How much credit should I have open on my credit cards?
Osfon225 asked:
I have 6 major credit cards, a couple of gas cards and a couple of store cards. I have superior credit. My credit score was 836 when I bought my car last month. I never carry any balances, paying off my cards every month. The problem is that I have had most of those cards for over 20 years and they keep raising my limit. Right now I have about $150,000 in available credit with about $25,000 open on each card. Obviously this has affected my credit positively but I feel paranoid about having so much credit open, especially with regards to fraud or losing a card. I don’t want to cancel any card because they all have differenct perks, one has a permanent interest rate of 4.9%, another gets me free gasoline, another airline miles, etc. etc. So should I keep things the way they are? Should I force myself to cancel a couple of them? Or should I get the credit lines lowered?
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I have 6 major credit cards, a couple of gas cards and a couple of store cards. I have superior credit. My credit score was 836 when I bought my car last month. I never carry any balances, paying off my cards every month. The problem is that I have had most of those cards for over 20 years and they keep raising my limit. Right now I have about $150,000 in available credit with about $25,000 open on each card. Obviously this has affected my credit positively but I feel paranoid about having so much credit open, especially with regards to fraud or losing a card. I don’t want to cancel any card because they all have differenct perks, one has a permanent interest rate of 4.9%, another gets me free gasoline, another airline miles, etc. etc. So should I keep things the way they are? Should I force myself to cancel a couple of them? Or should I get the credit lines lowered?
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November 26th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
If it bothers you, then get the lines lowered on the ones that you don’t use as often. You don’t carry all your cards around with you everyday, do you? Put them in a lock box or something at home and take them out when you need them.