Credit Cards

[Anonymous]

I have 5 credit cards open with a total of about $11,000 on them.  I am going to pay them off.  They have credit lines of the following: $500, $500, $3,000, $3,000, $4,000.  I was wondering if I should close any of them or just leave them open.  My goal is to better my FICO score and i am not sure what to do.  Thanks,

[cobaltnv]

Coffee,

   Welcome to the forums. As your stated goal is to increase your FICO score I would not close any of the cards. If any of them have AF that may change the answer.  How old are the cards? What are the credit limits? I would suggest reading the credit scoring 101 thread it is loaded with information.

Cheers! 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

  I have stated the credit limits above.  What is AF?

[oracles]

Annual Fee

[FretlessMayhem]

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@Anonymous wrote:

What is AF?

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AF = Annual Fee. 

Closing Credit Cards the Right Way

[cobaltnv]

So the 500, 500, 3000, 3000, 4000 are the credit limits and the balances? That is all 5 cards are maxed out? You will see quite a jump in FICO score if you drop that utilization down (below 9% is the number most often bantered around here).

[haulingthescoreup]

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coffee wrote:

I have 5 credit cards open with a total of about $11,000 on them.  I am going to pay them off.  They have credit lines of the following: $500, $500, $3,000, $3,000, $4,000.  I was wondering if I should close any of them or just leave them open.  My goal is to better my FICO score and i am not sure what to do.  Thanks,

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Hi, coffee, welcome to the forums.

Please read the following two references. You will be able to use the answers you receive more effectively if you have some basics under your belt.

Credit Scoring 101, or at any rate, the first main post by Tuscani.

Understanding Your FICO Score (pdf)

It worth printing both of these (again, just the first post on Credit Scoring 101) and keeping them handy.

And no, don't close them until you understand why not. There are reasons to close cards, but you need to know what you're doing first. Check out fused's Closing Credit Cards in my siggy.