[mlmpetert]

Originally Posted by firstdown

If your buying a house you better watch switching from card to card to get 0 interest. Those credit checks for those cards drop your credit score. You should also get a copy of your credit history and make sure you don't have any open credit cards you thought where closed and close out any you don't need or use.

I wouldnt close out any credit card you dont need and use, unless youre going to get hit with some sort of inactivity fee.

If you have access to excess credit that’s a good thing on your credit score. Part of the calculation is based off of available credit vs. credit actually used. So lets say you carry a 500 balance on something youre paying off on your favorite (cheapest) credit card with a limit of 1000. Then you have a credit card that you don’t use (has a high rate) but also has a limit of 1000. So the amount of credit youre using vs. how much you have available is 1 to 4. If you cancel that one card you don’t use your ratio drops to 1 to 2 and you now appear more extended then previously. It may not be worth signing up for a new credit card just to up your ratio and available credit (especially within a year of major financed purchase), but its almost always a bad idea to cancel a card that you don’t use but helps your ratio and subsequent score.