Closing a cc account during pre qual

[Anonymous]

i am in the process of obtaining a mortgage. The mortgage agent has run my credit a couple times as we are trying to get my scores up a little to be approved for better rates. right now I am working on getting my total and individual util to < 10%. I have six credit cards. Would it be a bad move to pay off and close one of those cards (credit one) or don't rock the boat and just keep staying the course. Any info is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

[krielly]

Pay it off........yes  fine..........closing it.......no!!

Here's why:

While closing your account won't effect your average age of accounts (for 10 years until it drops off your report), you WILL be reducing your available credit on all open accounts, which will increase your utilization ratio.

K

[pizza1]

NO, don't CLOSE IT!!