Will canceling some of my credit cards effect my credit score?
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.
799722
Last year I canceled 5 credit cards and I did it all over the phone. In each case, I requested the name or other identification of the customer service person I was speaking with once I identified myself, but before I made my request known to them. I believe that I got better treatment that way.\n\nWith one card, they made me talk to two other people who tried to talk me into keeping the card before they agreed to close the account. In each case, they sent me a confirming letter. I did cut up the cards, but I did not return any to them. In all of the cases, the accounts showed up on my credit report as "Closed at the request of the cardholder."  Cards I had not used in 5 years still showed open on my credit report before I took these steps.\n\nYou need to be polite, but firm. You do not need to give any reason for canceling the card other than "you want to."  If you get any static at all, ask to speak with the person's supervisor.
458443
If you check your own credit it has absolutely no affect on your credit score at all. If you apply for a loan or new credit card once in awhile (say once every 6 months or so) that shouldn't affect your score either. Its when you apply for too much at one time that it hurts your FICO score. It makes you look like a risk. (That you might take out too much in credit cards or other unsecured debt)
860510
if theres no money owed to them, DO NOT CANCEL THEM but take them out of your wallet or purse and put them in your safe. (if you have a safe and you can get a SMALL one for 30 bucks) HAVING credit cards EVEN if you arent using them looks GOOD on your credit report. I have numerous credit cards with NO money owed to them, sitting in my safe. I keep 1 in my wallet that is still on its 0% APR in case of an emergency. BUt dont cancel them, it will look better to creditors if theyre listed on your crdit report as PAID AS AGREED and it will show your balance available for each card. This will show prospective creditors that you have "money" available to pay off anything that you might "borrow" from them buy applying for a loan or another card. But if you have no cards, they will think youre not as apt to be capable of making payments. Trust me, its like having more than one bank account, creditors LIKE to see that you have accounts at more than one bank for the SAME reason, the better liklihood of you being able to pay your bills.
454705
I risk the wrath of God by disagreeing with Credit Guru, but here goes....\n\nJust based on the fact that you are paying $99 for a credit card you don't use is a good enough reason to dump it.\n\nWhat you never want to do is cancel 3-4 cards at one time.  That will have an impact on your score.  But closing 1 account every few months will not hurt that bad, and it will recover after a few months.  \n\nAs long as you are not planning to purchase a home or car in the next few months, cancel the card and use that $10 a month you save to treat yourself on making a smart decision.  \n\n0;)
714181
The previous responders are correct.  If you close out excess credit card accounts, you will actually hurt your credit score.  You are erasing a portion of your credit history, plus lowering your debt/credit ratio. Both of these factors make a major part of your credit score.\n\nIt is recommended that you have 3-5 credit cards or other forms of accounts.  If you have (for example) 10 credit cards, and most are not in use, then it may help you to cancel some of them.  But you need to be careful how you do it.\n\n1) Cancel only one card every 3-4 months.  This will lower your score by a few points but it will restore itself in a few months.\n\n2) Do not cancel any cards if you are intending to apply for credit soon (car loan, mortgage, etc...)  You need every point you can get.\n\n3) Consider getting some of the credit limits lowered.  You really don't need that card with $10k of credit limits on it, do you?\n\n4) Use a couple of cards each month.  Buy something you usually pay cash for each month anyway (groceries, utility bill, gas) and pay it off a the end of the month.  The improved use of your credit will help your credit history and will deflect the negative hit when you start canceling other cards.\n\nCheck out http://www.myfico.com This site is the home site for the folks who developed the FICO scoring system, and has lots of consumer advice you can read.  Understand how your credit score is put together and calculated, and you will do just fine in the future.
42623
Yes - order a copy of your credit report from all three credit reporting agencies (Experian, Transunion and Equifax).  When you receive your credit report, there is a dispute/resolution form inside.  Just fill it out, mail it back and they will remove the derogetory account from you report.  Make sure you go through your entire credit report though, there might be other things on there that need to be resolved as well.\n\nGood Luck!
315291
Reports of past credit activity/accounts remain on your report "even after they have been transferred/cancelled/paid off/closed, whatever. The little stars that mark your "on time payments" may even continue to be added until some future date when they decide to remove or settle the older acccounts that no longer have bearing on your credit worthyness. Look at the section in the beginning of the report where it sums up all of the accounts. Make sure that the accounts you mentioned have no negative effect on your credit worthyness. Another thought is that you may have come across a composite report that takes two or three of the major credit bureaus and compiles their data into a "report." This could appear as if accounts are doubled. \n\nBut also be aware, mistakes do happen with credit reporting and sometimes it is a good idea to give them a call for a bit of clarification.
592577
Nope credit score, amount of debt, and amount of possible debt (possible debt is if you have a lot of credit card accounts open even though you have no balance the fact you can get a balance hurts your ability to obtain further credit) are all taken into account.
1010925
whatever you do don't pay it off. something that old no longer has any effect on your score so just leave it and be thankful. charge offs look bad on a credit report bcuz it shows that not only did you not pay on time, you barely paid at all and the only result was to charge off your account in hopes of retaining some money back. should you decide to pay off the card think about this. once you pay off that balance, the bad credit history from that point up until now will come with it. You will actually lower your score drastically by paying off your old debt. leave it alone a nd move on.
1182385
It is often said that closing unused credit card accounts will help improve one's credit score. This is not true. In fact, closing accounts can result in either no increase in score or even a lower score. Closing an account cannot improve your score.  A few points to note: \n\n1) Closing an account will not remove it from your credit report. The payment history on closed accounts will continue to be displayed and considered in the calculation of your credit score. But you say that you are always on time, so this shouldn't be an issue.\n\n2) An important factor in your FICO score looks at how much of the credit that’s available to you has been used. Here the score calculates the proportion of total balances to total available credit, with the lower the proportion, the higher the score. When you close an account, the amount of available credit is reduced, which could result in a higher proportion of balances to available credit, and lower your score. Again, it seems that the account giving you a headache is a relatively new account (under 12 months) so I am sure the available credit line isn't that great. So closing it shouldn't be an issue based on this factor either.\n\nIt seems that the credit card you have, may be better suited for people trying to rebuild or establish credit, and therefore not suited for you. I would recommend closing it prior to the 12 month period, so that it doesn't affect your credit score dramatically the way it would if it was an older more established card. Besides, there are plenty of credit cards out there that don't charge annual fees or online payment fees. If you go to http://www.bankrate.com you can do a search for the best available low fee cards. Good luck!
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.
237895
2 issues:\n\n1) You are not saying about your "negative" items i.e., 30 day lates, 60 day lates, charge offs, etc. Depending on the time and what is being reported will determine what will happen to your score.\n\n2) Credit reporting lag. That is the time it takes for your creditors to update info to the credit bureaus. This can be anywhere from 30-90 days.\n\nGo to www.myfico.com and learn about FICO credit scoring.\n\nGood Luck
903930
unless the banks have notified you that the card has been cancelled - cos you missed payments, went over etc., the cards are still active. however, remember that it is so easy to fill them to the hilt again. it starts off as oh its just this one thing, its just this emergency, il pay it back on pay day, then its oh and this thing and that thing, oh ill pay a bit now and the rest later and before you know it, your maxed out and taking out a bigger loan.\n\njust be cautious is all x
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.
919502
You will still get bills from the CC company until the balance is paid off.  It does not matter if you cancel the card before it registered as a charge.  \n\nSame is true if you wrote a check.  The bank will keep the account open for several days to confirm there are no outstanding checks.  If the check comes in, they will ask you to pay that amount and possibility list it as a bounced check.
1046872
As long as you do it all on the same day, no. If you do it all on different days, then yes, you're score will drop slightly. \n\nI'd recommend you go to your bank or credit union first. Don't rely on the dealer unless they have some great financing terms.\n\nIf you still can't get the rate or credit report you want I'd choose either Equifax or Experion.