# of credit cards..

[Anonymous]

I have attempted to consolidate my cc but get rejected stating i have to many account with balances. I have a total of 10 cc that are currently open.  3 bank cards, 2 gas cards, and 5 store cc.  I stopped using my gas cards and only have balances on 2 store cc, and ofcourse the 3 bank ones.  I am trying to pay everything down and off but should I pay off and close some of these cards since I keep getting told (by FICO as well) that I have too many cc with balances?

Also I have 2 cc that I am paying off through a credit card help service company.  Those credit cards are closed and I am paying them through the credit consumer counselor center of dallas and I would like to know how much does that affect my FICO score?  Last question:  How much would it affect my score to get a loan from Bank of America and pay off all my cc as well as an unsecured loan of which I owe $6K and have an insane rate!!  Would this be better or hurt my score due to the opening of another unsecured loan?  Thanks in advance for those of you that reply!!

[Anonymous]

1) No its not the number of cards hurting you, its the number with balances. Those cards without balances are actually helping your score. Don't close them. Cards with a balance will hurt your score whether they are open or closed, might as well keep them open.

2) Continue paying down the balances you can - that is a big help.

3) Credit services like that normally hurt your score because they have settled or another code on your report. The damage is already done though, continue to pay according to the plan.

4) A loan would likely help your report if it paid off most of your CC debt. High installment utility hurts much less than high revolving utility. That said, with your report you may not be able to get an unsecured loan with a good rate. If you can I say go for it, but remember you need to make sure you have a plan to pay it off - it won't lower the amount you are in debt, just make your payments more manageable. Whatever you save on payments, continue to put it towards paying off your debt.

Goodluck!

[MattH]

Warning to original poster: A personal loan CAN be a sound decision IF the rate is lower than is the rate on the CCs.  However, there is a hazard which OP must take extreme care to avoid: a reduced sense of urgency about paying down debts.  Just about everybody who consolidates or transfers debt INTENDS to pay it down, because they realize borrowing from Peter to pay Paul is not solving the underlying budget imbalance, merely moving debt around.