topic Re: Unused credit cards?? in Credit Cards

Unused credit cards??

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 19:05:12 GMT

I have several unused credit cards. Will it hurt my FICO score to close them? I want to either close them or have the credit line lowered. Which is better?

Thank you!

Re: Unused credit cards??

Tuscani — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 21:03:01 GMT

Are they costing you money? If not, leave them.

Re: Unused credit cards??

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 03:55:30 GMT

Thank you for the late night reading LOL! The cards do not have fees, the interest is just so high that I only used them to get the intro 20-30% off my large purchase then paid them off. I must have about $15,000 worth of them so I thought it showed my intent to be in debt and thus lowered my score.

What can I do to raise my score then? I am at 710 now.

Thanks for any help!

Re: Unused credit cards??

Tuscani — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 12:59:39 GMT

I would leave them be.

What is your current util? Any baddies?

Re: Unused credit cards??

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 15:18:48 GMT

I'm sorry what's util? No baddies....as in lates or missed no.

Re: Unused credit cards??

SpecFile — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 15:46:11 GMT

util is utilization. Util is a certain percentage based on your total CL and the balance that you carry on the card.

Example: AMEX Gold with $1,000 CL and you carry a $100 balance.

Your util is 10%

Message Edited by SpecFile on 08-22-2007 10:46 AM

Re: Unused credit cards??

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 16:23:34 GMT

Nope, no util....I don't use them at all they have 0 balance.

Re: Unused credit cards??

SpecFile — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 16:51:40 GMT

skyvixxen wrote:
Nope, no util....I don't use them at all they have 0 balance.

If you sock drawer ever card you have then your credit score is suffering because of it. The best case scenario for your score is when they report between 1-9% util to the CRAs.

Message Edited by SpecFile on 08-22-2007 11:51 AM

Re: Unused credit cards??

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 16:57:57 GMT

Well, the ones in my sock drawer are the department store cards with very high interest. (Victoria's Secret, Dell, Express, Macys, Target, etc.) I do not use them (unless I order online then I just pay it off) that's why I was wondering if I should close them or not. I do have normal Visa & MC that I do use.

I wanted to know if it hurt my credit score more to close them, reduce the limit or just leave them alone in the sock drawer.

Re: Unused credit cards??

SpecFile — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 17:10:31 GMT

skyvixxen wrote:
Well, the ones in my sock drawer are the department store cards with very high interest. (Victoria's Secret, Dell, Express, Macys, Target, etc.) I do not use them (unless I order online then I just pay it off) that's why I was wondering if I should close them or not. I do have normal Visa & MC that I do use.

I wanted to know if it hurt my credit score more to close them, reduce the limit or just leave them alone in the sock drawer.

How long have you had them open? If it has been a while then you should keep those positive TLs and their history. If they are not costing you any money then that's an even better reason to keep them. If you are trying to build a solid credit history, high APR cards should not bother you because you are only using them to build your score up.

If you close some of your CCs your total CL will decrease and that will usually raise your util which in turn hurts your score.

Re: Unused credit cards??

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 17:56:38 GMT

So basically they are better off sitting in my sock drawer? The newest would be about 2 years old and some of them I have had close to 10 years. Yes, no fees just very high interest 20% + up which is very hard for me to use when I have a Capitol One card at 4.5% & my highest B of A card is 15%.

Re: Unused credit cards??

SpecFile — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 17:59:08 GMT

Yes keep them.

Message Edited by SpecFile on 08-22-2007 12:59 PM

Re: Unused credit cards??

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 18:23:51 GMT

LOL, thank you! Now how do I bring myself over the 710 mark then? Any other ideas? I have been paying down my credit cards & even transferring balances from the higher ones to the lower ones. I owe about $5000 total = I have just under $24,000 on my auto loan. If I pay CC's off will my score go up?

I also have $20,000 in CC that my BF uses for his business, he could not get his own he has BK-13. But these are always paid off & used each month & never late.

Re: Unused credit cards??

SpecFile — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 20:31:56 GMT

From what I have learned here, the first thing you want to do is pay down those cards to within 1-9% util. You will see a jump in your score once you are able to do that.

Message Edited by SpecFile on 08-22-2007 03:31 PM

Re: Unused credit cards??

ronq — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 22:02:21 GMT

your score should go up as you pay down your debt on your other cards. Don't get rid of any of them until you debt is down. Your overall UTL is figured out by all of your revolving debt. Then if you want to close some do the newest ones first that way it won't effect the average age of your accounts as much.

Message Edited by ronq on 08-22-2007 03:02 PM

Re: Unused credit cards??

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 06:35:40 GMT

Got it! Thanks everyone for the advice!