To close Credit card or not? THANKS IN ADVANCE

[Anonymous]

Okay so I have a little dilemma: I opened up too many credit cards this year and I'm attempting to correct this dilemma. On my fico report score ingredients, the "amount of new credit" is bad. So I guess, I need as much advice as possible on how to get this section to report as good. I am considering closing the fairly new credit cards with $0.00 balances...Do you all think this is a good idea? Below I have listed the details of my credit card accounts. I have no collections and the only lates reporting are from March 2012 (90 days) on 6 accounts from Nelnet. ALL assistance would be appreciated!

1. Macy's (authorized user with spouse): Balance $452 Credit Limit $1500 Opened in Feb 2012

2. WalMart: Balance $1326 Credit Limit $2000 Opened in June 2011

3. Tire Kingdon: Balance $280 Credit Limit $1000 Opened in Feb 2012

4. GAP: Balance $0 Opened in September 2012

5. Zales: Balance $0 Opened in January 2013

6. Children's Place Credit Card: Balance $0 Opened in November 2010

7. Chase (Joint Account with mother): Balance $724 Opened in June 2006

8. Dillards: Balance $0 Opened in June 2011

9. Saks: Balance $1500 Credit Limit $2,000 Opened in May 2013

10.Neiman Marcus: Balance $0 Credit Limit $2,000 Opened in May 2013

ALOT of Credit cards, please provide me with your suggestions regarding closing any and if you were to close any which ones would you close? I'm getting the accounts with balances under 10% utilization. Trying to get some more points added to my score ASAP. THANKS EVERYONE

[djc1puno]

i wouldn't close any unless you totally don't need them...they are new so they do affect your score...only remedy to that is time...let them age and your score will rebound hope this helps

[gen-specific]

you can keep them open, its just a waiting game now, just go to the garden and try not to apply for any new credit or get hard pulled by cellular companies, cable companies, furniture companies, employers or rental companies

[wHiTeSoL]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Okay so I have a little dilemma: I opened up too many credit cards this year and I'm attempting to correct this dilemma. On my fico report score ingredients, the "amount of new credit" is bad. So I guess, I need as much advice as possible on how to get this section to report as good. I am considering closing the fairly new credit cards with $0.00 balances...Do you all think this is a good idea? Below I have listed the details of my credit card accounts. I have no collections and the only lates reporting are from March 2012 (90 days) on 6 accounts from Nelnet. ALL assistance would be appreciated!

1. Macy's (authorized user with spouse): Balance $452 Credit Limit $1500 Opened in Feb 2012

2. WalMart: Balance $1326 Credit Limit $2000 Opened in June 2011

3. Tire Kingdon: Balance $280 Credit Limit $1000 Opened in Feb 2012

4. GAP: Balance $0 Opened in September 2012

5. Zales: Balance $0 Opened in January 2013

6. Children's Place Credit Card: Balance $0 Opened in November 2010

7. Chase (Joint Account with mother): Balance $724 Opened in June 2006

8. Dillards: Balance $0 Opened in June 2011

9. Saks: Balance $1500 Credit Limit $2,000 Opened in May 2013

10.Neiman Marcus: Balance $0 Credit Limit $2,000 Opened in May 2013

ALOT of Credit cards, please provide me with your suggestions regarding closing any and if you were to close any which ones would you close? I'm getting the accounts with balances under 10% utilization. Trying to get some more points added to my score ASAP. THANKS EVERYONE

---

I dont see too much of an issue, two opened recently (3-4 months ago) and one in Januart, besides that everything is about 1+ years old, I think the question is.......do you plan on getting some type of big loan soon? Car, home etc?

[FinStar]

Unfortunately, you won't score any extra points with your score ASAP.  It all depends on your overall profile, AAoA, utilization, etc.  Here's a helpful link from the sticky that can provide more insight on closing accounts/impacts and whatnot.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Closing-Credit-Cards/td-p/347190

[Anonymous]

Do not close your cards, you will do more damage to your credit. Just let your accounts age.The longer they age, the more your score will rise. Closing cards reduces your overall credit limits and increases your UTIL which will cause your scores to dip dramatically.

[09Lexie]

Closing the cc's is not going to help you with your score. You've already taken the hit to your AAOA. I'd work on getting the util on Saks and Walmart down and for max FICO scoring have 1 cc report a balance of less than 10%.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't close any of them either.  Just get them all paid way down. Have most of them report 0 balances and the other one or two at 9% or below.

[Leadberry]

This is where my opinion diverges from most on these boards.  I would close any cards you have no intention of using.  Yes, it will hurt your util.  However, it's one less thing you have to keep track of, one less account you have to worry about fraudulent activity on, etc.  Plus, if I were an analyst (which I most certainly am not), I would see it as a positive, knowing that you're not afraid to close out accounts, that you're not desperate to hoard credit.  Again, just my humble opinion.

[Anonymous]

If none of them carry balances, closing them wouldn't hurt anything because utilization wouldn't be an issue.

I was looking at AAoA more than anything.