Will it harm or help my credit if I close credit cards that I don't use?
368217
mattycindc is right on target!  Nice to see someone do the research before answering questions here.\n\nIt is generally recommended that you have 2-3 cards, and use them occasionally to establish a history for payments.\n\nIf you have more then 6, it makes it look like you have far too much available credit, and it will look bad to future lenders.\n\nWhen you close them, you are lowering your debt to credit ratio, which also looks bad.  It makes it look like you have suddenly used up a lot of your available credit.\n\nHere is your game plan.  If you have no plans to get a loan in the near future (6 months), then go ahead and close one or two cards.  It will lower your score for a short time, but your continued use of the other cards will quickly restore it.  Just try to keep 2-3 cards active.\n\nOther than that, you are doing everything right.  Pay on time, and keep your balances low.
925526
KEEP THE CARD!!!!  Part of the calculation of your FICO score is legnth of credit history. IF you close a card that you have had for several years, it will LOWER YOUR FICO SCORE.  \n\nBest thing is to keep it open, charge something on it each month, and pay it off.
123937
Yes but you pay them off and gain credit history in the process. It is important to have credit history to make big purchases in the future such as a home. Although I am sure alot of people don't use them solely for this purpose. I abuse the purpose I guess sometimes, I buy things I don't really have the money to buy but have enough credit to buy, and I have had credit credit debt in the past. The point being when I finally paid them off it felt great and looked great on my account history. Well until the next time I used them.
368008
Don't cancel a card unless you have no choice.  When you apply for any sort of loan or another card they look at your credit rating.  Part of that rating is how much people are wiling to give you versus how much you debt you carry.  Say you have two cards with a $1000 limit each and a total balance of $1000 between them.  If you cancel one card you go from having $2000 trusted to you, with $1000 used to having $1000 trusted to you and all of it spent.\nCut up the card, throw it away, hide it until you pay it off, but don't cancel it.
1108355
You can close the newest ones without harm to your credit.  And you can close any that don't report to credit bureaus...some of the smaller local stores may not report, but big places like Sears surely do.  Just keep the oldest one or two that report open at least.  \n\nIn general, having a bunch of store cards isn't going to be a big plus for you, but one aspect of your credit score has to do with how long you've had credit open, so if you have a couple of long-standing relationships with one or two stores, it might pay to keep those open.\n\nOf course, there's never a penalty for cutting up the cards and not using them.  Just don't close the accounts officially.  (I have a JCPenney account that I've had for decades, but I don't know if I even have a card for it anymore)
409157
It will have a temporary hit on your score.  But having too many is also bad, because it makes it look like you have too large of a credit line.  \n\nIf you must cancel them, do it slowly.  One card every 3-4 months.\n\nI suggest to visit the home site for the folks that developed the FICO scoring method that creditors use to evaluate you.  They have an educational area that does an excellent explanation of this topic, and can give you lots of other advice to improve your score.\n\nGo to http://www.myfico.com
702044
No. It's just a credit inquiry. But, if there are more than 2 credit inquiries, then it can affect your score.
151363
Not unless they report to the credit bureaus.  If they don't report, than it's not doing anything besides delaying your payment.  Most of the time places like that don't report until you are grossely delinquent.
468152
It can be.  If you cancel the card, and you have outstanding debt on other cards or with something else, then your debt to available credit goes higher which could lower your credit score.\n\nThe best thing you can do is keep the account open and just not use it.  If you do use it, pay off the entire balance every month.
694193
Yes you can close a capital one credit card account with a balance on it but you still have to pay off your balance. The only fee that would go away would be the annual fee if its a card with a membership fee. You just wouldn't be able to use it when its closed.
840276
here is my advice to you and it's true,keep your credit card open for a long time ,don't close it.this will be good for your credit history and make sure you only use 50% of your credit.example you have a credit limit of $1000 only use $500 and don't go over that.this will dramatically increase your credit score.
27159
Closing a bank account shouldn't hurt you.  \n\nBut the credit card closing can - the reason for this is that you are cutting of your history.  If you have an account right now and never use it... just put the card away in a file cabinet for future or emergency use.  This way in the mean time it is acruing time on your credit history.  I must tell you the MOST important factor in growing your credit score is TIME.  So if you close your credit cards - you no longer are counting the time on that account... it will only be a snap shot of a certain time in your past... but if you keep it open it will be a view of you ALL ALONG fromt he time you opened it to the time you are still having it open.  No lates or misses will make you shine like a star!  \n\nThis is why closing CC acounts can hurt you. (you don't need a ton - just about 3 cards)  So keep your oldest ones and get rid of the rest.  :)  &#92;\n\nI know that you didn't ask about CC but this just sort of lead into it... hope it was still helpful to you  :)
135929
40? that's a LOT!  you definitly don't need that many.  but it's good to keep at least a few open for the long haul.  Closing down accounts isn't THAT bad - but it's not good either.  What you need to do is get a couple cards that you really like and hang on them for the remainder of your time on earth...\n\nSounds silly - but it's true.  Your credit is built one year on another on another - year after year your history will keep going.  Think of it as buildings - you can have a whole lot of little one story buildings around (many closed cards) - they won't grow your history - they stop meaning anything when they are closed down..  Or you can have two really tall ones... (tall corasponding to many years of history - each story can be each year that goes by) When you keep the same card open - you are in effect building a tall building - when you are in good standing for many years and decades this is what makes your credit score grow.  closing accounts - closes your credit history down.  Open cards lets it continue to grow year after year.
803028
Too many cards will hurt your credit rating.  They look at your available limits (i.e. what you could borrow); if it's too high, the rating is lower.\n\nThey look at payment history.  Just have one or two cards, use them for purchases, and pay them off regularly.  That will build your credit history and resultant credit rating.
644
It may actually hurt you FICO score.\n\nOne part of the score is the amount of credit used versus the amount of credit available. So, let's take a look at an example:\n\n$200 total credit available\n$175 total credit used\n Ratio of 0.875 (high)\n\n$5000 total credit available\n$1000 total credit used\n Ration of 0.2 (relatively low)\n\nThe bottom ration of 0.2 is more ideal. Credit companies have found that the higher the ratio a person has (they get credit and max it out), the less likely they will pay it off.\n\nOf course some store credit cards do not report to the credit bureaua unless you go to collections. So it doesn’t matter what you do with them as long as you don’t stop paying them.\n\nIt’s best to just hold on to them. You might even consider having the credit limit taken up (but don’t max them out). It’s not how much of a limit you have that’s important to the credit companies, it how much of it you’re using.\n\nAlso you may want to consider the fact that although your credit score may not be affected very much if you cancel your card, if the store reports to the credit bureau, other companies will see that you canceled a card. To other companies, this means if they give you credit, you’re likely to just cancel it. Meaning you may be more of a hassle than you’re worth.\n\nHope this helps.
539345
Don't use credit cards - you'll be sorry.
791251
It depends on your total credit available. You want leave 50% or more of your credit line open. For example, you have two cards with limit of $1,000 each. If you have $500 balance on one and $0 on the other, you currently have 75% credit line open. If you cancel one card, you will have 50% open. That will affect your score somehow. If you have ample credit line, it won't matter.