Dealing with unused credit cards and accounts your opinions

JOCCO · Mar 19, 2015

Guys: Here is the issue I have (or had) some credit cards that I used for something paid it off and its not being used. Should I close it to prevent identity theft??? They send me a letter upgrading my account from $10,000 to $100,000 and so on. Some say that closing them hurts your credit score??? Getting credit does not seem to be the issue (if I need it) ALSO Same question for local accounts? Was always afraid some one would charge something in my name. Some outfits just seem to give you an account with so much value on it (I did not ask for it) just paid as I got stuff. Your thoughts

dpendzic · Mar 19, 2015

close the accounts---the limits on the credit cards are counted as debits against you and lower your credit rating

old · Mar 19, 2015

I have a credit card I do not use but I got it so I could get a loan when I wanted to. I payed every thing off years ago and hen when I wanted to barrow $$ to buy a car I could not get a loan since I had no credit history because I had every thing paid off. Just to get a loan I had to go through my insurance company to get it.

WGM · Mar 19, 2015

Keep that card open and use it occasionally. Closing it does not help your credit score if that matters to you.

JRSutton · Mar 19, 2015

I'd close all cards except for one or two.

Having a large number of cards doesn't really help or hurt you.

From a strictly credit-score perspective, you want to have a total "credit available" balance that's appropriate for your income level (whether that's one one card or ten), and you want to maintain about 30% of that credit used at all times.

In other words, if you're trying to max your score don't pay off all your cards - keep about 30% of your total credit tied up, while making good size, on time payments.

Trust me - I have been to hell and back with my credit. This is how I restored mine.

MarkB_MI · Mar 19, 2015

Closing a line of credit MAY hurt your credit score in the short run. So if you're planning to make a loan application in the next few months you should probably not close those accounts. Eventually they will be closed through inactivity if you do nothing.

Of course, only the credit scoring companies know exactly how your FICO score is calculated.

Mark - IN. · Mar 19, 2015

I was in a similar situation and got a bill for a fee of $20, so I paid it for the ability to have it in case I needed it. Then the following month, I got another bill for $20, so I called them. They told me that there was a $20 monthly fee since I had little or no balance. I cancelled the credit card while on the same call.

Mark

John B. · Mar 19, 2015

I would close the cards out that you're not using. They may start charging you a fee for in-activity.

I do know one thing that I ran into. We had to close out one of our cards that had not been activated when we applied for a home loan because they told us we have too much credit available and they wouldn't give us the loan for our new house we built until we close out the one card.
You can always check your credit score after you close them out. I've never heard of hurting your credit score by closing out credit cards.

bjb in TX from Ne · Mar 20, 2015

That is not exactly true. Closing your accounts reduces your total credit availability, which raises your balance to total credit line ratio. The higher the ratio the lower the credit score. The best is keeping that ratio between 2% and 20% considering all revolving credit lines.

Dealing with unused credit cards and accounts your opinions

JOCCO

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dpendzic

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old

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WGM

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JRSutton

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MarkB_MI

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Mark - IN.

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John B.

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bjb in TX from Ne

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