My husband and I have a total of 50+ active credit cards with a total credit line of at least $700K accumulated in the past 15 years. Our credit utilization is below 3%. Both of our credit scores are 820+. All cards are on Autopay and never once late for payment. We actively use at most 10-15 cards. The remaining cards not get used are no annual fee cards in the drawer. For some of the cards we never used again after getting the SUB, should we close them? The reason we keep them is that I once heard someone saying you shouldn’t close your credit cards because it’s beneficial to your credit history. But at this point, I’m not sure if keep those will continue do us good or no good. If I keep applying 2 new cards annually I would end up being with so many cards. I guess my question is that if we close 5-10 cards this year, would it hurt our credits- like a significant drop or it won’t affect our credit score at all? How do you deal with no annual fee cards you never or rarely use later? Do you keep them or close them? Thank you in advance.
50+ active credit cards, should I keep them as is or close some of them?
byu/joycesyi inCreditCards
Posted by joycesyi
3 Comments
It’s a common misconception that closing a card, especially an older one, hurts your credit score. A closed card stays on your credit report for 10 years after you close it. The actual drop in credit score comes from a lower amount of available credit. The more you close, the higher your utilization will be. Since you said they’re all no annual fee cards, I don’t think it hurts to just let them be.
Sounds like both of you have a thick credit file. Closing couple of cards every few months will not be bad. Your credit score may dip a few points but will recover quickly. Don’t close several cards at the same time, spread it out.
You’ll be fine closing them. I’ve closed a ton of cards I don’t need and it’s perfectly fine. I’m still sitting at 830.