Does it hurt your credit report the more credit cards you have, even if you dont use most of them?
829448
Don't cancel your cards. A large portion of your credit score is based on the percentage of revolving credit available. In english it is the percentage between your credit limit and your balances. i.e If your credit limit is $100 and your balance is $10, your percentage available is 90%, credit score goes up, on the other hand if your limit is $100 and your balance is $90, now you only have 10% available, credit score goes down. It, however does not help you if you do not use the cards, it doesnt hurt, either. My recommendation would be to randomly use the other cards to keep their status active, but pay the balances off at the end of the month to avoid accrueing finance charges. But don't close them, that will actually pull your score down. \n---I've been a Finance Manager for 12 years.
39392
Absolutely "yes".\n\nSee sources section for an example of what can happen to you if you don't with a small excerpt below:\n\n"Scavenging through the drives, they found more than 5,000 credit card numbers, medical reports, detailed personal..."
1152045
Don't cut up your credit cards.  Activity is good.  If they see that you regularly use your cards and then pay them off it actually improves your score.  Put your day-to-day spending on cards and then pay it off immediately.  Your going to spend the cash anyways, you might as well get the benefit of the credit activity.  \n\nObviously pay any delinquent bills off and try to get the items removed from your report.\n\nAlso, it is good to have multiple lines of credit, but if you get to many at once right before the report is checked, then that looks bad.\n\nIt is very good to have available credit.  Try to get your limits bumped up, but again not too quickly or right before it is checked because that looks bad.
845335
It will definitely make a difference. Most loans have a lower interest rate than credit cards. Most experts say to keep the credit cards open, but don't use them after they're paid off. This way you will show a good "Available Credit" ratio.
912951
As mentioned above, there are a lot of good answers listed here.  To reiterate, it will have a positive AND negative effect on your credit becuase it plays with factors of the FICO equation.  Part of the FICO equation looks at how many creditors you have, part looks at how old the active creditors are, and part looks at how much credit you've been extended versus how much you've actually used.  No one in the general public knows 100% what the actual FICO eqution looks like because it is considered proprietary information of a very classified nature.  Fair & Issac will not release the full equation fearing that nefarious people would be able to manipulate it to their benefit and screw over a lot of companies while still maintaining an 820 score.  In 2000, the high courts forced Fair & Issacs to release generalized information on the equation...the courts argued that people's misconception about their credt and what affects it is needlessly hurting even good credit people's scores.  \n\nDone with the info/history lesson...here is the affect it will have:\nCancelling older cards will hurt your credit because it is cancelling long established accounts, regardless if the cards cancelled have balances or not.  \n\nCancelling the cards increases your debt ratio (amount of credit available versus how much you've used).  The closer you are to your available credit roof, the lower your score will drop.  \n\nThe score will look to improve on eliminating the number of creditors, but you're hitting the American average of 4.  If you have other store cards, then the closer you get to 4 creditors, it will help your score a tad.  \n\nAs many have said, what you want to do is not a bad thing but could have a slight, temporary negative impact on your score.  If you chose to cancel a card, aim for the newest cards and the cards with the smallest available credit.  \n\n**Possible idea that may have the least impact on your score**\nAssuming your credit is good because you have been paying your bills on time.  Total up all the available credit all four cards are giving you.  If you're comfortable with that available amount, call your two oldest cards and ask get them to respectively increase your credit limit.  If they increase to an amount you're comfortable with, cancel the newest two.  This way, your available credit limit stays the same, your creditor number drops and your debt ratio is minimally impacted.  Thus, your score should be only minutely affected.
32381
maybe i fit catagory?-i had too many credit cards, about 30. too many bills to pay not enough sufficient funds to cover losses. after bankrupt effect, i now have only 3 credit cards-mastercard, visa and dept store card. and with willpower, i control how much i spend and save.it is like gambling, u want more out of it, u crave it badly till you're in debt. then u regret your mistakes
812110
Your credit REPORT would only change if you actually changed things-- inquiries, high balances on your cards, missed payments, etc. Double check that there are no fraudulent activities.\n\nHowever, your score does sometimes jump around. I've seen mine drop 50 points over night and I compared the two reports, and tehy were identical. However, its not like i went from stellar to dogface...it was a fair report to begin with and stayed in that range. \n\nPull all 3 reports and check it for accuracy. Keep in mind tha utiization makes up 35% of yoru score, so just using up more of your creidt limit dings the score pretty bad. History is 10%, so closing your older accounts also really hurts-- as well as opening up new ones that would drag down your average acount length.
504030
Unlike a credit card, you didn't apply to get sick or hurt..\nI think because of that, those kind of bills are less likely to appear on your credit report...but you should make an effort to pay them...
1139109
Most lenders only use one to two credit bureaus to report too. As pulling a credit report cost money on each individual who applies, reason they wouldn't pay for 3 reports, when you pretty much can get a decent overall history with two. \n\nSeems you have only received one report, there are at least two others to get, and it will be on one if not both of those, and your rating will be higher on those.
201453
Absolutely close or cancel any un needed cards. If not for security reasons alone. Banks look at how much credit you have"open" and available to you. They compare this to your income to get a ratio. A debt to Load ratio. So if you have 5 cards out. that's realistically 3 too many.You need to keep a "balance" between having some credit cards and too much debt. You need a few cards open and active to satisfy the companies that you are worthy of more credit but not too much to have them think that their acct is the one that you will default on.
624423
If you are shopping for major investment loans, like for homes or cars, all inquries made within a 14 day period count as 1 hard inquiry. (as long as they are all the same kind of inquiry) This rule does not apply to credit cards.\n\nBut otherwise, each hard inquiry can shave 2-50 points off of your credit score.\n\nSo when shopping for credit, you must do your homework ahead of time, and organize your efforts accordingly.\n\nTake care,\n\nI.C. Jackson
260212
Contrary to logic, it's not always best to close old, unused accounts.  It can make the overall credit rating worse.  Check out the linked article below.  It explains how closing those accounts will affect a credit rating.
1050357
Can hurt as every time you open or attempt to open a credit card there is a hit on your credit record and too many hits can be a bad thing.  I've also heard that constant rolling of credit doesn't look too good to prospective lenders as it gives a shady connotation to your ability to pay what you owe.
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
888638
It shouldn't affect it as long as you are shown as being "current" on the card payments. Credit reports and ratings are more to point out high risk people rather than keep tabs on whether a card is active or not.
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.
489399
there are several factor affecting your credit score, one of them being the percentange of debt to credit. you want to keep your debt to credit at less than 30% so if you  had a 1000 limit on your card you would not want o spent more than 300 on that card or it will start to affect your credit score, also you want to pay more than your minimum balance, on time every month on all your cards.  Even if you max out your cards & pay them all off each month that can be a detriment to your credit score depending on when it was pulled (before the payment was processed for that month)  Another factor is how long your accounts have been open. the longer your good credit standing the better your score will be.  this is to discourage people from canceling thier old accounts.  Another factor that has an effect on the score is how many inquiries, meaning how many loans, cards, or lines of credit have you applied for in the last six months.  That isn't to say that you cant shop around for rates, you can file with a couple of mortgage brokers & banks looking for the best rate, as long as they are all grouped together within a few weeks, that should count as one inquiry.  Also if you have derogatory reports on there like slow credt payments, missed payments, bankruptcy etc.  These also have an effect on your score.\nHope this helps