion.)

When choosing which cards to close, shoot for the younger cards. And whatever you do, keep the oldest account open, unless there is just something completely horrendous about it. Although closed accounts still can count for longest history, when it falls off you might well miss that old account.

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+1. Try hard to keep the oldest one open as it will help point wise down the road maybe more than you think.

[vanillabean]

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:

If you do decide to close, keep enough open to cover the number of cards that you usually let report balances. If three cards normally report balances, keep 7 open: two times the number of cards with balances, plus one. If four cards normally report balances, keep 9 open. This will help avoid the ding for "too many CC's with balances" (reason code #23 on Equifax and TransUnion.)

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This reminds me that I need another card to make it an odd number.